Tournament Time:
Sixty-four of this year’s participants have seen postseason play at least once between 2006 and 2009. The other three are new schools in for the first time. Fifty-six teams – 85% – from the ’09 playoffs return.
Notably Absent:
Dixie and Grantsville are missing for the first time since 2001, a streak of eight straight appearances. For the Cowboys, it’s just the second miss since 1983. Viewmont sits out for the first time since 2002 – seven playoffs ago.
Back In:
Box Elder sees postseason action for the first time since 2006 and Payson for the first time since 2007. Logan is back for the 18th time in 19 years after a one-year hiatus.
Newcomers:
Herriman is the tenth team to qualify for the playoffs the year the school opened. Of the previous nine, only the 1980 Mountain View Bruins won a first round game (24-14 over Ogden). MV was also the only first-year school to ever host a playoff contest.
Most recently, Desert Hills and Salem Hills made state games their first year, in 2008.
Maple Mountain and Westlake join 20 others that went to state in just their second season. Westlake is also only the 13th school to host its first-ever playoff game and nine of the previous 12 won that game. Syracuse, in 2008, was the last team to achieve that and then advanced to the 5A semifinals.
Frequent Contestants
Just nine schools have made the playoffs more than 80% of the time that school has played football. Three have 100% attendance: Desert Hills makes its third appearance and new Herriman makes its first. But Rich has been in all 26 years of the school’s existence.
Hunter has been in 20 of its 21 seasons, Juan Diego 10 of its 11 and Timpview 30 of 34. Lone Peak’s been in 12 of its 14 seasons, Fremont 14 of its 17, and Skyline, 40 of its 49.
Millard makes its 58th appearance playing in its 119th postseason game this week, both state records. Box Elder has been in 54 times, Delta, 50, Orem, 47, and Grand, 45.
Skyline has played 110 state games, Delta, 100, Davis, 94, and Beaver, 90.
Postseason Victories
Skyline leads the state with 85 and Millard has 74. Others with at least 50 wins include Delta, 60, Davis, 59, Beaver, 56, Timpview, 53 and Kanab, which picked up its 50th playoff victory last Friday to become the seventh school to reach that level.
Playoff Streaks
Delta makes its state-high 36th consecutive appearance (since 1975), San Juan, its 34th (1977) and Highland its 28th (1983). Rich and Skyline are in the postseason for the 26th straight year (1985), Bingham for the 22nd consecutive season (1989) and Timpview for the 21st (1990).
San Juan is in the quarterfinals for the 24th consecutive season with a qualifier: ten of those quarterfinal games were also first-round contests for the Broncos, including this year. With a win, SJ will advance to the semis for the 17th time in those 24 seasons. Millard is in the quarters for the 17th straight time, but again, ten of those were first-round games.
Skyline is attempting to advance to the quarterfinals for the 16th time in 18 years. Timpview has won ten straight first-round games and 15 in 16 seasons. Juan Diego is trying to win a first-round game for the ninth year in a row. Bingham, Cottonwood and Kanab have won six straight opening-round contests and Alta, Delta, and San Juan have snared five.
Cedar, Davis and Millard have grabbed four consecutive tournament-opening games.
Home-field Advantage
Seven schools, led by Skyline’s remarkable 35-0 home playoff record, have never lost a playoff game on their own turf, and of those, only the Eagles are hosting this weekend – the first time since 2007. However, several teams that do host this week still have a decided home-field postseason advantage: San Juan 27-2 (.931), Fremont 10-1 (.909), Juab 9-1 (.900), Timpview 31-4 (.886), Milford 7-1 (.875), Mountain Crest 18-3 (.857), Bountiful 15-3 (.833), Alta and Davis 19-4 (.826), Delta 27-7 (.794) and Juan Diego 10-3 (.769).
Millard has the most home wins in the postseason, 38, followed by Skyline, 35; Timpview, 31; Morgan, 28; San Juan and Delta, 27.
Meanwhile:
Riverton tries for its first-ever state tourney victory in eight attempts (opened 1999). The Silver Wolves host West, which shoots for its first playoff win since 1977, going 0-7 in the postseason since then. Milford also hopes to nab a state contest, 0-8 since 1999.
Kearns is 0-7 in postseason action since ’93. Payson, too, looks to end its postseason drought, 0-6 since 1986.
More Playoff Trivia:
Juan Diego leads the state in playoff winning percentage, .792 (19-5), followed by Skyline, .773 (85-25), Timpview, .716 (53-21), Snow Canyon .679 (19-9) and Mountain Crest, .667 (36-18).
Playoff Notes:
Games matching teams with the best combined records: Logan (8-2) at Timpview (9-0) and Morgan (8-2) at Hurricane (9-1)…. Teams with losing records hosting a game: Alta (4-6) vs. Northridge (8-2) and Milford (3-7) vs. Altamont (6-3).
Just three teams with winning campaigns failed to qualify: Brighton and Timpanogos, both 6-5 and Woods Cross, 5-4.
A surprising 14 teams with losing records qualified for the tournament: American Leadership, 1-8; Milford and Monument Valley, 3-7; Union, 3-6; Orem, 4-7; Alta, Herriman, Kanab and Monticello, 4-6; and Payson, 4-5. Last week saw another, South Sevier, then 1-8, win and advance in the 2A tourney while three other were eliminated: Gunnison, 2-6, North Sevier, 0-9, North Summit, 4-5.
First-year coaches in playoffs:
Of 14 coaches either in their first year or new at their current school, nine advanced to the playoffs. The seven new mentors are Lee Chadwick (Monticello), Josh Lyman (Cottonwood), Kai Smalley (Park City), Jon Snyder (Mountain View), Powers Whiskers (Monument Valley), Brian Williamson (Milford), and Weston Zabriskie (South Sevier), who already won a playoff game last week. The two with previous coaching experience, but new to their school, are Brandon Matich (East) and Larry Wilson (Herriman).
Playoff Parings:
First-time meetings: (5A) Lone Peak (9-1) vs. Syracuse (6-3), Cottonwood (9-0) vs. Herriman (4-6); (4A) Pine View (6-3) vs. Maple Mountain (3-8), Westlake (8-1) vs. East (7-2); (3A) Delta (6-4) vs. American Leadership (1-8), Bear River (5-4) vs. Desert Hills (6-3).
While these games pair schools for the first time, Bear River’s Chris Wise is 1-0 vs. Dixie’s Jake Nelson as they met when Nelson coached at Dixie and BR won a 3A semifinal 42-12 in 2006 at the U.
Here are the rest of the head-to-head team and coaches records and last meeting.
5A First-round
Riverton (9-1) vs. West (7-3) – Riverton 2-0; Riverton’s Mike Miller vs. West’s Justin Spencer – first meeting. Last meeting: Riverton 22-10 on Aug. 25, 2006.
Fremont (8-1) vs. Pleasant Grove (5-6) – Fremont 2-0; Fremont’s Kory Bosgieter vs. PG’s Dale Sampson – first meeting. Last meeting: Fremont 23-20 – 2 OT on Nov. 5, 1999 (4A quarterfinal at PG).
Skyline (5-4) vs. Kearns (7-3) – Skyline 16-4; Skyline’s Roger DuPaix is 2-0 vs. Kearns’ Bill Cosper. Last meeting: Skyline 35-7 on Sept. 19, 2008.
Davis (8-1) vs. Jordan (7-3) – Jordan 20-17-4; Davis’ Ryan Bishop vs. Jordan’s Eric Kjar – first meeting. Last meeting: Davis 21-6 on Oct. 21, 1976 (yep – 34 years ago; 2010 is the first postseason matchup).
Bingham (9-0) vs. Hunter (7-3) – Bingham 10-7; Bingham’s Dave Peck is 1-0 vs. Hunter’s Dustin Pearce. Last meeting: Bingham 41-7 on Oct. 15, 2008.
Alta (4-6) vs. Northridge (8-2) – Northridge 2-1; Alta’s Les Hamilton vs. Northridge’s Erik Thompson – first meeting. Last meeting: Northridge 27-20 on Aug. 24, 2000.
4A First-round
Highland (6-4) vs. Box Elder (6-4) – Highland 3-1; Brody Benson vs. Robbie Gunter – first meeting. Last meeting: Highland 24-21 – OT on 11/10/06 (4A semifinal at U)
Timpview (9-0) vs. Logan (8-2) – Logan 3-1; Timpview’s Louis Wong vs. Logan’s Mike Favero – first meeting. Last meeting: Timpview 43-7 on Sept. 10, 2004.
Springville (8-1) vs. Olympus (7-2) – Oly 2-0; Springville’s Scott Mitchell vs. Oly’s Mike Smith – first meeting. Last meeting: Olympus 18-14 on Oct. 31, 2003 (4A first-round at Olympus).
Spanish Fork (6-3) vs. Mountain View (5-5) – MV 8-7; SF’s Matt Christensen 1-0 vs. MV’s Jon Snyder. Last meeting: Spanish Fork 30-13 on Aug. 20, 2010 (endowment game) at Mountain View.
Bountiful (7-3) vs. Orem (4-7) – Bountiful 4-2; Bountiful’s Larry Wall vs. Orem’s Robert Steele – tied 2-2. Last meeting: Bountiful 17-14 on Oct. 26, 2007 (4A first-round at Orem).
Mountain Crest (7-2) vs. Payson (4-5) – MC 1-0; MC’s Mark Wootton vs. Payson’s Jeremy Chapman – first meeting. Last Meeting: MC 21-6 on Oct. 27, 2007 (4A first-round at MC).
3A First-round
Juab (7-3) vs. Union (3-6) – Juab 2-1; Juab’s Mike Bowring 1-0 vs. Union’s Sam Elliott. Last meeting: Juab 34-21 on Sept. 3, 2010 at Juab.
Juan Diego (8-1) vs. Manti (5-5) – JD 4-3; JD’s John Colosimo 4-3 vs. Manti’s Cole Meacham. Last meeting: Juan Diego 28-26 on Nov. 6, 2004 (2A semifinal at Springville).
Cedar (9-1) vs. Judge (5-5) – JD 2-1; Cedar’s Todd Peacock vs. JM’s James Cordova – tied 1-1. Last meeting: Judge 28-10 on Nov. 2, 2007 (3A quarterfinal at Cedar).
Wasatch (6-3) vs. Richfield (8-2) – Richfield 2-1; Wasatch’s Steve North vs. Richfield’s Corey Morrison – first meeting. Last meeting: Richfield 47-24 on Nov. 6, 1993 (3A quarterfinal at Wasatch).
Hurricane (9-1) vs. Morgan (8-2) – Morgan 3-2; Hurricane’s Chris Homer 2-0 vs. Morgan’s Kovi Christiansen. Last meeting: Hurricane 41-9 on Nov. 7, 2009 (3A quarterfinal at Hurricane).
Park City (6-3) vs. Emery (6-4) – series tied 4-4; Kai Smalley vs. Jim Jones – first meeting. Last meeting: Park City 41-7 on Oct. 31, 2009 (3A first-round at Park City).
2A Quarterfinals
San Juan (9-0) vs. Kanab (4-6) – San Juan 13-6; SJ’s Monte Lee 5-2 vs. Kanab’s Bucky Orton.
Last meeting: San Juan 28-0 on Aug. 20, 2010 (endowment game) at Kanab.
Enterprise (7-2) vs. South Sevier (5-5) – series tied 3-3; Enterprise’s Barry Jones 1-0 vs. SS’s Weston Zabriskie. Last meeting: Enterprise 42-0 on Sept. 17, 2010 at South Sevier.
Millard (7-2) vs. Grand (5-5) – Millard 20-2 (Grand last beat Millard in 1975); Millard’s Marshall Sheriff 4-0 vs. Grand’s Dennis Wells. Last meeting: Millard 32-21 on Sept. 10, 2010 at Grand.
South Summit (8-1) vs. Beaver (7-3) – Beaver 8-7; SS’s Jerry Parker vs. Beaver’s Steve Hutchings – first meeting. Last meeting: Beaver 42-0 on Nov. 2, 2002 (2A quarterfinal at Beaver).
1A Quarterfinals
Milford (3-7) vs. Altamont (6-3) – Altamont 13-8; Altamont’s Mick Fieldstead 1-0 vs. Milford’s Brian Williamson. Last meeting: Altamont 39-9 on Oct. 13, 2010 at Altamont.
Rich (6-3) vs. Monument Valley (3-7) – Rich 1-0; Rich’s Ashley Brown vs. MV’s Powers Whiskers – first meeting. Last meeting: Rich 63-7 on Sept. 27, 2002.
Winning Streaks
Bingham owns the longest current streak at 20 games. Timpview has won 19 straight and San Juan 17 in a row. Cottonwood has captured nine straight games while Duchesne and Fremont have won eight in a row. Millard and Lone Peak enter the playoffs with seven consecutive victories.
2010’s Most Improved
East leads the way moving from 1-8 in ’09 to 7-2 this year, a 6.0 game improvement. The Leopards are followed by Logan, 5.0 games better from 3-7 to 8-2, then Westlake, 4.5 games improved from 4-6 to 8-1, and Riverton, showing a 4.0 game improvement from 5-5 to 9-1.
Region Championship Streaks
Five teams set or continued school-record region title streaks: Juan Diego captured its eighth straight while Bingham and Timpview won their sixth in a row. Cottonwood and Mountain Crest grabbed their fourth consecutive league crowns and Hurricane claimed its third straight. While not school records, Park City and San Juan also won their third consecutive region crowns.
Also, Timpview took its eighth in nine years and Mountain Crest, its sixth in seven years.
Winning Seasons
By defeating Hunter on Saturday, Bingham will garner its sixth straight double-digit win season…. Altamont will claim seven W’s, its most since 2003, with a win at Milford…. At 7-3, Beaver has its most victories since its 9-2 season in ’02, its last winning season…. Box Elder (6-4) has secured its first successful campaign since 2006…. Cedar (9-1) has its most victories since 2004 (10-3)…. Fremont (8-1) is just two years removed from a 1-9 season…. Kearns (7-3) hasn’t won seven in a season since 1993 (10-2) and has just its eighth winning season in its 45-year history…. Richfield (8-2) has posted its most triumphs and just its third winning campaign since 1988 (10-2)…. Riverton (9-1) has its most victories in its 12-year history…. San Juan will guarantee its fifth double-digit win season in six years by beating Kanab…. Timpview needs to oust Logan to get its fifth consecutive double-digit win season and ninth in 11 years…. West (7-3) is enjoying its first winning season and most victories since 1996 (10-2).
Milestones:
An expected Bountiful win over Orem will not only propel the Braves into the quarterfinals, but reward Larry Wall with his 200th victory. Juan Diego’s John Colosimo is on target for his 150th career win in stints at Judge and JD; he coached his 250th game last week. Syracuse’s Russ Jones is gunning for his 50th career victory.
Corey Morrison his directing his 75th game at Richfield while Mike Miller will try to capture Riverton’s first-ever playoff victory in his 75th contest there.
San Juan hopes to get its 350th win while Pleasant Grove competed in its 700th game on Tuesday in capturing a playoff berth over Brighton. Judge stayed alive and will play its 750th contest.
Undefeated Regular Seasons:
Bingham celebrated its third undefeated, untied regular season and first since 2006. San Juan and Timpview seized their fifth, and Cottonwood its second, undefeated seasons – those three last went unbeaten in 2008.
More Bingham:
Much has been made, and rightly so, about the 2010 Miners being among the best, if not the best prep football team ever from Utah, especially with their overwhelming victories and national top-five rankings throughout the season. Of course, Bingham still needs to win the 5A championship to ensure its place in history.
In nine regular-season games, the Miners averaged 52.1 ppg and won by an impressive 43.2 ppg.
Naturally, it is impossible to compare teams of different years and eras and guess how each would have fared against the others. But it may be instructive to look at how powerful teams fared against their own competition.
Perhaps the most dominating team was East in 1919. The Leopards outscored opponents 552-0, including a win over the Utah State Freshmen, a 148-0 drubbing of L.D.S. High and a 79-0 trouncing of Payson in the first Utah high school championship game. East averaged 61.3 ppg.
Games were 60 minutes back then and East played 540 minutes and with 552 points, averaged just over a point a minute (1.02). Local newspapers of the time claimed that to be a world record.
The 2010 Miners topped that, so far anyway, having scored 469 in 432 minutes of action, nearly 1.1 points per minute against arguably tougher opposition.
The 1919 Leopards margin of victory was 61.3 ppg, the state record. Other undefeated, untied teams whose winning margin averaged more than 40 ppg include Tooele, 50.2 ppg in 1928; West, 44.0 ppg in 1924; East, 42.6 ppg in 1921 and West, 41.5 in 1909. Six other squads averaged over 40-point wins, but they all had a loss or a tie.
The 1980 Millard Eagles were the last to win by more than 40 points on average (40.8). Bingham’s 43.2 average victory margin currently ranks eighth all-time.
The Miners’ 52.1 ppg scored is currently seventh best all-time and the highest since Dixie’s ’72 team averaged 52.2 ppg.
That Dixie squad scored 678 in 13 tilts and holds the record for Most Points in a Season. If Bingham can maintain its current average through four state games, the Miners will challenge that record.
Many other programs have dominated their eras, including Bingham and Jordan in the 1940s, Millard in the early ’50s, East in the late ’50s, Skyline in the late ’60s, ’70s and ’90s and Timpview in the 2000s, among others. With an expected state championship, the Miner program of the last five years will join that group – and the 2010 Miners will stake their claim as Utah’s best-ever team.
And San Juan’s Defense:
On the other side of the ball, San Juan has blanked six of nine opponents, including this week’s foe, Kanab, 28-0 in a Week One game. The Broncos have tied school records for season shutouts and consecutive shutouts (4). With three possible games left, San Juan can’t reach the state record of 10 season shutouts held by Beaver (1973), North Summit (1974) and Tooele (1929). However, depending on the outcome of its remaining contests, the Broncos could get the most shutouts in a season since Bear River recorded seven in 2003, Beaver posted eight in 1979 or Jordan whitewashed nine opponents in 1947.
San Juan has allowed just a single touchdown in each of the three games when opponents did score.
Allowing just 2.2 ppg so far is the best since Beaver gave up 1.9 ppg in 1973, but 46 other teams have held season opponents to 2.2 or fewer ppg in the 117 year history of Utah prep football.
Finally 1 & 2:
The only chance of a game between remaining undefeated teams is in 5A semifinals between Bingham and Cottonwood should both teams advance….
This week’s far-flung game: Monument Valley faces a nine-hour bus trip – some 470 miles – from the southeast (1/2 mile from Arizona) to the northeast corner of Utah to face Rich in a 1A quarterfinal Saturday afternoon. Then another nine hours getting home. Happy Halloween.
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