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Show AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 7 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN Logan Whittalser American Fork High School Health issues cost AF cross country at state Thursday, October 25, 2007 IT CRAIG DILGERNorth County Danielle West of American Fork races with her teammate Kaovae Belt close behind in the 2007 state Cross Country race on Oct 1 7. Neil K. Warner NORTH COUNTY Jake Murphy, look what you started. In the closing minute of the second quarter during Friday night's Region 4 title game, Murphy intercepted a pass at midfield. The game would never be the same. Murphy's pick led directly to a Taylor Jones touchdown pass to Chad Knight that gave the Cavemen all the lift they would need to beat Pleasant Grove, 34-14. "I thought that really turned the momentum of the game in our favor," said American Fork coach Davis Knight. "Taylor just threw a perfect pass to Chad and that made a big difference to go into the half up 14 instead of seven." The Cavemen looked like they would take a one-touchdown lead to the locker room, but with the clock running down, Pleasant Grove opened up the offense and tried to get on the board, giving Murphy his opportunity. Jones then found Knight on a 50-yard touchdown toss with 13 seconds left to the break. Eddie Holloway tacked on the PAT to give American Fork a 14-0 lead. "That was huge for us. I just saw Chad downfield and got him the ball," Jones said. "It feels great. To beat Pleasant Grove, they're a great team, but they're close, so beating them feels good." See FOOTBALL, Page 9 American Fork volleyball Dean Von Memmott SPORTS CORRESPONDENT After a first-game scare at Lehi on Thursday, the American Ameri-can Fork volleyball team rallied ral-lied to earn a huge 24-26, 26-24, ' 25-21, 25-21 Region 4 victory. American Fork coach Danette Moae'i said, "Brooke Miller did a good job on the back row for us. We played better against Lehi (in the earlier ear-lier match) than we did today. "Lehi has a quick offense in the middle. They used it much better against us this time than they did at our place," she continued. con-tinued. "After they beat in the first game today, we knew we had to knuckle under in order to survive this team. "When they ran a quick middle offense against us, we executed a block to keep them from killing us," the coach added. "They have improved as a team since the last time we played them. "Our next two games are going to be against Lone Peak and Timpanogos. Lone Peak beat us mentally in our last match against them. We can compete against them," Moae'i said. Through the course of the action, Tatum Porter led American Amer-ican Fork with 14 kills and 10 digs while Makenzie Moae'i added another 11 kills and 27 digs and Jamie Goulding had seven kills and eight blocks. Boys take second place; Girls finish fourth Jared Lloyd and Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY The American Fork cross country teams made another strong showing at the 5A state meet on Oct. 17 but fell short of their hopes as the boys finished second and the girls fourth behind be-hind favored Davis. After handily winning the Region 4 meet, the Cavemen boys were gunning for that elusive state title, but once American Fork's Chris Wernli is tackled by Adam Neilson of Pleasant MARK JOHNSTONNorth County American Fork's Tatum Porter attempts to tip the ball over Lone Peak's Lacey Laycock on Tuesday. Setter Rae Mulitalo made her usual all-around contributions contribu-tions with 28 assists, seven kills, six blocks and 16 digs. Brooke Miller made 26 digs and reserve Miri Sachs provided pro-vided four kills and 15 digs. In the first game, Marci Gray, Elle Brainard and Lindsay Lind-say Day led ferocious attacks on the American Fork center. Before the Cavemen could strengthen their middle, the Pioneers built up a 3-1 lead over them. Blocks from Marlisa Hard-man Hard-man and Mulitalo enabled again, the health of senior star Ben Felix gave out. "All we can do is go back to the doctors and see if we can find out what's going on," said American Fork head coach Timo Mostert. "That was the difference. We would've made it really close if he had been in the top 10. "We ran strategically well. We were moving up and attacking, at-tacking, putting ourselves in position to win but things happen," hap-pen," he added. With Felix's health issues not allowing him to perform at a high level, he finished 41st and counted as the final scoring runner for American Fork. If he had come in even at ninth, a low finish for him in most of his races this year, the 32 points the Cavemen " American Fork to sneak ahead 4-3, but kills from Gray restored re-stored the lead to Lehi. The lead kept switching hands until an American Fork hitting error let the Pioneers ahead 13-12. Despite efforts from Miller, Hardman, Porter and Moea'i, American Fork trailed for most, of Game 1 until a Goulding Gould-ing block tied the game at 21. Lehi capitalized on American Fork errors in order to stay ahead in the game's closing minutes. A Gray kill give Lehi a game point. would've gained appear to have been enough to tie the eventual champions. The Darts won with 77 points to American Ameri-can Fork's 109. It's a story Mostert said he has seen all too often. "In 20 years of coaching, I've probably prob-ably had this happen six or seven times," he said. "They run with such guts, but then they run out. You can't fault a kid for wanting it so bad. I'm very proud of him." Sophomore Robby Lee, who has been the No. 2 runner for most of the season, was the top finisher for his team on this day, coming in ninth at 16:23.9. Ryan Bradshaw was 18th and Evan Melville 19th. The pair paced each other through the course, finishing a half -second apart. Grove on Friday, October 19, has up - Even though Kjersti Secre-tan Secre-tan guided Lehi out to a 3-1 lead in the second game, a Goulding kill stirred up a comeback come-back for American Fork. The Cavemen pulled ahead 6-5, and through Miriam Sachs' serving, American Fork stayed narrowly ahead. Though the Pioneers tied the game at 16, Mulitalo delivered a kill that kept her team narrowly nar-rowly out in front until another American Fork hitting error put Lehi ahead 20-19. American Fork didn't fold under the stress of Game 2's closing moments. As soon as a Moea'i spike broke the 24-24 tie, Porter registered a kill that won the game for American Fork and forced the match into becoming a four-game affair. The third game opened with American Fork grabbing a 6-2 lead. A Marnee Dortch kill sent Lehi on a 10-3 scoring run that gave the Pioneers a 12-9 lead. A Goulding kill sparked a rally for American Fork, and the Cavemen moved ahead 13-12. Pioneer Katrina Warbur-ton Warbur-ton did her part to harass the American Fork front row. Miller guided successful efforts ef-forts to keep Lehi from reducing reduc-ing the American Fork back row to a shambles. Lehi hitting errors permitted American Fork to squeeze out a 25-21 win. Porter and Goulding guided American Fork out to 5-0 lead Shawn Crane was the fourth team runner at 36th. Spencer Craft and Brady Pulsipher rounded out the American Fork entrants for the event. The team's overall top finisher fin-isher was sophomore Alexis Laws, who came in third overall over-all in the girls race at 18:37.6. She was followed by teammates team-mates Danielle West, Kaovae Belt, Arista Sommers and McCall Harward in the scoring scor-ing positions. Shaylynn Baugh and Amy Riddle were not far behind. The two sophomore leaders were the only ones of their class year to finish in the top nine in both races, and both squads will return a solid core of experienced runners for next year. CRAIG DILGER North County 2007. and - down week in Game 4. Lehi retaliated with a 5-1 scoring run that turned the contest into a barn-burner. After Lehi pulled ahead 16-15 on an American Fork service error, the Cavmen forced a tie and then stayed ahead all the rest of the way. Still, the Pioneers battled them fiercely at the center of the net. Finally, Porter registered regis-tered a kill that gave American Fork the match point. Oct. 17 -Lone Peak def. American Fork 3-0: The Knights wrapped up the region title Tuesday night with a three-game three-game sweep. Not that the Cavemen made it easy. After struggling to score in the first game, American Ameri-can Fork gave a great effort in Games 2 and 3 but couldn't quite overtake confident Lone Peak, playing at home on Senior Se-nior Night. The fans were treated to some impressive volleys during dur-ing the contest. The middle game included nine ties and was neck-and-neck until the scores reached the high teens, when the Knights slowly pulled away to get the win. For the Cavemen, libero Brooke Miller led a fine defensive de-fensive effort with 17 digs. Makenzie Moea'i had eight kills and nine digs in a solid outing, and Miri Sachs had four kills off the bench. "Makenzie had a good game Parents: Bryan and Mamie Whittaker Age: 16 Year: Junior Birthplace: American Fork Sport: Swimming, golf and baseball Position: Sprints and relays in swimming Favorite sports team: Tennessee Tennes-see Titans Favorite food: Philly cheese-steak cheese-steak Favorite restaurant: JCW's Burgers Favorite book: Bleachers Favorite class: Psychology Grade Point Average: 3.90 Hero: Steve Young Most memorable career moment: mo-ment: Going to the state swim meet last season. Future plans: To keep swimming and playing golf. Coach Kathy King said: "This is an athlete who is shared by several coaches and brings strengths to each of his sports that he's gathered in the others. oth-ers. He's also so willing to do anything I ask him to do. He puts himself after the team, which is great from a coach's standpoint. That team-first attitude is a real asset, as I'm sure it is for his other coaches as well." eye; AF PARKS AND REC Youth basketball now open for registration NORTH COUNTY Registration for youth basketball bas-ketball is open through the month of October at American Ameri-can Fork Recreation. The program is for boys and girls in grades 3-12 who reside in American Fork, Alpine or Highland. Play for high school boys begins in December; all others start in January. Sign up at the American Fork Fitness Center at 454 N. Center Street in A.F. For more information, call 763-3080 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday Thurs-day or e-mail recreation afcity.net. tonight, along with Miri," said coach Danette Moea'i. "She's always a spark for me. We always al-ways seem to struggle against Lone Peak, but if this is our lowest point, it sure could be worse. "These girls are still tops in my heart," the coach said. Her players also won some praise from the opponent. "They're probably one of the most scrappy teams we've played all season," said Lone Peak coach Deanna Meyer. "They just don't let balls drop. They're a great defeasive team. "That Makenzie is a fabulous player. She really had a great match tonight," Meyer said. Tatum Porter also had four kills and Rae Mulitalo made 11 assists and eight digs. The Cavemen (6-3, 16-7) are tied with Pleasant Grove for second place. If both teams win out Thursday, they will have a coin toss to decide the second and third seeds into the state tournament, set for Nov. 2 and 3 at UVSC. I Beky Beaton filed this report. Swimming I Oct. 17 - Cavemen win seven events at tri-meet: American Fork got the season started off right with some success See REWIND, Page 8 |