1 / 3

Mountain View's Hyrum Stafford (8) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against Payson on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

2 / 3

American Fork head coach Aaron Behm watches his team during the Region 3 game against Lone Peak at American Fork on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

3 / 3

Zack McCann of Timpanogos (10) tries to escape Benjamin Staheli of Salem Hills in a high school football game on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

❮ ❯

Two returning state champion wrestlers are the heart and soul of their football teams and the two met up when Mountain View clashed with Timpanogos.

Leading Mountain View is quarterback Hyrum Stafford, who also serves as the team’s punter. Stafford took the 190-pound 4A state title this past winter after placing second in state the year before. Stafford’s two older twin brothers, Eli and Radi, were also state champions and both actually also played on the basketball team during their time at Mountain View.

Meanwhile, Timpanogos’ Zack McCann won the 157-pound state title last season while finishing fourth the season before. McCann is a two-way player for the Timberwolves as both a running back and linebacker.

Stafford had two touchdown passes and ran for another as Mountain View scored the last 11 points of the game to down their Orem city rivals 31-28. Meanwhile, McCann had two touchdowns rushing with 77 total yards on 15 carries. On defense he registered 10 total tackles, three solo.

Not only did both schools provide an entertaining football game, there is also quite the rivalry on the wrestling mat. Timpanogos has placed second in state the past two seasons while Mountain View has placed third and fourth respectively. Two years ago, nothing was settled until late Saturday where Timpanogos came from third to surge past the Bruins for the silver trophy.

Special teams key Mountain View victory

Timpanogos led 28-20 after McCann’s one-yard plunge but then on the ensuing kickoff Ken Rowe took it to the house on a 92-yard scamper. Briggy Moses scored on a run on the two-point conversion to knot the score at 28-28. Mountain View got the ball back and with 2:00 remaining Jordan Tidwell split the uprights on a 42-yard field goal that provided the final margin of victory.

Long-time Behm

American Fork’s Aaron Behm coached his 200th game this past Friday night. Behm took over the helm as the Cavemen head coach in 2010 and has won 120 games against 80 losses. Unfortunately, one of those losses came Friday night at the hands of the Lehi Pioneers 20-19. Behm, by far, has the longest tenure of any current head coach in the Utah Valley.

Past players and coaches that worked with Behm were invited back where a photo was taken prior to the contest while 200 red and black balloons were released in his honor.

What is remarkable is that American Fork has only had four head coaches since 1960. There were two stints under Don Mower (1960-1968 and 1971 to 1981) and sandwiched between those was a short two-year tenure under Don Crittenden. Davis Knight was Behm’s predecessor and was the Caveman head coach from 1982 through 2009.

1996 Orem team honored

30 seasons ago, Orem went 10-3 and lost 13-7 in the 5A state championship game to Skyline. Members of this team, along with its head coach Paul Clark, were recognized Friday night in Orem’s 35-10 win over Pleasant Grove. An excellent detailed article on the game and the 1996 team was authored by the Daily Herald’s Darnell Dickson.

Scheduling Quirks

Springville (6-2, 4-1) will actually complete its regular season this week when it hosts Spanish Fork (6-2, 3-1). The Red Devils will have a bye in Week 10, where games are typically played Wednesday night because of fall break. With the 5A playoffs beginning on October 30, this means that the Red Devils will have a long break before their next game.

Also, since the UHSAA decided to reduce the bracket sizes of the 4A, 5A and 6A state tournaments back to just 16 teams, there will actually be a two-week break before the playoffs even start on Friday, October 30. The smaller school classifications, however, will actually begin their playoffs on Friday October 23.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and at many games, teams wore pink accessories. The officials at the Timpview vs. Springville game used pink penalty flags instead of the usual yellow.

Heavy hearts in Vernal

On the eve of the Provo vs. Uintah game, former Ute coach Curg Belcher passed away. Belcher was the school’s most successful football coach and led Uintah to the 1994 3A state title with a 13-0 record. Belcher also played college football at BYU.

Thursday night clashes

Because of fall break next week causing most games to be played Wednesday, a good bulk of the games this week will be played Thursday. Perhaps the BYU game with Iowa State on Friday also had something to do with it. Cedar Valley is set to play Westlake on Friday and Utah Military Academy Camp Williams (UMACW) will host Water Canyon but the rest of the valley, save ALA who is on the road to take on Delta, will play on Thursday.

Big Game of the Week

Orem will likely win 5A Region 7 unless something really bizarre happens but the game between Spanish Fork (6-2, 3-1) and host Springville (6-2, 4-1) still has huge implications for both RPI seeding and being the league runner-up. The Dons have been the surprise team of the league and will hope to pull off one more upset. As of Monday, Spanish Fork is No. 5 in 5A RPI and Springville is No. 6.

Another Big Game of the Week

Valuable RPI points will be on the line when UMACW (4-4, No. 7 RPI) takes on Water Canyon (4-3, No. 5 RPI) in a critical 8-man football contest. Water Canyon, located in the polygamous community of Hilldale, can put up the points and twice led the entire state in scoring going for 94 in one game. UMACW is coming off a big 41-30 win over Whitehorse.

Yet Another Big Game of the Week

Though American Fork lost to Lehi 20-19 to fall to 1-1 in the league standings, the Cavemen still totally control their own destiny to claim a piece of the league title. First up is Corner Canyon, which is also 1-1 in league play. American Fork plays Skyridge, 3-0 in the Region 3 standings, to conclude the regular season but that game only matters if the Cavemen can get past Corner Canyon. American Fork does get to host the defending 6A champs.

Extra points: Ridgeline won its 22nd straight game but the Riverhawks had to work for it as they outlasted Stansbury 42-39. … Ridgeline remains one of now three unbeaten teams left in the Beehive State. The other two are 6A Mountain Ridge and 5A West. Previously undefeated Hurricane was upset by Snow Canyon 28-27, missing an extra point in the final minute that could have sent the game to overtime. … Provo led the entire state last week in scoring as the Bulldogs crushed Uintah 66-21 in Vernal…. West scored 63 points in the first half against West Jordan. The Panthers have scored 134 points in their two last first halves of play…. Cottonwood lost its 27th straight game but the Colts did score their first touchdown of the season in a 51-6 loss to Jordan. Cottonwood tried to extend the game past the third quarter where a game ends if a team is ahead by 44 points, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. The Colts have only played into the fourth quarter once this season. …Deseret Peak, losers of 18 straight, and Deer Creek (0-8), are still searching for their first victories in program history. It is likely that both will have to wait until the 2027 campaign. …Taylorsville beat Kearns 32-14 for their first win while Kearns remains winless. The Cougars have lost 16 straight with their last win coming in the first game of the 2025 season against Ben Lomond. … Utah Valley teams were 4-2 in games played against out-of-valley competition and now are 41-27 overall on the year.

Friday Night Heroes

Orem RB Beckham Curtis

Curtis ran 28 times for 226 yards and a touchdown as Orem handled Pleasant Grove 35-10.

Provo QB Drevin Christensen

Christensen passed for three touchdowns and ran for another as the Bulldogs secured an easy 66-21 win over Uintah.

Provo WR Liam Schoenrock

Schoenrock caught touchdown passes of 56, 40 and 28 yards as Provo blasted Uintah.

Lehi RB Cam Bryce

Bryce scored two touchdowns including a 41-yard scamper to paydirt as Lehi defeated rival American Fork 20-19.

Skyridge RB Beckham Bennett

Bennett rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries and scored three TD’s as Skyridge downed Lone Peak 28-24.

Skyridge LB Drayson Afalava

Afalava had seven tackles including two for loss in Skyridge’s win against Lone Peak.

Mountain View WR Briggy Moses

Moses caught six balls for 103 yards and two touchdowns as Mountain View topped Timpanogos 31-28.

Mountain View LB TJ Siaki

Siaki had 15 tackles, 1 tackle for loss and an interception to help the Bruins beat Timpanogos.

Salem Hills QB Cash Hollingshead

Hollingshead was 12-for-15 for 272 yards and four touchdowns as the Skyhawks routed Deer Creek 40-10.

Salem Hills LB Colton Mann

Mann registered 13 tackles to lead the Skyhawk defense as Salem Hills was victorious against Deer Creek.

Lone Peak K Zachary Zolman

Zolman booted three field goals including a 50- yarder though the Knights fell to Skyridge.

American Fork WR/DB Noah Behm

Behm had two interceptions on defense and on offense he had eight catches for 90 yards though the Cavemen fell to Lehi.

Springville RB/LB Treyton Harris

Harris had two interceptions to help Springville hold off Timpview 9-7.

Skyridge K Evan Kopp

Kopp booted a 19-yard field goal as time expired to lift Skyridge past Lone Peak.