SARATOGA SPRINGS — The crowd witnessed what felt like a perfect game for the American Fork Cavemen in their 45-13 rout of Westlake Friday night in the region opener for both teams.
In some sporting events, the final score does not always represent how close the game actually was. That was not the case Friday night. American Fork dominated. The Cavemen defense did a great job of keeping the Westlake offense off the field and the American Fork offense consistently capitalized on opportunities.
The Thunder did strike first when Shamon Willis ran up the gut for a 65-yard touchdown. And things were looking even better for Westlake when Christian Snowden fumbled the ball on American Fork's first offensive play.
But the Cavemen caught a break when Westlake gave it right back with a fumble of its own on the very next play. From that point on, this was American Fork's game.
Bronson Barron took control. Barron ran 20 yards around the outside, and then a 15-yard penalty was called on the Thunder defense. The Cavemen had the ball at the 35-yard line. Ashton Coleman caught a 6-yard pass from Barron and then on the next play, Barron ran 14 yards himself to cap off a 63-yard drive and tie the game 7-7.
Westlake had opportunities, but the Cavemen defense was there to make a stop every time. The Cavemen got the ball back at their own 32-yard line after a shanked punt. And then the Cavemen marched down the field with Coleman catching the ball at the 1. Snowden finished off the short drive by punching it in for a touchdown for 14-7 Cavemen lead.
At the start of the second quarter, Westlake started making plays. The Thunder had a solid drive going until a penalty was called. The penalty stopped Westlake's momentum and it was forced to punt, giving the ball back to the Cavemen.
And once again, the Cavemen converted on their opportunities. Barron made a huge 35-yard pass to Farrell Dean but then the Westlake defense started to make plays. Coleman got tackled for a loss and then the Thunder defense forced Barron out of bounds. The Cavemen were facing third-and-17 and the pass toward the sideline fell incomplete. The coaches decided to go for it and Barron found Coleman slashing up the middle for a 23-yard catch and a first down at the 10-yard line. Snowden finished the drive off himself, running for 3 yards and then on the next play he scored a touchdown on a 7-yard run.
The coaches decided to go for it and Barron found Coleman slashing up the middle of the field for a 23-yard catch and a first down at the 10 yard-line. Snowden finished the drive off himself, running for 3 yards and then the very next play he scored a touchdown on a 7-yard run. Snowden's second touchdown gave the Cavemen a 21-7 lead with 4:46 left in the half.
The coaches made a surprising call by going for an onside kick, but it paid off and AF came up with the ball. Seventy-nine seconds later, the Cavemen were in the end zone again. This time it was Coleman who scored, catching the ball at the line of scrimmage and breaking a tackle on his way to a 20-yard score. The Cavemen now had a commanding three-touchdown lead.
Westlake was desperate to score and trim the lead before halftime. But Tyler Steadman of American Fork had other ideas when he intercepted the ball at the 31-yard line.
And the Cavemen offense went to work again. Barron was orchestrating the offense by hitting receivers perfectly left and right until it finished the drive with a nice 6-yard pass over the middle to Alex Lindseyfor a TD to give the Cavemen a 35-7 lead with 41 seconds left to go in the half.
The game was practically over at halftime. Westlake's defense improved in the second half but their offense remained stagnant and they never got anything going. Snowden ran 66-yards for his third touchdown of the game and to give the Cavemen an even bigger 42-7 lead. Westlake responded by putting together its best drive of the game.
Quarterback Reggie Sio ran 32 yards followed by back-to-back first-down catches from Jaxon Moody. The Thunder finished the drive when Andreau Robertson-Martin ran for a 4-yard touchdown. Westlake failed on its 2-point conversion so finished with only 6 points on the drive.
Jake Cluff nailed a 20-yard field goal with 4 minutes left to play to account for the final scorfe.
Westlake (2-2) will travel go on the road to play Herriman next week, while American Fork (3-1) will travel to Spanish Fork on Friday to take on Maple Mountain.
Sam is a Senior at American Fork High School.