How do you one-up a generational season in which you broke a 40-year championship drought and won the most prestigious award in the state?
It’s simple. You do it again, but this time you do so with a target on your back.
That’s exactly what American Fork’s Lewis Knecht did throughout the entire 2025 season, though Knecht had real concerns if he could match his production from his junior year.
It was a reasonable worry, as Knecht earned 2024 Mr. Soccer honors behind a strong campaign of 20 goals and a state-high of 17 assists en route to a 6A state championship.
The success had a slight downside. Now the entire state knew who Knecht was and attempted to stop him.
“Going into the season, I had a ton of expectations of myself,” Knecht said. “I’ll just say it straight, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be the same player that I was my junior year because I knew that people now expected me to be great.”
With heavy expectations on his shoulders and countless pair of eyes on him, Knecht delivered 24 goals, 12 assists and another 6A state championship for American Fork.
Knecht’s success despite that challenge earned him the title of 2025 Deseret News Mr. Soccer, making him the first-ever two-time Mr. Soccer recipient.
“Coming back my senior year, I just worked super, super hard to make sure that I could hopefully do what I did my junior year and become Mr. Soccer again,” Knecht said.
“It was great to just take that weight off my back, share the ball with my teammates and then we all just got it done. My first priority was to win state and my second was was to get Mr. Soccer.”
American Fork head coach Casey Waldron will be the first to tell you his team had to learn to win differently than it did during its 2024 championship run, and he knew Knecht had to lead that charge.
The big issue needing to be resolved was the Cavemen’s ability to keep its cool. Waldron knew teams would play more physical during the 2025 playoffs, and he wanted his team to be prepared.
“We actually had a a really good conversation with not only him, but the entire team right before we started our playoff run,” Waldron said. “The conversation was really blunt, and it was simply committing every single one of our players to staying focused on the objective and the goal of being successful and win the state championship.”
The physical play especially impacted Knecht, and he admitted it used to be a weakness of his.
“When I was younger I had a really bad temper,” he said.
Luckily for American Fork, one of Knecht’s largest area’s of growth was turning the frustration and anger into success on the field, and that growth was never more apparent than during the 6A championship game against Bingham.
Teams played physical with Knecht throughout the playoffs, and while he certainly still helped open things up for his teammates to score, he struggled to score himself.
However, the Bingham student section made one crucial mistake in the championship match: The group decided to heckle Knecht.
Knecht played into the crowd while staying focused on the field. He scored the only goal of the championship game and won the Cavemen their second consecutive state championship.
“One of my coaches...he told me, ‘When something negative happens, you just smile,’ and I really took that to heart,” Knecht said.
“During the Bingham game, you probably saw every time I got hit, the student section would start chanting. I just started smiling at them and it made them more mad, but it made me feel great, so I just kept smiling.”
Not only did Knecht help bring two state championships to American Fork for the first time in 40 years, not only did he win Mr. Soccer two consecutive years, but he also etched his name in the UHSAA record book.
Knecht leaves Utah high school soccer with the eighth-most assists in a single season, fifth-most career assists, tied for the most assists in a single game and the third-most career goals in state history.
In total, Knecht tallied 75 goals, 37 assists and two state championships.
“There’s very few guys I’ve seen in my coaching career that have the drive, the competitive energy and juice that Lewis has,” Waldron said.
While Knecht’s high school career is over, his soccer career is far from it, as he will follow in the footsteps of his brother Owen to play for UVU.
It’s an exciting time in UVU soccer with ex-Real Salt Lake star Kyle Beckerman entering his fifth season as head coach, and the school finishing construction on a brand new stadium.
“I watched his highlights growing up,” Knecht said of Beckerman. “I saw his banners at RSL and watched his matches on the U.S. national team, and now to be able to call him my coach, it’s definitely like a strange feeling, but it feels great.
“I’m super grateful for UVU, and honestly, if I had any other offer, I would still choose to play here.”
Past Deseret News Mr. Soccer winners
- 2024 — Lewis Knecht, American Fork
- 2023 — Tyler Klein, Orem
- 2022 — Stockton Short, Weber
- 2021 — Austin Wallace, Skyridge
- 2019 — Alex Fankhauser, Brighton
- 2018 — Carter Johnson, Herriman
- 2017 — Kaden Amano, Layton
- 2016 — Aidan Dayton, Maple Mountain
- 2015 — Christian Bain, Alta
- 2014 — Lucas Cawley, Viewmont
- 2013 — Matt Coffey, Brighton
- 2012 — Tyler Murdock, Weber
- 2011 — Derek Boggs, Alta
- 2010 — Casey Black, Davis
- 2009 — Josh Hernandez, Davis
- 2008 — Colton Cook, Viewmont