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American Fork

The trophy case is brand new, standing outside the sparkling gym in a far wing of American Fork High School.

It houses a gold trophy that was earned in 1962 and is positioned at one end of the display, among the five other Class B state championship awards that quarterback/shortstop/guard Jerry Edwards helped the Cavemen produce during a glorious era. The case stretches down the hallway, with other state trophies — but none for football.

For the first time in 52 years, an AF football team will play in a state championship game Friday against Class 5A power Bingham at Rice-Eccles Stadium. The players will wear "DM" helmet decals to honor Don Mower, the coach of that '62 team, who lives in town but is unable to attend games due to illness.

"Although his physical body is weak," his family said in a statement this week, "his Cavemen pride is as strong as ever."

There's a lot of that going around in American Fork, which has grown considerably since '62, when the school enrolled some 450 students in the upper three grades and the Cavemen dominated the smalltown landscape. The '61 championship team was especially powerful, finishing 11-0 with four wins over Class A schools.

The '62 team featured Edwards and outstanding backs, including Ken Beck, Bob Wilson and Steve Smith, who thrived in Mower's offense. During military service in Oklahoma, the AF graduate had studied Bud Wilkinson's split-T scheme that started nearly every play with a fake or handoff to the fullback, with options to follow.

Last weekend, Edwards watched New Mexico play Utah State with an offense that was "so similar to ours, it was unbelievable," he said. And it worked for the Cavemen, who beat Moab (now called Grand County) 34-0 in the title game at the University of Utah.

Paul Kitchen, AF's junior varsity coach, had scouted the Red Devils' semifinal upset of Millard, watching them run straight ahead all day. He helped Mower devise a defensive game plan that resulted in Moab's minus-40 rushing yards.

The players loved Mower, who was in his late 20s when he returned to his old school as the coach and related well to them. "You just didn't want to let him down," lineman Marlin McKinney said.

Mower was an overachiever as an AF athlete and "he expected you to give what he'd given to be that good," said Bob Eckles, who followed Edwards as a quarterback and named one of his children after Mower, calling him "a big-time father figure to me."

Yearbook photos show Mower wearing a suit and tie on the sideline. The team picture includes 30 players and one varsity assistant, Don McIntosh, who also coached basketball. Kitchen coached baseball, winning four straight state titles (1961-64).

Lately, AF has become known mostly for its marching band and cross country programs. The boys' cross country team was ranked No. 1 nationally this fall and won its sixth consecutive 5A championship, and the girls' team joined in the sweep. The band will perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York and claims a current NFL player, New England lineman Jordan Devey, among its alumni.

Devey played the tuba, not football, for AF because of a medical condition. Derek Smith, who played 12 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker, is the school's most distinguished football player. Other notable alumni include BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall, a junior on the '82 team that reached the semifinals (as did the '84 team), and former Utah star Jake Murphy, whose 2007 team also advanced that far.

They all played for Davis Knight, another AF graduate who won 60 percent of his games in 28 seasons as Mower's successor, but never played for a title. He's enjoying the Cavemen's success — and how they're doing it. Coach Aaron Behm brought offensive innovations to the school, but relies heavily on running back Zach Katoa. "It's reminiscent of a lot of the good, tough teams that we've had in the past," Knight said.

Mendenhall and Brock Knight, the coach's son, established an AF tradition after their playing days. They took a boulder from American Fork Canyon and painted it red with a block "A" logo. The Cavemen touch it on their way to the field.

The idea came from "Like A Rock," Bob Seger's 1985 song that includes these lyrics: "Twenty years now. Where'd they go?"

It has been 30 years since Mendenhall graduated and 50 years since the juniors on that '62 football team left the school. And now, the modern-day Cavemen will face a Bingham program that launched its dynasty in 2006, winning the school's first state championship in 60 years.

Twitter: @tribkurt