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OREM — The Orem High football team was unrecognizable to head coach Lance Reynolds in the first half of Friday night's Week 2 clash with American Fork.
The offense woke up in the second half, but the Tigers got some "special" help in the process.
Feleti Iongi totaled 196 yards and three touchdowns, and Orem blocked five kicks (three field goals and two PATs) to overturn a 20-6 halftime deficit into a 32-26 win over the Cavemen and improve to 2-0 in the KSL.com Game of the Week.
Tayden Ka'awa threw for 386 yards and three touchdowns for the Tigers, including 50 yards and a pair of second-half scores to wide receiver Kaue Akana.
"In the first half, we were flat-footed," Akana said after the game. "We weren't playing with a lot of heart; I think we were expecting to win, but after we saw the score at the half, that really woke us up. We strapped us up and played better."
American Fork struck first when David Gaisford marched the Cavemen downfield on their first drive before a 12-yard TD strike to Damian Wilkinson. Ka'awa and the Tigers responded quickly, scoring just two players later to pull within 7-6 on a 60-yard screen pass to Iongi.
But Orem missed the extra point, and American Fork went on a 13-0 run through the second quarter to take a 20-6 halftime lead on Will Meine's 90-yard punt return with 4.8 seconds left in the half.
The Tigers got as close as the 2-yard line from taking a lead in the second quarter. But a blocked a 29-yard field goal and Gage Cline made a pair of field goals to help keep Orem to 6 points in a 20-6 halftime deficit.
"I really didn't recognize our team," Reynolds said. "It was just every time I turned around, we did something that made no sense.
"But I told them at halftime, the worst part about it is that we were playing as bad as we played all year — in a short season, albeit — but it was only 20-6," he added. "We can score 14 points in a heartbeat, the game was not over, and they believed."
Akana admitted "everyone's head was down" as the Tigers made the short walk to the home locker room before leadership stepped in.
"My job as one of the captains of the team is to pick everybody up," he said. "I knew we were never out of this game; we've been down worse than that. I knew we weren't down. I just had to make others believe it, too."
Akana hauled in a 53-yard touchdown from Ka'awa to open the third quarter, then doubled his scoring output on a 9-yard grab with 4:37 left in the quarter to pull the Tigers within one, 20-19.
Iongi, Orem's defense and a wholehearted special-teams interest did the rest, with the do-everything back scoring twice in the final frame including a 19-yard screen pass out of the backfield that gave Orem its first lead with 9:45 left to play.
Iongi added another on a 2-yard plunge up the middle just over two minutes later before Gaisford hit Damian Wilkinson with his second touchdown of the night with 3:53 on the clock.
"The first thing I mentioned when we got to halftime was how unacceptable it was to have those issues on special teams," Reynolds said. "I was super hopeful we'd come out and respond to that, and Ryker (Mikkelsen, linebacker) certainly did. I think he blocked three himself. It was incredible, the way he came off the edge. You don't see that very often, and I'm proud of him. And it did spark them; you saw the momentum shift, and we were able to claw our way back in."
Gaisford threw for 414 yards and two touchdowns to lead American Fork (0-2), and Wilkinson caught two touchdown passes for the Cavemen.
