High school football: Highland cruises to dominating win over American Fork

AMERICAN FORK — The Highland Rams felt their way around the American Fork field through the first quarter, then plowed their way through the Cavemen for the rest of the game, finally taking home a 33-15 victory.

American Fork drew first blood on a 25-yard field goal by Nathaniel Olsen in the first quarter, but that was all it would manage until late in the fourth, after the Rams had taken complete control of the game.

Muli Kinikini crossed the goal line for Highland's first score on a 6-yard run with six seconds gone in the second, and Travis Walzer added a 3-yard run for a score with 34 seconds remaining in the first half, giving the Rams a 14-3 advantage at the half.

Just 21 seconds into the third quarter, on the first play after the kickoff, Highland quarterback Nick Orchard broke free and ran down the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown, giving the Rams a 20-3 lead for the rest of the third quarter and heading into the fourth.

He started the fourth quarter much the same way on a 40-yard touchdown run with 11:47 remaining in the game. His team then relaxed a little after taking the 26-13 lead.

The Cavemen finally showed some life about midway through the fourth quarter as Jordan Lusk launched a 70-yard touchdown pass to Weston Frandsen for the Cavemen's first crossing of the goal line.

Another pass by Lusk, this one to Jorey Hansen for a 10-yard touchdown, gave the Cavemen a more respectable 15 points, but their two-point conversion failed for the second time in the game.

Highland finished things off with a 55-yard touchdown run by Bridger Walzer, giving Highland its final score.

The Rams and quarterback Orchard dominated through most of the contest, and when the Cavemen came up with a nice play — like a pick by Frandsen midway through the third quarter — they immediately fumbled the ball away on the next possession. The Cavemen just couldn't get anything rolling, while the Rams took advantage of Caveman miscues and kept adding to their score. Walzer capitalized on his own interception, turning that drive into a touchdown in the second quarter.

The Rams improved their record to 1-1 after last week's loss to Mountain Crest, while the Cavemen dropped to 1-1 after defeating Provo last week.

E-mail: jolsen@desnews.com

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