For starters ... Cavemen win behind fake punts

AMERICAN FORK — It's not often that a high school football team's most dangerous player is the punter.

In American Fork's 31-21 preseason win over the Provo Bulldogs, however, the main difference was the damage done by Matt Harward on two fake punts. The first gave the Cavemen a crucial first down in the first quarter, which changed the game's momentum. The second, late in the third quarter, resulted in a 65-yard touchdown run by Harward and gave the Cavemen a two-touchdown lead. Harward also caught a touchdown pass.

"It feels good to get this first win," Harward said. "We beat one heck of a team."

The Cavemen were also helped by the first-half passing of quarterback Taylor Mangum, who completed 9-of-11 first-half passes for 110 yards and one touchdown.

Four Provo fumbles, even though the Cavemen recovered only one, were also vital in the outcome. One, which was returned for a touchdown, was especially costly.

The Cavemen took the ball to midfield on the game's opening drive before coughing the ball up to the Bulldogs. Provo then launched an impressive 11-play, 50-yard drive to pay dirt. The scoring play was a 4-yard option keeper by Warner Jarman on a fourth-down play. The missed extra point put Provo up 6-0.

Provo looked like it had American Fork stopped on the Cavemen's ensuring drive. But on a fourth-and-five from midfield, Harward took the snap, rolled right like he was going to kick the ball, and then took off for a 12-yard gain. Mangum turned up the heat from there, and three straight passes later the Cavemen were in the end zone, with Harward catching the 19-yard scoring pass on a slant route. Eddie Holloway's PAT put American Fork ahead, 7-6.

"That rugby punt kind of opens up the game a little bit," Cavemen coach Davis Knight said, acknowledging that Harward's fourth-down run was the drive's key play.

On Provo's third play of the ensuing drive, Justin Jensen knocked the ball loose and Jake Murphy picked it up on the outside and broke away all alone for a 29-yard return for a touchdown. American Fork took over on downs one possession later, and marched 60 yards in nine plays to go ahead, 21-6. Mangum had two big completions in the drive — a 20-yard pass to Anthony McGeary and an 18-yard throw to Jake Murphy, on a third-and-nine, which put the ball inside the 5. McGeary ran it in two plays later from the 2.