However, the Cavemen took advantage of golden scoring opportunites, defeating the home team 2-0 in Region 4 play.

Pleasant Grove attempted to take the early lead on a beautiful give-and-go play between Lolly Hamnett and Ty Hansen. Hamnett penetrated the Caveman defense and fed the ball to a streaking Hansen, who passed it back into the box for a powerful Hamnett shot that sailed right, nearly putting the Vikings on the board.

Pleasant Grove looked to continue with their early momentum. However, American Fork countered with its own fountain of youth — freshmen Amy Krommenhoek and Ashley Broderick.

The duo displayed their youthful energy in fine fashion, as Broderick quickly dribbled down the sidelines and crossed the ball to a waiting Krommenhoek, who drove it into the left corner of the net for the game’s first goal.

The Cavemen fed off the energy from the early goal, nearly adding another on a beautiful header, but a big stop by Viking goalkeeper Carlie Dixon kept the score at 1-0.

Pleasant Grove tried to answer back in the 38th minute, as midfielder Camille Broderick freed herself from two Caveman defenders and blasted a powerful shot from just outside of the box. Unfortunately for the Vikings, the shot bounced off the top of the bar, keeping the score 1-0 at the half.

Both teams picked up the intensity and aggressiveness in the second half.

One play summed up the intensity of the match. As the ball floated inside the Pleasant Grove box, Viking defender Jessica Jeserick and American Fork’s Laini Kalumbi went up for the header, violently colliding and sending both players to the ground.

Displaying both their toughness and determination, the two players bounced right back up and continued to play.

Each team looked to capitalize on their intensive play and hustle, shooting impressive shots.

Once again, the youth of the Cavemen struck first, finding the cracks in the Viking defense.

Twenty minutes into the second half, sophomore Kaycee Mansfield headed a beautiful pass to Broderick, who calmly kicked it into the back of the net, giving the Cavemen the 2-0 advantage, and ultimately the victory.

“I was happy with the shutout,” American Fork coach Becca Murdock said. “P.G. had some great opportunities to score, but luckily we snuck by and our defense played really hard.”

Sept. 14 — Spanish Fork 3, Pleasant Grove 2 (OT): At Spanish Fork, Jennifer Youd scored twice, including the game-winner in overtime to lead Spanish to a Region 4 win.

Spanish jumped out to a 2-0 lead at halftime, only to see the Vikings storm back with two unanswered goals in the second half before Youd won it with her second goal in OT.

Haley Richardson also scored a goal for Spanish Fork, and Ty Hansen and Jamie Wilson scored for Pleasant Grove.

Golf

Sept. 14 — Bad weather shortens match: The Vikings maintained their third-place standing in Region 4 golf following last week’s region contest at Gladstan.

The event had to be shortened to nine holes because of bad weather. Alex Harris finished in second place shooting a 39.

Other scores for the Vikings were Billy Clayton at 42, Mike Anderson at 45, Skyler Schone at 47, James Crawley and Jake Craft at 50 each, Brady Connors at 51 and Ty Mckinzie at 53.

With the team maintaining its spot in the region standings with two contests to go, the Vikings are on the verge of qualifying for their fifth consecutive state tournament, which is scheduled to be played this year at Thanksgiving Point.

“We would also like to thank some parents for their generous support of the golf team by providing teams bags for both the boys and girls teams,” said coach John Kurtz.

Cross country

Sept. 16 — Trio of Vikings place high: Three Pleasant Grove harriers finished in the top 25 of the varsity divisions at the Bulldog Invitational, held at Provo’s hilly Kiwanis Park.

The group included Julie Mazieka, Erik Simpson and Jordan Bentley.

In the varsity girls race, Mazieka took 13th, Jessi Baird 29th and Jamie Harmon 31st. Madeline Shelton, Ashlan Matheson, Haley Eldredge and Lauressa Cook also ran for the Vikings.

In the varsity boys race, Simpson took 21st and Bentley was 25th, with teammates Evan Argyle at 26th and Byron Palmer at 27th. Levi Williams, Darren Gleason and Nick Folts competed for Pleasant Grove as well.

For the junior varsity girls race, Emmelina Frenzel took 28th and Brittney Stirling also finished.

The junior varsity boys race saw Alex Nicholes take 40th, followed by Tony Adamson, Nate Porter, Sam Summerhays, Golden Bishop, Adam Edwards and Colby Pearson.

The Vikings will host the Doug Owen Memorial Invitational this Saturday.

Dean Von Memmott filed this report.

Tennis

Sept. 13 — Mountain View def. Pleasant Grove 3-2: Playing at home Sept. 13, the Vikings dropped a Region 4 dual meet to the Bruins.

Most of the meet’s five varsity matches were close contests. In the No. 3 singles, Viking Rachel Matheny outlasted Brittany Allred by scores of just 6-2, 6-3.

Pleasant Grove’s No. 2 doubles team of Madison Jorgensen and Jenessa Smith took down Jessa Thomas and Dana Morris by the scores of 6-3, 7-5. The No. 1 singles contest saw Bruin Staci Spencer having to go three sets in order to defeat Viking Ashley Jensen 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

In No. 2 singles, Kim Bushnell of Mountain View overcame Megan Sparks by just 6-4, 6-3.

The No. 1 doubles match was the only other contest to go three sets. In the first set, Bruins Elena Pierce and Kathryn Larsen blanked Shauna Eddington and Christy Arney 6-0. In the second set, Eddington and Arney won 7-6. In the third set, Pierce and Larsen overpowered the Viking duo by the score of 6-1.

Dean Von Memmott filed this report.

This story appeared in North County on page A6.