High school football: Vikings' kick returns pave way for victory over American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — Pleasant Grove and American Fork came into Friday's 75th meeting between the two football teams having no trouble scoring points.

But overpowering offense was not the highlight in this critical Region 4 rivalry. Instead, two kick returns early in the second half that gave Pleasant Grove great field position turned out to be the main difference in the Vikings' 21-7 victory.

"You can never underestimate the importance of special teams," Pleasant Grove coach Dale Sampson said. "Having that kind of field position was certainly a big factor."

That field position, however, would not have mattered if not for the legs of Vikings quarterback Dallas Lloyd. The Stanford-bound senior made amends for two first-half interceptions with two impressive touchdown runs on Pleasant Grove's first two possessions of the second half.

"We feel like he's a double threat quarterback, and he sure puts a lot of pressure on the teams trying to stop us," Sampson said.

After a scoreless first half in which the Cavemen wasted a couple of good scoring chances and Pleasant Grove's offense sputtered with only three first downs at the break, the Vikings quickly put American Fork in catch-up mode with those two early third-quarter scores.

The first was set up by Jason Fanaika's 48-yard kickoff return that gave Pleasant Grove possession at American Fork's 27-yard line. Three plays later, on a third-and-two from the 19, Lloyd rolled right, broke a tackle near the line of scrimmage and bowled through a host of Cavemen tacklers along the sideline before powering into the end zone.

The Cavemen were forced to punt on their ensuing possession, and D.J. Doman returned the kick 20 yards down to American Fork's 33-yard line. A pass from Lloyd to Doman moved the ball down to the 14, and two plays after that Lloyd again busted loose in the backfield and weaved through American Fork's tacklers for an 11-yard TD run to put Pleasant Grove ahead 14-0 halfway through the third.

American Fork, after a 60-yard kick return by Kaiden Worthington, got down to Pleasant Grove's 4-yard line on its next possession but turned the ball over on downs following a sack and an incomplete pass.

After the Vikings missed a field-goal attempt, however, the Cavemen finally got on the board but it took 15 plays and ate up 6:29 to do it. The 80-yard drive, which cut the margin to 14-7 with 2:11 left in the game, end with an 18-yard TD pass from Chase Hansen to Ethan Wright.