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AMERICAN FORK — Dylan Story had already thrown for 285 yards and two touchdowns, including what he thought was the game-winning score that he may or may not have intended to land a 3-yard pass to Josh Andrus with 6:20 left in the fourth quarter (more on that in a moment).
But when American Fork looked to clinch Friday night's Week 2 contest against visiting Orem in the KSL.com Sports Game of the Week, all he could do was watch.
And Story never doubted.
With the Tigers facing first-and-goal at the 6-yard line, Story and his offensive teammates watched as No. 4 American Fork's defense held firm. A 6-foot-1, 265-pound Waki Fulilangi and a mass of humanity swarmed over the line of scrimmage and pushed the 10th-ranked Tigers back to preserve a 24-20 win and kept the Cavemen undefeated.
"Our defense is great," Story said. "They always push us hard at practice, and I was so proud of them when they got that stop."
Never in doubt.
"They had a lot of confidence, our defense did," American Fork coach Aaron Behm said. "They knew that they shouldn't even have allowed them inside the red zone, and so they wanted that stop bad. ... After a bobble snap on third down, I think they had a good feeling headed into the fourth."
BIG WEEK 1 WIN
— American Fork Caveman Football (@cavemanfootball) August 17, 2023
WEEK 2: VS OREM
FRIDAY, 7 PM @ HOME pic.twitter.com/z2lBc9l7Ia
Story threw for over 200 yards in the first half, including a 16-yard strike to Jacob Dean that combined with Payton Roth's 15-yard field goal to help American Fork to a 17-13 halftime edge.
Lance Reynolds III threw for a pair of first-half scores to Asher Young and Roger Saleapaga, and when the heralded quarterback went down in the third quarter with an injury, the Tigers (1-1) turned to Young, who was more than capable.
Young threw for 87 yards in relief, none bigger than a 4-yard touchdown toss to Aidan Brown that gave Orem a 20-17 lead with 10:26 remaining.
That was plenty of time for Story to rescue the host's 2-0 start — with a little help from his defense and a sure-handed tight end who he wasn't sure would be his receiver when he snapped the ball.
"It looked like we had man-to-man with two-on-two on the backside, and Davis (Andrews) was running a dig, so I thought he could win that matchup," Story said. "But then we had Josh on the other side in one-on-one, and he ended up in the right place at the right time. ... It was definitely lucky."
Jacob Eardley ran for 59 yards and a touchdown, and caught seven passes for 56 yards for American Fork, which travels to West next Friday looking for a fourth-straight 3-0 start to its season.
"I love their leadership," Behm said of his team. "They show up to practice every day with energy, ready to get better. As long as they keep that attitude, they'll have a really high ceiling this season."
Reynolds threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns, and Mack Hixson ran for 109 yards for the Tigers, who host Spanish Fork next Friday in the 2023 home opener after back-to-back road tilts.
