Utah Valley High School Football Rewind: Memories, big games and special moments highlighted Week 9 | News, Sports, Jobs

This past week my two side hustles intersected in Vernal, allowing me to attend the Provo vs. Uintah showdown last Thursday night.

Provo (6-2, 5-0) won easily 63-27 to clinch at least a share of the 4A Region 8 title. The Bulldogs can win the trophy outright with a win against Mountain View this Wednesday.

I grew up in Vernal moving to Salt Lake in my sixth-grade year. The current high school sits on what used to be a hay field owned by my parents. My father Dennis Preece was a teacher and very successful head wrestling coach at Uintah where he was the architect of the Uintah wrestling dynasty winning nine state titles in his 12 seasons as head coach from 1966-1977.

But during his time there, Uintah was completely futile on the gridiron and, in fact, had a losing streak that touched seven different seasons in the late 1960s through the 1970s.

My father, and his good friend Clark Jones, would often do the radio broadcasts of the games and one time Uintah was facing a third down and 49 yards to go. Jones asked my father what the Utes should do and he just quipped, “hell, they should just punt the ball now and get it over with.”

Uintah has won one state title, coming in 1994 with Curg Belcher at the helm. He was really the only coach in that school’s history that could solve the riddle, though this year with new head coach Francisco Llanos, Uintah has posted its first winning season this century with a 6-3 overall record.

Provo has had its own share of misery on the gridiron. In the span of several seasons from the late 1990s through early 2010s, Provo suffered through three winless seasons, and four others where the Bulldogs won two games or less.

In 1982, Provo won its only title in football with Frank Henderson and bringing Henderson back to coach from 1999 through 2003 did bring a semifinal run in 1999 but only modest overall success after that. For the next 10 seasons, there were glimpses of success here or there but they were fleeting, and then another winless campaign in 2013.

In 2014, the Provo administration hired Tony McGeary and the fortunes of the program took a more positive turn with winning seasons and playoff berths. Then the Provo administration made another brilliant hire bringing over Kirk Chambers from Spanish Fork, who assisted McGeary for a few years before taking the helm as head coach in 2020.

Chambers led Spanish Fork to its only appearance in a state championship game in 2012 and now has won back-to-back region titles at his alma mater. Still, deep playoff runs haven’t happened in the last ten seasons, but this 2024 Bulldog team looks to buck that trend.

The beautiful moments in high school sports: Matt Cooper arrived at Timpview High School two years ago and is a big part of the program though he is a special needs student. According to Thunderbird head coach Donny Atuaia, Matt attends all practices faithfully. And just prior to Timpview’s game with Maple Mountain, his dream of running in a touchdown came true.

Atuaia praised Kalin Hall for allowing his program to take part.

“We’ve had practices where we’ve given him the ball, but to have him do it in this setting was amazing,” Atuaia said. “I’m grateful to Coach Kalin Hall and I’m glad that we’re friends. I reached out to him to set that up and he said yes. Kalin knows Matt and knows he is a great kid.”

Kudos to both head coaches and programs for making a young man’s dream come true and reminding us that there are more important things in life than who wins on Friday night.

Orem and Springville staged a classic: Orem (8-1, 4-0) overcame a 37-24 deficit with just over six minutes remaining to down Springville (5-4, 2-3) 38-37 setting up a showdown with Timpview (5-2, 4-0) for the 5A Region 7 title.

Tiger quarterback Tayden Ka’awa found Beck Coy on a 25-yard scoring connection with 4:41 left in the final stanza and Kaue Akana split the uprights on the all-important point after to deliver the win. Akana also hit a 35-yard field goal.

Feleti Iongi had two touchdowns to help the Tiger cause while Ka’awa tossed for two touchdowns and ran for another.

Springville had its share of heroic performances including Jack Pickering’s 98-yard kickoff return that put Springville ahead by 13 points with 9:48 remaining. Pickering also caught a TD pass from Easton Leavitt and Zach Olsen ran for two touchdowns including a 35-yard romp to paydirt.

Current RPI rankings and what is at stake in Week 10: Going into the final week of the regular season there are some important things to track and some differ based on classification.

The 4A and 5A have the most schools that play football and not all their teams will make the state playoffs but rather the top 24 teams. Teams with the seeds or ratings nine through 16 will host first round games. Those teams seeded one through eight get byes in the first round and will host second round games while the top four teams (barring victory) will get to host quarterfinal contests as well.

In 6A, seeds 1-14 will get byes in the first round while seeds 15-18 will have first round games. In 2A, the top five seeds get byes and in 8-player the top seven of nine teams get first round byes.

Here are the current RPI rankings of area teams:

• Class 6A: Lone Peak (No. 2), Skyridge (No. 3), Lehi (No. 4), American Fork (No. 12), Westlake (No. 17), Pleasant Grove (No. 18).
• Class 5A: Orem (No. 4), Timpview (No. 5), Maple Mountain (No. 7), Springville (No. 13), Wasatch (No. 20), Cedar Valley (No. 23).
• Class 4A: Provo (No. 2), Spanish Fork (No 4), Timpanogos (No. 11), Salem Hills (No. 14), Mountain View (No. 23), Payson (No. 25).
• Class 2A: ALA (No. 8); 8-player: UMA-Camp Williams (No. 8).

In the last week, some teams are fighting for survival while others would like to get into that top four and assure themselves a couple of home games in the playoffs.

Statistical Superlatives: Carson Rasmussen accounted for four touchdowns (three passing, one running) as Timpview shutout Maple Mountain (7-2, 3-2), 35-0.

Porter Dinkins connected on three field goals including a 41-yarder as Salem Hills (5-4, 3-3) beat Timpanogos (6-3, 3-2), 30-14. Tate Allred had a pick six and Jedi Nelson threw two touchdown passes to further the Skyhawk cause.

Provo’s Gehrig Orchard tossed five touchdown passes and Ollie Mackay had three scores on the ground as Provo destroyed Uintah 63-27 in Vernal.

Kaden Vest romped for four touchdowns while Don quarterback McKay Smith threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Spanish Fork (7-3, 4-1) blew past Payson (1-8, 0-5), 52-27. Trevyn Wall had four touchdown passes for the Lions in the loss.

Kepa Niumeitolu tossed three touchdown passes as Lone Peak (7-2, 3-1) slipped past Lehi (6-2, 2-2), 24-21. Legend Glasker caught two touchdown passes for the Pioneers in defeat.

Skyridge (7-2, 4-0) blasted Pleasant Grove (1-8, 0-4) 49-7 thanks to four touchdown passes by Kanael Sweetwyne. Easton Simmons also had a 70-yard pick six for the Falcons.

Lewis Knecht nailed two field goals and all four extra points, while Davis Gaisford had two touchdown passes as American Fork (4-5, 2-2) eased past Westlake (2-7, 1-3), 34-14.

Big Game of the Week No. 1: Orem will host Timpview Wednesday to decide the 5A Region 7 title. Both are undefeated in league play. Orem is fourth in the 5A RPI and Timpview is fifth. A win by the Thunderbirds might just swap their positions but both could improve their lot and maybe move into the top three with a win. Both teams have playmakers on both sides of the ball but the fans should expect a game where the winner gets at least 35 points. Common opponents suggest a Timpview victory but rivalry games always seem to defy trends.

Big Game of the Week No. 2: ALA (4-4, 1-2) is set to host Judge Memorial (2-7, 1-3) on Friday. Both are No. 8 and No. 9 in the RPI respectively. If ALA wins, perhaps it will move up into the top six or seven and get a bye in the first round of the 2A playoffs. If Judge Memorial wins, the teams likely swap spots in the RPI ratings and they will meet in a rematch hosted by Judge Memorial. A win would also give the Eagles its first winning regular season in program history.

Big Game of the Week No. 3: At No. 25 in the 4A RPI, Payson really needs to get a victory against Uintah or they will likely miss the playoffs altogether. The records indicate that Uintah should win this without much fuss but Payson has shown some offensive firepower in some of their games. And perhaps being at home playing with desperation might be the ingredients for an upset.

Extra points: UMA-Camp Williams (1-6) won its first game in program history with a 66-0 blowout victory against Monument Valley (0-5). And the 66 points the Marauders put up were the most in Week 9 across the state, while Provo’s 63 points tallied against Uintah was second most … Richfield (9-0) won again, moving its state-leading winning streak to 22 games … Roy (8-1) lost to Bountiful (8-1) so now only 4A Ridgeline, 3A teams Morgan and Richfield, along with 1A North Summit, remain undefeated, all with 9-0 marks … Seven Beehive State teams remain without a win but at least one will break through as Kearns and Cyprus will square off in a 5A Region 4 meeting between two teams with 0-9 records … For some strange reason, ALA and Layton Christian are in the same region but didn’t play each other this season … Utah County teams went 2-1 in its games outside the valley and are now 46-30 in contests in inter-county competition.