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Show AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 7 COMMUNITY SPORTS, PEOPLE AND OUTDOOR FUN T.J. Murphy American Fork High School Lancers down Cavemen in 4A semifinals Thursday, November 15, 2007 I, , c -V Jared Lloyd NORTH COUNTY Any fan of football knows that the game can change in the blink of an eye. In the third quarter of Friday Fri-day night's 5A state semifinal game, between American Forlf and Layton at Rice Ec-cles Ec-cles Stadium, Caveman head coach Davis Knight probably blinked more than once in disbelief about what he was seeing on the field. An amazing 48-yard touchdown touch-down run by Lancer senior quar LAYTON AM. FORK 28 14 terback Gavin Green early in the third quarter gave Layton a huge momentum boost and turned the game in the favor of the Lancers, eventually giving Layton the 28-14 victory over American Fork. "Give that kid the run of the year," Knight said of Green's run. "It belongs on a highlight film on ESPN. I knew we had him sacked and then he kept changing directions. I didn't see a run like that all year." With the game tied at 7-7 and the Lancers with the ball at the Cavemen 48-yard line, Green rolled left, looking to throw. The American Fork pass rush broke through the line Experienced Cavemen aiming to make some noise in 2007-08 Beky Beaton NORTH COUNTY Last season, the American Fork girls basketball team posted the best results the program pro-gram had earned in a decade. Now, they're back for another an-other run - quite literally, and in both senses of the word. The team returns four starters start-ers who are still just juniors but have two years of varsity experience. First on the list is versatile Haley Holmstead. "She's pretty good," said coach Corey Co-rey Clayton, with a tone in his voice that carried conviction. "First, she's impossible to guard one-on-one," he explained. ex-plained. "She's a guard who can post up or face the basket. "In the offseason, she worked at improving her 3-point 3-point shot, which will make her an even bigger threat," the coach added. "Her opponents are going to have to come out now and defend that shot too." Next is wing Kaycee Mansfield. Mans-field. "She's so consistent and fundamentally sound in every skill, not to mention her competitive com-petitive heart on top of that," Clayton said. "She's also difficult to play See GIRLS HOOPS, Page 8 5A takes Jordan Christiansen SPORTS CORRESPONDENT Seniors from local girls soccer soc-cer teams around the Valley gathered one more time Thursday Thurs-day afternoon, participating in an all-star game at Lone Peak High School in Highland. The Cavemen were represented repre-sented by April Hansen and Haley Kellersberger. The participants were all from the class of 2008 and were selected by their respective respec-tive coaches to play in the game. The game pitted Lone Peak, Timpanogos, American Fork, Pleasant Grove and Spanish Fork in Class 5A Region 4 against fellow region member Lehi and players from Region 7 schools Orem, Mountain msfMy to tap American Fork's Nathan Volk, left, and appeared to have Green for a 10-yard loss, but as was the case on far too many, occasions in the contest the Cavemen couldn't wrap up. Green ran back to the right and down the sideline, broke another tackle, then sprinted across the field to the other side, picking up blockers as he went. Eventually all he had in front of him was green grass ',..:' '!' SjS . - ' ., -. ; niwmn & ii ll 9 - American Fork girls basketball players work on speed dribbling during practice on Monday. home victory in Valley View, Provo and Timpview. The Pioneers were originally scheduled to play with the 5A group, but the 4A team was short some players because of conflicts and the Lehi girls graciously gra-ciously agreed to switch. The final score, 3-2 for the 5A squad, was more of an afterthought in a typical laid back all-star game. "The girls didn't want the season to end quite yet," said Orem head coach Ed Louder, who was the honorary coach of the 4A team. "I told the girls that it was a good chance to see players they usually try to beat and now play with them and see how gifted and strong players they are." Lone Peak head coach Mike La Hargoue was the skipper of the 5A team. The 5A squad j tries to bring down Layton's and he raced into the end zone for the dramatic score, officially offi-cially covering 48 yards but in reality requiring roughly 150 yards of running on the play. In the next five-and-a-half minutes of play, the Lancers scored on a 16-yard pass, forced a fumble, then added a third touchdown on a 1-yard run. "We had a lapse in that third quarter," Knight ex played with a two-person advantage for most of the first half, as both teams were without some key seniors due to basketball practices and injuries. The 5A squad scored first when Lone Peak's Shantel Flanary put one in the back of the net. Flanary, who will play at Utah State next season, scored again later in the second half off of a beautiful cross by Mountain View's Alexis Harrison, Har-rison, who had just minutes earlier switched teams. "It's a little hard because a lot of the girls are playing different dif-ferent spots than they're used to," Louder said. "But they all stepped up and did a great job." The 4A team's first-half goal was started when Orem's Ash MARK JOHNSTONNorth County Gavin Green on Friday. plained. "We ended up in poor field position and punted three times. I don't think we punted three times in our last four games." At that point American Fork could've decided it'd done enough, but the team refused to fold. The Cavemen went 80 yards in six plays to score from 10 yards out on a great juggling catch by senior wide ley Kamoe used a nice dribble behind her own foot to get past the defender, then kicked the ball up to teammate Kaitlyn Thomas. Thomas put the ball right in front of the net, where yet another Tiger, Anne Shallen-berger, Shallen-berger, scored the goal. The insurance goal for the 5A team was scored by Timpanogos' Noelle Sanders, who slammed the ball home after a nice assist by Emily Bel-nap Bel-nap of Lone Peak. The final 4A goal came late in the half when Thomas streaked down the field, then put a nice ball into the back of the net with her left foot. Hansen played in goal for the 5A team, while Lehi's Tonya Smith was the 4A goalkeeper. 2 A? i -vw MARK JOHNSTONNorth County American Fork's Jesse Roberts (31) struggles to fight free from Layton's Nick Ciancone during their 5A semifinal game Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium. receiver Jake Murphy from senior quarterback Taylor Jones. After a defensive stop, American Fork rumbled their way back down the field. It required 15 plays and two fourth-down conversions to set up a fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line with four minutes min-utes to go in the game. That time, however, the Lancer defense came up big, stopping the play a yard from the goal line. See FOOTBALL, Page 8 all-star soccer game ti ' l"'V ' V American Fork's Haley Kellersberger, left, dears the ball before Lehi's Kammi Hunt can get to it during the Utah County senior all-star soccer game on Friday. Parents: Tasha and Rob Murphy Year: Freshman Age: 14 Birthplace: Murray Sport: Swimming Position: Sprinter Favorite sports team: University of Utah Runnin' Utes Favorite food: Chinese Favorite movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: Carib-bean: The Edge of the World Favorite book: The Work and the Glory series Favorite Class: Math Hero: Michael Phelps Most memorable career moment: Winning an award as the top ninth-grader ninth-grader at the Greg Fernley Invitational in St. George this year. Future plans: To swim with the BYU Cougars. American Fork head swimming coach Kathy King said: "T.J. brings a tremendous work ethic to practices. He's every coach's dream. Though he won an award for being the top freshman fresh-man at St. George last weekend, he wasn't satisfied with his effort there, so he came back to do even better at (the) Utah County (Invitational) this week." J BEKY BEATONNorth County BEKY BEATONNorthCoimhj X)PYJ |