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Saratoga Springs • A game can turn in a couple of sequences or a few plays, and the Westlake Thunder must have felt that way early in high school football game Friday night against American Fork.

As it turned out though, the real momentum shift worked against the home team as American Fork turned a close contest quickly into a runaway 45-13 win in Region 4.

"That whole first half spun on Farrell Dean's third-down conversion, because we go down and score," said Cavemen coach Aaron Behm of a third-and-18 situation midway through the second quarter where American Fork quarterback Brandon Barron found Dean for a 23-yard gain and a new set of downs — in a 14-7 game — at the Westlake 10-yard line.

Two plays later, American Fork (3-1, 1-0) turned the contest into a two-possession game when Christian Snowden ran in from seven yards out.

The Cavemen then recovered the ensuing kickoff and traversed 42 yards in only four plays as Barron found Ashton Coleman for a 16-yard touchdown pass.

Just to add to the misery for the home team, big Cavemen lineman Tyler Steadman then picked off a Reggie Sio pass just before halftime. That gave the visitors possession at the Thunder 31 and AF eventually pushed the score to 35-7 at intermission thanks to a six-yard pass from Barron to Alex Lindsey.

"We get the kick, which wasn't a designed onside but just a squib, we recover it and go down and score. Then we get an interception and go down and score," Behm said. "That play right there (Dean's catch-and-run) swung the whole momentum of the game."

Early on, it looked the home team scored a couple of critical plays that could have kept American Fork on its heels for a long time.

Westlake (2-2, 0-1) got on the board quickly with its own third-down conversion — a short pass from Sio to Shamon Willis that turned into a 65-yard touchdown as Willis raced to the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

When American Fork subsequently got its first try at offense, the Cavemen fumbled on their second play as Thunder junior Kekoa Baker recovered.

That momentum swing lasted all of one play though as Westlake fumbled on the next play and American Fork came up with the ball.

"Right after that, we regrouped and we put a pretty good game together for ourselves," Barron said.

Snowden, a senior running back for the Cavemen, had three touchdown runs in the game. He scored on a 1-yard plunge in the first quarter and raced 66 yards to the end zone in the third quarter.

"We feel like, if we come out and play the kind of football this team is capable of, we say the scoreboard will take care of itself," Behm said. "I felt our guys came out and did that for a full four quarters, which was our goal because we hadn't done that in the first three weeks."

Twitter: @ericbUTsports —

Storylines

• American Fork scores three touchdowns in the last five minutes of the first half, turning a seven-point margin into a 35-7 intermission lead.

• Senior Christian Snowden accounts for three touchdowns for the Cavemen, including a 66-yard TD jaunt in the third quarter.

• Westlake gets on the board first when Shamon Willis raced 65 yards to paydirt on a pass from Reggio Sio.