Lehi Sports
Pioneers beat Cavemen for Homecoming
The Lehi High School football team turned a strong defensive effort into a 34-10 victory over American Fork for Homecoming on Friday (Sept. 20).
It didn’t take long for the Pioneer D to show itself either. Lehi won the toss and elected to defer, so the Cavemen got the ball first
On their second play, Lehi senior defensive back Abe Jagerintercepted the ball and returned it 40 yards for the score, giving his team a 7-0 lead just 42 seconds into the game. The Pioneers stayed in front the rest of the way.
American Fork’s second possession ended in a punt, and senior Mays Madsen returned it more than 20 yards to the Lehi 43. On the fifth play of the subsequent drive, senior quarterback Jett Niu connected with senior wide receiver Griffin Faamausili for a 34-yard score at the 6:03 mark.
The Cavemen put together a nice drive after that and marched 80 yards, finishing with a 3-yard run to cut the deficit in half with 3:13 still left in the first quarter. American Fork also ended the next Pioneer possession with a pick at the Caveman 5-yard line to give them some hope.
It didn’t last long. That drive ended in a fumble by the quarterback, with Pioneer junior defensive end Penisimani Takitaki scooping up the loose ball and rumbling 44 yards for the score. Senior kicker Gavin Fenn’s PAT again found the mark to extend the advantage to 21-7 with 8:38 to go in the half.
The Cavemen kicked a 44-yard field goal with 55 seconds left but Lehi countered with a 42-yard boot with under eight seconds to go, making it 24-10 at the half.
American Fork was held off the board for the rest of the night. The Pioneers got another quick touchdown when junior running back Devaughn Eka broke free and rode the left sideline to the redzone one minute into the third quarter.
Fenn added a 40-yard field goal with 8:05 remaining in the game to complete the tally for the night.
Lehi will continue Region 3 play at Skyridge on Thursday (Sept. 26) at 7 p.m. The game day was changed because this rivalry contest is the featured Thursday television game of the week.
