High school boys soccer: American Fork stays hot with mercy-rule victory over Skyridge

American Fork started the scoring early, with its first goal coming just seven minutes into the game. Lewis Knecht stole the ball near midfield and then dribbled through the Skyridge defense to put a shot on goal. Skyridge keeper Troy Chamberlain made a nice save but Preston Osborne was there to finish the play.

That would be Knecht’s first of five assists on the night.

“The thing that’s different this year about Lewis is he is starting to share the ball and distribute, and it’s striking fear in opponents,” American Fork head coach Casey Waldron said.

“He’s being a lot more creative with his runs and again his creativity in the final third.” That creativity shone tonight with brilliant dribbling inside the box followed by four additional assists to Osborne, Nathan Sanchez, Demitri Larsen and Jayden Brown.

Skyridge found itself down three goals to one in the 25th minute when Gavin Christenson attempted a booming bicycle kick shot on a cross into the box. American Fork keeper Sebastian Barreda made a miraculous save on the shot to maintain momentum.

Coach Waldron said of the moment, “We were aware coming into the game that he was going to be dangerous. If that goes in … the momentum switches, so that was huge. Sebastian came up with a huge save.”

It was one of his several nice saves on the night to shore up a tight American Fork defense and hold the potent Skyridge offense to just one goal.

American Fork went into the half leading 6-1, and continued to dominate in the second half. Knecht notched his final two assists of the game in quick succession to put the lead at seven.

Knecht added two goals of his own, including a shot to the right of the keeper with five minutes remaining to seal the mercy-rule victory.

For Skyridge, Christenson scored a stellar free-kick goal from just outside the box to cut the deficit to two goals, but ultimately the defending 6A runner-up Falcons were never able to get going on offense.

American Fork looks ahead to a tough Westlake squad on Friday, hoping to continue its five-game winning streak to start the season. It enters the game averaging just over five goals per game, and has only allowed three on the season.