The longtime Pioneer coach gets at least one more game, though at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City at 11:00 a.m. Thursday against Corner Canyon (10-2). And of course Larson and the rest of the Pioneer faithful will hope that won’t be the end of the season.

For No. 4 seed Lehi to beat top-ranked Corner Canyon, Larson knows that his team will need to play better than they did in their quarterfinal game.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them (American Fork) as they did a great job defensively, but we just had too many unforced errors,” the Pioneer head coach said. “We need to clean things up offensively especially in the passing game.”

Larson did praise the work of his defense which only allowed seven points.

“I’m grateful for my defense,” Larson said. “They played lights out.”

One of the star players on defense was Penisimani Takitaki who came up big in a critical juncture of the contest when American Fork had some momentum after Easton Atwood had recovered a fumble in Pioneer territory. It was then Takitaki had three straight sacks and ended both the American Fork scoring threat but any chance for a Caveman comeback.

“I was just getting off the ball fast,” Takitaki said. “I noticed during film that the tackle can’t kick step. So get off the ball, get behind his hip and it’s game time from there.”

The Pioneer offense did have some bright spots.

In the second quarte, Devaughn Eka took a swing pass from quarterback Jett Niu and showed both speed and nimbleness to get into the end zone on a 36-yard score.

And just before half, after a big punt return by Mays Madsen, Niu connected with Legend Glasker on a 8-yard score.

American Fork showed its mettle to start the second half and after stopping Lehi on downs took over at midfield. Dyson Richards hauled in a 26-yard pass from Davis Gaisford which set up a 4-yard TD reception by Cade Wilkinson which cut the Pioneer lead to 14-7.

Lehi’s offense didn’t get traction but the defense came up with a big turnover when Murphy Madsen intercepted Gaisford at the midfield strip and returned it 48 yards. This set up a short touchdown run by Eka.

Lehi added one more score in the final stanza when Niu showed his mobility at quarterback, escaping the Cavemen rush, and then connecting with Mays Madsen for a 36-yard score. Then it was up to the Pioneer defense to do its thing and Takitaki and company were more than up to the challenge.

The defensive line of Takitaki, Briggs Love, Fuapauna Mama and Jeremiah Owno was particularly effective.

Corner Canyon knocked off Lehi (9-2) in the 6A semifinals last year and Takitaki would love to see his team get some revenge.

“They sent us home last year,” Takitaki said. “I feel we have a chip on our shoulder and we come up there and eat them up. I feel like we got them.”

With the loss American Fork finished its season with a 5-7 mark.