AMERICAN FORK — Timpanogos scored two unanswered touchdowns in the second half to overcome a halftime deficit and notch a 17-7 win over American Fork Friday night.
Zac Larson found Austin Murray for two long touchdown passes that kept the Timberwolves undefeated (2-0) on the young season.
Trailing 7-3, Timpanogos almost fumbled the ball away to the Cavemen on its first possession of the second half. The fumble ultimately forced the T-Wolves to punt, but they were bailed out by a roughing the punter penalty on the Cavemen. Three plays later Larson found Murray for a 46-yard touchdown reception that gave the T-Wolves the 10-7 lead.
"Right before that punt we almost lost the ball with a fumble," said Timpanogos coach Ed Larson. "For us to have that happen and turn it around was huge."
Early in the fourth quarter Larson found Murray again on a third-and-six play for a 43-yard touchdown reception, which pushed the T-Wolves lead to 17-7.
"We still have some things to clean up offensively, but we're getting where we want to be and the kids will start believing and hopefully this will start to snowball," said Larson.
American Fork had two more possessions after that, but failed to make anything happen.
"I'll tell you one thing," said Larson. "I'm proud of our defense tonight. That was a stellar effort on their part. I'm so excited about the way they came together after playing so lackluster last week. We preached about being physical and having some emotion and I think we got that done this week."
The T-Wolves' defense forced two punts in the first half and held on fourth down three times to force the Cavemen to turn the ball over on downs. The one defensive lapse came with 5:52 remaining in the first half. Timpanogos punted to the American Fork 30-yard line. The Cavemen's first play from scrimmage was a hand-off to running back Trinity Deveraux who took the ball up the middle, found an opening and scampered 70 yards for the touchdown. It was American Fork's first and only score of the season.
Timpanogos' first drive of the game resulted in a long, steady drive capped by a 35-yard field goal from Quentin Sievers.
In the second half, the Cavemen were able to sustain several drives, but the T-Wolves' defense was in a bend-but-don't-break mode. Two more times in the second half Timpanogos forced the Cavemen to turn the ball over on downs.
While the T-Wolves remain undefeated on the season, American Fork drops to 0-2.