DRAPER — Top-ranked Corner Canyon defeated American Fork 37-21 in a rainy home matchup in Draper Thursday night.
The Chargers jumped out to an early 21-0 first half lead behind Texas A&M commit quarterback Helaman Casuga who threw for two touchdowns and ran for two rushing touchdowns, as well.
"We battled," Corner Canyon head coach Eric Kjar said. "I thought we came out really good. American Fork's a good team, really good up front. They ran the ball really well on us. It kind of turned into a bit of a possession game after that, just from a scoring aspect."
It was a night of immediate responses by the Chargers. The Cavemen scored to cut the Corner Canyon lead to 21-7 late in the second quarter, but the Chargers went down the field to extend the lead to 28-7 on a meticulous drive that ended with Casuga's second rushing touchdown of the half.
Then the rain came and sent everyone ducking for cover.
The Cavemen started the second half scoring on a long drive, mainly consisting of the run game, that ended with a Madden Jensen 6-yard rushing touchdown to cut into the Chargers lead. But Corner Canyon answered right back with a 90-yard touchdown pass from Casuga to Kai Meza for his second receiving touchdown of the night.
Kjar said the rain didn't change the team's game plan in the second half, and that his team tries to "stay aggressive no matter what we're doing."
But American Fork scored a late touchdown to cut into the lead, leaving Kjar with areas to focus on for his team before the reigning 6A champions enter the playoffs.
"We've got to be better offensively," Kjar said. "There were a couple of times where we miscued on execution, but also a few penalties that were bad that I wasn't happy about."
Corner Canyon is now 7-1 on the season with one game remaining against Lehi.
"I think the effort was good tonight. We played a really good game overall," Casuga said. "We had like two missed drives offensively that we should've scored, and that's on me. I'm just looking forward to enjoying my senior year. We've got one more game against Lehi next week, then playoffs. I'm excited to finish strong and keep competing."
