His grandfather coached there, so Brandon Matich decided to keep a family tradition going when he accepted the head coaching job at East High School.
After five seasons at Park City, the last two featuring Miner trips to the turf at Rice Eccles for the 3A semifinals, Matich takes over at East, where his grandfather Grant Martin walked the sidelines for 23 years.
Matich, who had a 39-18 record, had offers from 5A programs as well.
In a related story, Park City fullback Dylan Chynoweth has committed to play football next year for the Naval Academy. Chynoweth anchored the Miners’ running game and was the state 3A MVP.
BRAWL BACKFIRE:
Two Highland players and one West player were suspended after last week’s brawl at a basketball game.
The Highland players will sit our two games, the West player one. Officials are still investigating the incident, primarily to see if fans rushed the court after a fourth-quarter elbow was thrown.
WRESTLING RULES: Well, for the week anyway. Tuesday’s All Star Classic at UVU brought the state’s best 64 wrestlers together for an evening of competition. The highlights:
Kyle Collinsworth, Provo
File photo by Matthew Sauk
* The 5A team won the meet on the strength of Region I’s representation, going 8-8.
* In the feature match, Alta’s Carson Kuhn defeated Uintah’s Colby Christensen in a battle of nationally prominent wrestlers.
* The two feel-good stories belonged to Enterprise’s Colby Barlocker, a 2A champion who scored one for the small schools when he beat Payson’s Colton Cannon, and to Fremont’s Ronnie Wardleigh, who was originally an alternate but made the most of his opportunity and defeated state champion Mitch Brown.
Wrestling action continues this weekend at UVU with the Rocky Mountain Rumble, one of the Midwest’s biggest and most prestigious tournaments.
HEADLINE GROAN
: Let’s get it out our system. Juan Diego is making a charge in the 3A boys basketball when they beat Judge Memorial behind a strong effort from Ajay Pizza.
All together now: Pizza delivers.
Other quick notes from hoops: American Fork and Lone Peak now have two losses each in Region 4, whose opening night had three games decided by nine points. … Fremont’s win over Davis put it in control of Region 1, while Olympus has separated itself from the rest of Region 6. …
Provo-Lehi is shaping up to be a good Region 7 tussle after the Bulldogs needed Kyle Collinsworth to be Kyle Collinsworth and hit the game-winner with four seconds left Friday night. … Wasatch won at Morgan and showed it can do well in 3A. … Morgan’s girls team got the fan support when it beat Judge Memorial in the 3A feature game last week. … Syracuse and Springville remain unbeaten.
