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American Fork's Dalin Afu celebrates his scoop-and-score during his team's 36-16 win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Noah Behm and Cash Taiese celebrate an early touchdown during American Fork's 36-16 win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork defensive back Hayden Reutzel celebrates a turnover during Friday's 36-16 win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork's students showed up and cheered their team on Friday. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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Zack Cowie celebrates a touchdown with his teammates during Friday's win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork sophomore quarterback Jake Matsen throws a pass to teammate Zack Cowie. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork running back DC Fonua looks for room to run versus Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork running back Noah Behm runs ahead of the defense for a touchdown during his team's win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork quarterback Nate Childs throws a pass before taking a hit during his team's 36-16 win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork's Cash Taiese celebrates after knocking down a pass during his team's win over Pleasant Grove. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

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American Fork senior Dalin Afu leads the Cavemen on to the field for their opener versus Pleasant Grove on Friday. August 14, 2026

Brandon Gurney, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

It wasn’t the ideal start for the American Fork football on Friday, or anywhere close to it.

In fact it would be difficult to script a worse beginning to any team’s season than what the Cavemen had thrown their way during their opening game versus Pleasant Grove.

But fortunately for all involved, American Fork buckled down, rallied and eventually came away with a 36-16 win which Caveman Coach Aaron Behm hopes will serve his team well over the course of the next three months.

“There were a lot of common first game things out there, but yeah, the way we started — that was hardly common,” Behm said. “But we did some good things and we’ll work to clean up the things we didn’t do well for next week and for the rest of the season.”

One thing to clean up is cutting down on throwing interceptions. The Cavemen threw three during Friday’s win, with the first two directly contributing to a touchdown and a field goal, respectively.

The first was picked off by Pleasant Grove’s Corbin Robbins and returned 30 yards for a touchdown with just over one minute of time expired on the game clock. Then, on American Fork’s very next series another pass was picked off and returned clear to the 4-yard line before the Vikings had to settle for a field goal in building a 9-0 lead with 8:23 left on the clock in the first quarter.

The bad news was the picks, but the good news was how the defense responded and snapped back momentum by making a key stop when just about everything else was going wrong.

“That’s our job as a defense,” said American Fork senior lineman Dalin Afu. “We have a lot of seniors on our team, and it’s our job to lead and step up. And that’s what we did there. We have to handle our business, and if we do our job, good things will happen.”

Afu was all over the field throughout Friday’s game, making himself hard to miss from the moment American Fork took the field to his late scoop-and-score of a Pleasant Grove fumble for the final touchdown of the night.

“It’s definitely a big role, but it’s not too big, and it’s a good role for me,” Afu, who led his team out to the field prior to the game. “I just want to set the tone for our younger guys and be a leader that way.”

As for his touchdown, it was the first of his career. With just over four minutes left on the clock, Afu combined for a sack, dislodged the football and adroitly scooped up the football and advanced it 10 yards for the touchdown.

“I didn’t really think about it. I just saw the ball there, knew I had to get it,” Afu said. “Fortunately we practice that sort of thing in practice a lot, so that definitely helped and it felt amazing to get that.”

“Dalin is a nightmare for opposing defenses,” Behm said. “He’s our leader out there, he’s a 3-year starter for us and we’ll depend on him a lot this year, much like we did tonight.”

As for the Caveman offense, things settled down soon after sophomore Jake Matsen was inserted into the game and as the offense as a whole worked to put its horrendous start away.

Leading off the scoring for American Fork was Noah Behm on a 51-yard strike from Matsen which was followed up by Tani Vaki taking it into the endzone from 1-yard out to give them Cavemen a 15-9 lead entering the half.

“We really stress to these kids that it’s one play at a time out there and to put behind anything that doesn’t go our way,” Coach Behm said. “So that was really tested tonight and I’m proud of how our boys responded.”

Noah Behm led off the second half with a 64-yard interception returned for a touchdown, which was followed up with a 7-yard scoring pass from Matsen to Zack Cowie as the Cavemen went up 29-9 and firmly in control of the game.

Then win sets the Cavemen off on the right path to a season where players and coaches have big expectations.

“We want to win a championship here and break the streak,” Afu said. “It’s my senior year, and we have a lot of great seniors, so it’s now or never. Hopefully this is the start to a lot more wins and hopefully we can win it all at the end.”