The drought is over: American Fork boys soccer wins first state title in 40 years by beating Farmington
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- American Fork boys soccer players celebrate after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork boys soccer players celebrate after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Lewis Knecht (left) and senior Ben Harley celebrate after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Lewis Knecht celebrates with the fans after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork boys soccer players celebrate after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork boys soccer players celebrate after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Ben Hess brings the ball up the field during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Demitri Larsen scores a goal during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Preston Osborne tries to bring the ball up the field during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Miller Hall kicks the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Preston Osborne heads the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork senior Ben Harley kicks the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Jayden Brown kicks the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork junior Ben Hess kicks the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork senior Ben Harley brings the ball down during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork boys soccer players celebrate with their fans after winning the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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- American Fork senior Ben Harley heads the ball during the 6A championship game against Farmington at America First Field in Sandy on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
The last time the American Fork boys soccer team had won a state championship came in 1984 when the Cavemen won the first two 3A titles in the sport.
Since then the program has had some great teams and tremendous players — but had never been able to get back to the top.
Until Thursday, that is.
Thanks to an early goal from junior Demitri Larsen and determined defending, American Fork emerged from an intense, physical game against Farmington with the 1-0 win to end its 40-year drought.
“It’s been 40 years in the making,” Caveman head coach Casey Waldron said. “I’ve been here 10 years. With assistant coach Nate Stoven, who has been with me since Day 1, it’s been a process of turning the culture around and developing players. It has been so rewarding.”
American Fork senior Ben Harley said winning the championship is an amazing feeling.
“I got emotional,” Harley said. “I love my family. It’s all for them. My Father in Heaven has blessed me. It’s been a difficult high school career but this year was definitely worth it.”
Harley played a big role in getting the Cavemen the lead as he put a corner kick in a dangerous position midway through the first half.
The Phoenix managed to knock it out of the air toward the edge of the box, but that was where Larsen was waiting for an opportunity.
“The day before state, I was shooting with my friend in that exact position,” Larsen said. “I knew I could hit the shot, so I took it and then went in. It gave me butterflies to see it go in.”
Waldron said Larsen is one of the “quiet giants” on the team, but he made a big statement in the game with his goal.
“It’s a scrum in there, to use a rugby term, and everyone’s jockeying for position,” Waldron said. “For Dimitri to have some composure, to bring it down and hit it was huge. It might have taken a little bit of a deflection that put it over. For him to score for us was amazing.”
Both Waldron and Harley said that going in front allowed American Fork to be more composed throughout the rest of the contest.
“It was really big,” Harley said. “I told my boys that it wasn’t over yet though. We had to rise to the occasion. We still had to defend. The game wasn’t over until the final whistle and we all knew that. That was our game plan and we executed.”
As the minutes past, neither team wanted to give an inch. The game became extremely physical to the point of there being some huge collisions.
Harley said that one big key was to not get carried away talking or retaliating, while Waldron said the Cavemen couldn’t back down.
“We knew that coming into this game, we needed to win those 50-50 matches, whether it was an aerial challenge or on the ground,” Waldron said. “Our boys rose to the challenge. If we hadn’t, some of them could have gone the other way and changed the game. We’re just proud that they listened to our coaches. We told them to trust us and to believe in themselves. That’s really what it came down to.”
And in the end it proved to be enough as American Fork kept the excellent Farmington attack from breaking through.
“It’s unbelievable to see our team concede the goals that we conceded over the course of season, then in these last two games to get a clean sheet consecutively was amazing,” Waldron said. “It was great to see them fight and put that type of emphasis on keeping our backline organized in our shape. Not conceding a goal was phenomenal.”
Larsen said that he gave everything he had and knew his squad just needed to hold on down the stretch.
“I was dead,” Larsen said. “I just wanted the game to be over. The last five minutes were about as long as any I think I’ve ever played in but at the end of the day it was worth it.”
That gave the Cavemen the title they have wanted for so long and a chance to celebrate.
“It was a roller coaster ride out there,” Larsen said. “But it feels great. We won for the first time in 40 years and it feels great.”
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