WEST VALLEY CITY — It was the American Fork football team’s first play of the season.
It was AJ Jaecke’s first play in a Caveman uniform.
And it was a play — an interception in the first play from the line of scrimmage — that set the tone for the American Fork defense as the Cavemen defeated Hunter 31-21 in the season-opener for both schools on Friday night.
“Defense did a great job,” said American Fork head coach Aaron Behm, whose team forced four turnovers. “AJ Jaecke, that was his first play as an American Fork Caveman, and he gets a pick. Chase Stucki forced a fumble on a kickoff and got the recovery himself. Big plays for us when we were stumbling a little bit on offense.”
After the initial interception, American Fork marched right down the field and scored in five plays. Junior quarterback Bronson Barron hit senior Ashton Coleman for a 12-yard touchdown reception.
The Caveman defense forced Hunter to turn the ball over on downs, and American Fork took just three more plays to put up another seven points. This time, Barron hit Coleman for a 22-yard scoring reception.
“When we came out, he was hot,” Behm said of Barron, who completed 20 of 41 passes for 220 yards and one interception. “He was hitting the open guys.”
Just after the start of the second quarter, senior kicker Jake Cluff hit an 18-yard field goal to put American Fork up 17-0, and then the Caveman offense went cold.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s Ty Carlson dove into the end zone after a 73-yard run, and the Wolverines quickly tacked on two more scores. Carlson had a 10-yard TD run just before halftime, and then Pailate Makakona had a 37-yard touchdown run to put Hunter up 21-17.
“They got rolling,” Behm said of Hunter. “And when they get rolling running the ball downhill like that, the clock keeps moving. And then we were going three-and-out or four-and-out. We just had to regroup at halftime and come back and play a better second half.”
The Cavemen took advantage of a handful of Hunter miscues and flags midway through the third quarter to regain the lead on a Barron-to-Coleman 2-yard touchdown pass. Barron then hit junior Farrell Dean with an 11-yard scoring pass with five minutes left in the game to put American Fork up 31-21.
“I think (we) had some first-game things to work out,” Behm said. “First half, we really shot ourselves in the foot with an interception and we pushed off down there (near the end zone) and another big penalty. Being able to score twice in the second half, we needed that to be able to get the momentum back, because it was slipping away.”
Coleman finished with 73 yards on six catches and Christian Snowden led the rushing game with 36 yards on 13 carries. American Fork totaled 315 yards on 69 plays compared to the Wolverine’s 380 yards on 59 plays.
Sarah Thomas earned a degree in Mathematics from the University of Utah and is currently pursuing an MBA at Westminster College. She has been covering sports for the Deseret News since 2008.