High school football: Alta finds room for improvement in 37-21 win over Cavemen

AMERICAN FORK – Even though his team produced a solid 16-point victory, Alta head coach Les Hamilton still was hoping for something more: A stronger finish.

After building a big lead early on, the Hawks gave up a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to American Fork in a 37-21 Region 4 win Friday night.

Alta improved to 6-2 overall and remained in a three-way tie for second in the region at 3-1 with Brighton and Pleasant Grove. Lone Peak is atop the league at 4-1 (6-2 overall). The Cavemen dropped to 3-5 overall, 0-4 in region play.

Up 37-6 midway through the final period, Hamilton inserted his backups into the game and the Cavemen took advantage.

"I know the guys are frustrated with how the game ended, but I couldn't have a starter out there in the end and get injured," Hamilton said after the game.

Early, the most important factor for Alta was field position. After the Hawks' first possession ended with a punt, the Hawks got the ball right back on a mishandled catch on the return. On American Fork's 19-yard line, it took exactly one play to score when quarterback Boston Handley found Tyler Brady for a touchdown pass.

Then, after a short American Fork punt minutes later, Alta found themselves starting on its opponents' 35-yard line. This time, it took five plays to get into the end zone. Adrian Jefferson scampered in from three yards out to put the Hawks up by a pair of scores.

The lead grew to 27-0 midway through the second quarter on two more scoring strikes by Handley (to Stephen Richards and Skyler Mayne) but the Cavemen refused to stay down.

American Fork quarterback Chase Hansen broke the plane by stretching out his arms on an impressive second-effort 1-yard run with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

A 36-yard field goal by Vance Bingham and Mayne's second touchdown of the night increased Alta's lead by 10 more points entering the final period.

Mayne, whom his coach talked about after the game, finished with 121 yards receiving on five receptions, along with his pair of scores.

"He can be a game-changer," Hamilton said. "He kind of gets overshadowed sometimes by some of our other guys."

One of those guys that can Hamilton says can "overshadow" Mayne is Handley, who ended the night 12-of-19 with 258 yards and four touchdown passes.

"(Boston) had a good game," Hamilton said. "Credit should go to the offensive line, because they gave him some time."

Down by 31 points, American Fork's Cade Zarbock scooped up an Alta fumble and returned it 26 yards into the end zone. On the Cavemen's next possession, Zarbock turned a short reception into a 61-yard score, and, with that, the home team had some momentum on its side.

But that ended on a 4th-and-3 play deep in Alta territory with just over two minutes left when a pass fell short.

Relieved to get a win, Hamilton spoke about the week-in, week-out dogfight that is Region 4 play.

"Every game's going to count, so this is a big, big win for us. I'm real proud of how our guys played tonight," he said.