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SALT LAKE CITY — It was all Lone Peak in the 5A football semifinal matchup against rival American Fork Thursday afternoon. The Knights had it easy as they rolled to a 66-19 victory over the Cavemen to advance to the 5A Championship game for the second consecutive year.
Lone Peak took an early 17-0 lead over the Cavemen and never looked back, scoring seven more touchdowns in a lopsided affair. American Fork got its first score at the start of the second quarter on a 67-yard pass from junior quarterback Bronson Barron to junior Farrell Dean.
Lone Peak senior quarterback Dakota Hansen, brother of former Knights quarterback Chase Hansen, found early and sustained success to senior wide receiver Tyler Macpherson. Hansen connected with Macpherson five times for 133 yards and four touchdowns, including a 20-yard, 40-yard and 54-yard touchdown.
“It seemed like every time I was going there, it just happened to be him,” Hansen said of Macpherson. “We started to really connect lately — I mean, we have all season — but lately it’s been something special. The line has protected me well and I just had the time to find him.”
“It’s a great feeling and I couldn’t do it without my quarterback, Dakota Hansen, and also my linemen,” Macpherson said. “It was a great feeling to do that, especially here.”
Hansen finished the day throwing 19-of-28 for 339 yards and six touchdowns and was effective at shedding off American Fork’s pressure.
“Dakota just knows how to step it up,” Lone Peak head coach Mike Mower said. “He’s a great leader. He knows how to read the defenses. I can’t say enough about him. He’s a natural leader and guys rally around him. What a great kid.”
.@Dakota_Hansen15 and @tylermac23 hooked up for 4 touchdowns leading @LPHSsports to a 66-19 win over American Fork in the 5A semifinals pic.twitter.com/ZU92Sj1GKr
— Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) November 10, 2016
Lone Peak added to the scoring onslaught momentum following a blocked punt by senior Tanner Hansen. Senior Payton Freeman recovered the blocked punt and took it back for a 34-yard touchdown.
“It was huge,” Hansen said of the blocked punt. “You could feel the crowd, you could feel the energy. When he returned that for a touchdown, everyone was going crazy.”
American Fork never called it quit and fought to the end, but only managed two more touchdowns on the day to finish with 19 points. Barron finished the day throwing 23-of-43 for 311 yards and three touchdowns. Barron also had two interceptions, with one being returned for a 65-yard touchdown by Lone Peak senior Ammon Hannemann.
“They never quit,” Mower said. “We’ve got great respect for American Fork.”
Lone Peak is peaking at the right time and believes it’s getting better as the season progresses. Hansen said the team may have “peaked a little early” last season and ultimately fell short championship against Herriman, losing 17-14.
“I think we have a lot of upside,” Macpherson said. “We’ve been doing a lot better through every single game.”
“This year we’ve slowly gotten better and right now I thought we played our best ball.”
Lone Peak will play the winner of Bingham-Fremont on Friday, Nov. 18 at 2:30 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Lone Peak ended Bingham’s championship run in the semifinals last season, beating the Miners 26-9.
“Right now they run the state, even though we beat them last year, they’re still Bingham,” Hansen said of the opportunity of potentially playing Bingham again. “So hopefully we can take it to them.”