On Tuesday the Cavemen raced past Layton 3-1 to push their overall mark on the early season to 7-1 in their bid to seriously contend for a state championship.

“We had a lot of juniors last season, so they’re all seniors now, and they’ve all really stepped up and taken leadership roles,” said American Fork coach Tara Warner. “It’s been really awesome to see all of them step up and lead the younger players in their own way. It’s been going really well so far.”

One of those seniors, Cambree Ballard, has certainly been a standout, and on Tuesday she contributed both the first and final goals for the Cavemen to secure the win. Throughout the game’s 80 minutes, Ballard put good and consistent pressure on the Lancer’s defense, much as she has all season long to whichever defense she takes on from week-to-week.

“She’s doing really good and she finds herself in really good positions,” Warner said. “People look up to her, and she just knows how to get the ball in the back of the net. We’re lucky to have her.”

Sandwiched in between Ballard’s goals was one provided by senior Charlotte Anderson, which answered effectively Layton’s game-tying goal scored just a few minutes earlier, which suddenly made a game the Cavemen appeared to have complete control of very much in question. But from there Warner’s team locked in, trusted their execution and ultimately were able to provide two second half goals to come away with the 3-1 win.

“I told them at halftime, we have to limit our mistakes because we get countered on our mistakes, and that’s what happened,” Warner said. “So we just have to limit our turnovers, not give up corners that aren’t needed or forced, and we’ll be fine. I think sometimes we can start off kind of slow when we have a lead. And so I think it was a reality check for them that it was a tied game and they had to pick it up in order to win it.”

Overall Warner was pleased with what she saw from her players throughout, and was confident good things would come should her players retain focus.

“I think we had a lot of good going offensively,” she said. “We moved the ball. We played well when we played simple and we played quick. We created a lot of opportunities and I felt like the team didn’t know how to defend us. We made them have to move and have to chase, and it ended up in our favor.”

Also playing to American Fork’s favor is that Warner is now in her second year coaching the team.

“Last year me and my staff were sort of trying to work the best we could with what we had and figuring out how best to coach up the players to be at their best,” Warner said. “So we all learned a lot last year and it’s made us all a lot better this year for sure.”

Other leaders on Warner’s team include twins Suri and Farah Parsia, along with Ballard and Anderson, who are all seniors. And then there’s some good young talents like sophomores Ivy Jacobson and Sophie Judd in forming what everyone involved believes can be a team that can legitimately contend for a state championship.

“You don’t want to put too much weight on their shoulders, but we’re playing really well and we believe they can handle high expectations,” Warner concluded. “It’s a fun team with a lot of big personalities who have really figured out how to work well with one another. We just have to make sure we keep improving and we’re excited to see what we can do this season.”