Sure, Syracuse broke up the Bingham-Alta-Skyline trifecta with a stunning 31-7 upset of Skyline, and Bonneville ended Bountiful’s nice 2009 run, but everything else played to form.
The rundown, by class:
5A: Talk about instant tradition. Syracuse is in just its third season of play, but made it to Rice-Eccles last year and easily dispatched tradition-laden Skyline. The reward? Bingham. Ouch.
Then again, Bingham was reminded it needs to play all 48 minutes when it saw a 40-7 lead diminish to two touchdowns Saturday against Jordan. Harvey Langi delivered with 159 yards and four TDs in a 62-42 victory.
The line for Jordan QB Alex Hart: three rushing TDs and 398 yards and three TDs passing. Great show.
And Region 5 lived up to its billing as the best in the state with Alta, Lone Peak and Pleasant Grove each winning convincingly.
This week: Big road tests for Pleasant Grove and Lone Peak at Davis and Hunter.
4A:
Bonneville’s defense was the highlight of the state’s big 4A upset when the Lakers downed Bountiful 14-7.
The Lakers offense registered just 142 yards of total offense, but the defense forced five Bountiful turnovers in the second half and overtime, including Jake Conolly's fumble recovery in the final seconds of regulation with Bountiful in field-goal range and Devin Mickles' interception in the end zone in overtime to preserve the win.
Down in Springville, pass-happy coach Scott Mitchell, the former Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions quarterback, switched to the running game, and it paid off as the Red Devils racked up 234 yards on the ground for a 35-14 win over Sky View. Alema Key ran for two and caught one.
As for Timpview, the defending state champs were sluggish during a scoreless first quarter but righted the universe with 21 in the second en route to a 35-7 win over Olympus.
As for this week, Spanish Fork gets to play spoiler by facing Timpview and may be able to hang with the Thunderbirds if the Dons can put up the point. If not, Timpview gets the Highland-Mountain Crest winner next week.
Highland-Mountain Crest is two region champions having to face each other in the second round instead of a semifinal or even championship. Oh, well. It’ll be a great second-round game. Mountain Crest has junior quarterback Alex Kuresa and Highland Crest has running back Toi Taufa. Enjoy this one.
Springville hosts Woods Cross and Bonneville travels to Dixie in the two other semifinals.
3A:
The first round went like this: Winners 405, non-winners 92. Only two games – Morgan’s 30-19 win over Emery and Wasatch’s 25-7 dropping over Desert Hills – were closer than three touchdowns.
So the message-boarders chime in and ask, "Why not just go with an eight-team field?"
Patience, people.
This is a classification in transition, with a lot of teams moving up and down. One thing is consistent, though: Hurricane, Juan Diego and Park City are in their own league, then you have a second tier of Morgan, Delta, Wasatch, Bear River and Cedar Hills … and then you have a major drop-off.
Bear River-Wasatch on Friday will be the most interesting game to watch – kind of like of wild-card game for who joins Hurricane, Juan Diego and Park City at Rice-Eccles next week. Delta-Park City could be interesting – the Miners pulled away from a 20-17 third-quarter lead when the two teams met back in Week 3.
State volleyball recap:
1A:
Panguitch won its second 1A title in three years by eliminating perennial power Rich in the semis and defeating Piute 3-0 in the finals as Kalani Norris – the coach’s daughter – posted a match-high 26 kills.
2A:
After two consecutive seventh-place finishes, Layton Christian swept South Summit for its first Class 2A state title.
3A:
North Sanpete, the No. 3 seed from Region 12, pulled off the mild upset when it outlasted top-ranked Morgan in a grueling five-set instant classic. Shelby Earl led North Sanpete with 21 kills and Shyanne Ison 18.
The 4A and 5A tournaments are this weekend at Utah Valley University.
