Game Night Live, Week 3: American Fork wins keys moments to hold off Timpview

PROVO — Football is a game of moments, and American Fork didn’t win all of them Friday night.

But when Dallin Afu and the Cavemen defense took the field inside Timpview’s 1-yard line in the final minute of the half, they felt like they had one of those moments.

A key one, in fact.

Mason Peterson forced a fumble at the goal line, and fellow senior Afu scooped it over for a touchdown as American Fork ended the half with a 21-14 advantage and held on for a 28-26 win over Timpview to improve to 2-1 Friday night in the KSL Game Night Live game of the week.

Afu seized his moment, but the 6-foot-2, 240-pound two-way lineman also credited his teammates who seized their own. There was Jace Worthington, who punted the ball 46 yards and a punt coverage team including Rhett Jensen, Mack Segura and Preston Fairbanks that downed it inside the one.

Peterson and a gaggle of defensive linemen then took their moment up front, and Afu jumped on the recovery to give the Cavemen a key halftime lead.

“I’m a big team guy; I love my teammates,” said Afu, who also scored on a 2-yard touchdown plunge to open the scoring.

“We obviously knew that we had to get a big stop,” he added. “We just wanted to go out there and make a play.”

Absent quarterback Jake Matsen while the sophomore standout watched from the sideline on crutches with an apparent lower leg injury, senior Nate Childs did his job, too. The 6-foot-3 signal caller threw for 122 yards, including a five-yard touchdown to Zack Cowie in the first half.

Ben Iongi had his best game of the season running the ball, including a key 5-yard touchdown to put the Cavemen up 28-14 with 5:19 left in the third quarter.

🧵: Some of the best moments from @cavemanfootball vs. @T_BirdFootball.

The Cavemen came away with a victory.

🤝: @utahcommunitycu | @SkinScienceInst pic.twitter.com/R6xNk1jRvK

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) August 29, 2026

American Fork also blocked two point-after touchdown attempts, and led by as much as two scores in the second half.

But Timpview (1-2) didn’t go away.

Dennis Tua’one caught five passes for 72 yards, including two of his game-high three touchdowns in the fourth-quarter touchdown grabs from Matthew Manuma to pull within 28-26 with 3:24 remaining.

But the Thunderbirds could get no closer, missing the two-point conversion pass attempt to tie before Childs hit Christian Hanshaw with a key third-down conversion on play-action with 1:33 remaining to hold on for the win.

“I see a lot of improvement,” American Fork coach Aaron Behm said. “Tonight we moved the ball better than we have in the past three weeks against a really good defense. I just see a lot of different guys stepping up.”

American Fork rebounded from a 31-11 loss a week ago at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, California in their second of three-straight road games to open the 2026 season. The Cavemen will look to carry that momentum into next Friday’s home opener against Farmington — with a little extra motivation starting in Monday’s practice.

“We have a standard, and we all know it,” Afu said. “We feel like we didn’t play to that standard tonight. This is just a stepping stone to know what we need to work on, and next week we can attack that and get to it.”

Timpview will look to rebound next Friday at Payson.