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Show nerican Fork Citien New Utah - Thursday, August 29, 2002 - Page 8 Sports Sports editor: Beky Beaton 756-5273 bbeaton newutah.com Dlympus downs Cavemen in endowment opener By Dean Von Memmott SPOPI3 Cowespondeni The American Fork Cave-cen Cave-cen lost a tough endowment endow-ment game against the . urth-ranked Olympus i .tans f.r-() Friday to open ' i-e 2002 campaign. This was the fourth J taight time that American ; irk has lost to the Titans, ho have heen one of 4A's i emier programs in recent ars. Caveman coach 'tavis Knight said, "We just "t heat by a hetter team. Vi didn't play well in the iii-st half. The kids will just t to grow from this." The game opened on a ;i 'omising note for the ' 'a .emeu. )n the first down ! the game, quarterback lames Moore lobbed a 17-.. 17-.. ;r! pass to Spencer (lar- i-l; to move the Cavemen i'i midlleld position. Runs ' Lee Babbel and catches ' Mike Pulley paced Amer- Fork well into the i .t ans' territory. Hut once Andy Anderson dirked Moore for a two-yard !..;s, Amer ican Fork's drive iiil downhill. Moore's !oils to re-engerize the i! ive collapsed when Dusty t ..i ter and Madison Wilding Meked him for a live-yard !'-!.s. American Fork punted hi the next play. With Porter catching the limit at the Olympus 15, the IM. ins began a drive. Long i-ar ries by brothers Tyler ami K.,1. Rice pushed Olym-oas Olym-oas clear to the Caveman !') At 6:44, IU. Rice : ( leaked from that yard line into American Fork's M . t . I V u J P ) ; .'. . - .. .. .. TJ .. American Fork head coach Davis Knight (right) and assistant coach Tony McGeary watch events on the field during Friday's contest. UPER Ppen lanes every night : for clean, smoke free : Family Fun!! : 785-3001 end zone. Thomas McDer-mott McDer-mott kicked in an extra point to ice the success of the 85 yard march. McDer-mott McDer-mott was to go four for five in extra-point tries during the evening. On the first play of their second possession, the Cavemen fumbled away the ball on their 27-yard line. Together, tackles by Dirk Bohoravitch and James Levao pushed the Titans back six yards, causing quarterback Nate Roe to go to the air. He threw two straight incomplete passes, killing the march. The Cavemen didn't profit prof-it from regaining possession of the ball, and Olympus soon had it back. Aided by a facemask penalty called against the Cavemen, Olympus soon picked up its second touchdown when wide receiver David Norton caught a 26-yard pass at 1:46. As the first quarter wound down, the Olympus defense came really close to producing a safety. In a play after Anderson had sacked Moore at the 1-yard line for a nine-yard loss, Babbel raced 15 yards. For the last play of the quarter, Moore handed off to tailback Matt Lambert in hopes of another big play. However, Anderson and Dave Schafer nailed the tailback at the Caveman 16. That tackle soon resulted in American Fork punting the ball to the Caveman 48 at the start of the second peri- OWL od. From that yard, tailback Eric Smith rushed for 32 yards on two straight carries, car-ries, putting Olympus inside the Caveman 20. Taking a handoff from Roe, R.J. Rice raced 16 yards for a touchdown at 11:11. After Moore had tossed an eight-yard pass from behind the Caveman 26-yard 26-yard line, American Fork carried out a well-executed drive. However, after Anderson Ander-son nailed Stucki at the Olympus 43 for a six-yard loss, the Cavemen's chances for further success in the march vanished with defensive defen-sive back Eric Fairbourn picking off a Moore pass at the Titan 15. From that mark, Porter carried the ball 19 yards on a first-down play to give the Titans the steam they needed need-ed to score their fourth touchdown. R.J. Rice made it when he raced 40 yards into the end zone during 2:08. The Titans learned in the half's final two minutes that a 28-0 lead could be slashed in half. After Stucki had returned a kickoff 25 yards to the American Fork 35, Moore guided the Cavemen Cave-men into the Titan 10. After Pulley's catch of a 10-yard pass placed American Fork on the Olympus 1, Babbel scored a touchdown at 0:16. Though Olympus prevented pre-vented American Fork from making a two-point conversion, conver-sion, R.J. Rice fumbled away the ball on the Olympus Olym-pus 15, and Caveman Brett Beatty recovered the fumble. fum-ble. On the next play, Babbel raced the ball into the end zone at 0:05. Once more, the Titans kept American Amer-ican Fork from scoring a two-point conversion. "The last 16 seconds of the half showed there were things we could do well," Knight said. "That was a character-building experience experi-ence for us." Despite what Babbel's two first-half touchdowns hinted about the next two quarters, Olympus were determined to avert any Caveman comeback. In the p r-T Y Caveman Spencer Garlick opponent. ief us provide fie music and disc jockey or your Anniversary, Birthday, Reception, etc. We specialize hi the original I'WJ u'iu I rv 9 UIIW IIV IVTUI WICUIIU). I. MO1! County oniYte.r 2. 1940s Easf L'steningBig Ban 3. 1 950's Country ond Western i. 1 950 s Fosy listeriingRodi ond Rod Call us for times and rates. tn". . - . 1 , . iJL JL ' - r 7" . . ' -A- ' . . . T.". ' f ... , " "' '"" American Fork quarterback James Moore prepares to during Friday's opener with Olympus on the road. opening seconds of the sec- ond half, Porter returned a Caveman kickoff 92 yards into the end zone, and R.J. Rice scored a two-point conversion. con-version. After Caveman Chris Muehlmann had returned a kickoff 13 yards to the American Fork 48, Garlick raced 48 yards to the Titan 3. Through carrying the ball on two straight play, Babbel scored a touchdown at 9:44. Before American Fork could use that touchdown as a foundation for rallying back, Olympus went to a ground game to use up the clock. Long carries by R.J. Rice and Roe moved the Titans deep into American Fork territory. At 7:16, Roe raced 30 yards for another touchdown. Midway through the third quarter, American Fork had Bryant Bunnell quarterback the offense. Bunnell yielded some success suc-cess for them. After Olympus Olym-pus drew a roughing-the-passer penalty, the quarterback quarter-back guided the Cavemen into the red zone, then handed off to Babbel for a seven-yard, touchdown run at 0:42. Bunnell then tossed a successful, two-point conversion con-version pass to Johnny Christensen., but that was jt J 5 'fi. fji IT- 4 '- to prepares to wrap up a Titan .JF- mm ill "ft. the last time Olympus let American Fork score. In the fourth quarter, the Olympus defense became too overwhelming for American Amer-ican Fork. Meanwhile, the Titans continued jacking up the score. Early in the fourth quarter, Roe handed off to Steve Manookin for a 37-yard touchdown run. After getting sacked by Barber for a seven-yard 1 , ( ; T -- . . . ' " ilMi-. .i iiii.frr' iiiill i .i Brandon Stucki tucks the kickoff from Olympus. .... r "X&'-jr X Home opener Friday 7:30 p.m. vs. Highland v 798 - M More LOCAL news than any other source! P.O. Box 7, 59 West Main American Fofk, Utah 84003 (801) 756-7669 ..... .' - ,."' ,,", "u:- pitch to fullback Mike Beck loss, Bunnell threw an interception to Norton, who then returned it 39 yards into the Caveman end zone. That was the last time Olympus put points on the board for the evening. The Cavemen are hoping for a better result when they open their home season sea-son tomorrow at 7 p.m. game against the Highland Rams. n V i - V - 'I ball away after receiving a 7711 1 |