Utah Valley High School Football Rewind: Special honors and surviving the first round of playoffs | News, Sports, Jobs

During halftime of the Springville vs. Highland football playoff game, Special Olympians were honored.

The organization “It’s cool to care” and its founder Caroline Simpson pairs high school students with other students with special needs as mentors and coaches for Special Olympic competitions. Springville has a robust organization and students as both mentors and athletes wore yellow and were recognized during the halftime break.

One particular student, Aubrey Leck, a cheerleader with special needs, was singled out for her competitive spirit and positive attitude in a nice tribute where she received yellow flowers from team captains of the football team. This was a touching moment that served as a reminder of the bigger picture that high school athletics and activities can bring people together.

Westlake and Wasatch make a great case for expanded playoffs: In 2019-20, the Utah High School Activities Association made some drastic changes by going to the RPI to rate teams for playoff seeds along with expanding the playoffs. No program has probably benefited more from this than Westlake.

Before expansion, Westlake (3-8) would regularly miss the playoffs playing in a very tough region with the likes of American Fork, Lehi, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Skyridge, and sometimes even Corner Canyon.

In the old format where four teams would advance to the playoffs, Westlake again would have been left out of the field as this year the Thunder finished fifth in 6A Region 3. But the Thunder won their first-round playoff game against Copper Hills (3-8), 41-26. Westlake did earn the home field advantage with its RPI seed of No. 16 again showing the strength of its league.

Nusi Taumoepeau crossed the goal line three times to pace the Thunder attack while Dreyson Afuvai had two touchdowns rushing as well, including a 67-yarder to paydirt. Westlake trailed 20-17 at the break but outscored the Grizzlies 24-6 in the second half to take control. The Thunder will hit the road to take on 6A top seed Corner Canyon (8-2).

And No. 19 seed Wasatch (3-7), which also finished fifth in its league, went on the road to beat No. 14 seed, and the 5A Region 4 champion West Jordan Jaguars (6-5), 29-21.

The Wasps found themselves down 21-13 going into the final stanza but Hutch Solomon started the comeback with a 2-yard run. The two-point conversion attempt failed leaving Wasatch behind 21-19.

But then with just 2:01 left in the contest Teague Fritz split the uprights with a 28-yard field goal to put Wasatch ahead 22-21. Then the Wasp defense came through to preserve the victory as Brody Hulme had a 22-yard pick six.

Earlier in the game Solomon had another scoring run and Fritz kicked three field goals in the game, which in the end, was the margin of victory. Wasatch will make another trip to the Salt Lake Valley to take on No. 3 seed Brighton (9-1) in the second round of the 5A playoffs.

American Leadership Academy (ALA) and Utah Military Academy-Camp Williams (UMACW) make history: Some history was made when ALA (5-5) and UMACW (2-6) won their first-ever playoff games, both in rematches against overmatched teams.

ALA blitzed Providence Hall (0-11), 63-21. Nico Marble tossed four touchdown passes and Kannon Huntsman had three touchdown rushes to place the Eagles. Meanwhile, UMACW shellacked Monument Valley (0-7) for the second straight week, winning 44-0.

ALA will now visit 2A No. 2 seed Emery (7-2) in Castle Dale, while the Marauders will head north to Randolph to take on top seed Rich (7-3) in the 8-man football tourney.

Lucky No. 13 worked for Salem Hills and Springville: Salem Hills (6-5) took care of business on its home field against Tooele (4-7). The No 13 seeded Skyhawks scored the first 35 points enroute to a 38-7 victory over the Buffaloes.

Skyhawk quarterback Jedi Nelson had a 59-yard touchdown connection with Peyton Higginson then ran for a 37-yard score. He also added another 33-yard touchdown pass to Ledger Holmes.

The Skyhawks will head down just over four miles on Highway 198 to take on rival No. 4 seed Spanish Fork (8-2) in the second round of the 4A playoffs. In an earlier meeting, the Dons prevailed 30-2.

5A No. 13 seed Springville (6-5) overcame a sluggish start trailing No. 20 seed Highland (3-7) 7-0 at halftime. But thanks to a suffocating defense, some hard running by Lisiate Valeti and two touchdown throws from Easton Leavitt, the Red Devils advanced and now will take on No. 4 seed Timpview, a team that shutout the Red Devils 45-0 in the regular season.

Bulldogs need to exorcise home playoff demons: For Provo (7-2) to make a deep playoff run, it needs to reverse a trend that has plagued the Bulldogs for nearly 20 years.

In the last 19 seasons, the Bulldogs have suffered from some painful playoff losses on their own home turf. These include Olympus (2005), Box Elder (2006 in the quarterfinals), Woods Cross (2009), Murray (2015), Viewmont (2018), Timpview (2019 in the quarterfinals), Orem (2021), Box Elder (2022), and Payson (2023).

Provo, the No. 2 seed in 4A, will draw No. 18 seed Dixie (4-6) this week, and if they can get past the Flyers, the Bulldogs will be able to host a quarterfinal contest, either against No. 10 seed Mountain Crest (7-3) or No. 7 Sky View (6-4). Dixie went on the road, though a short distance, to beat their St. George rival Pine View (4-6), 48-35.

Intriguing second round games: There are two very interesting matchups in the 5A tourney involving county teams.

No. 5 Orem (8-2) will host No. 12 West (6-5). Yes, there is a disparity between the seeds but the Panthers are better than their seed suggests. West beat No. 6 Olympus and lost by just a single point to No. 3 Brighton thus finishing in a 3-way tie for the Region 5 title. The Panthers have won four of their last five games and crushed Taylorsville (4-7) last week, 68-14. The two have one common opponent and that favors Orem as the Tigers beat American Fork while the Panthers were handily defeated by the Cavemen, 41-15.

No. 7 seed Maple Mountain (7-2) will host No. 10 seed Northridge (7-4). Maple Mountain has lost two straight but those losses were to Orem and Timpview. The Knights started their season 5-0 and were the No. 1 team in the initial 5A RPI rankings. But then Northridge lost four of its last five in the regular season before earning a 35-21 first round win against No. 23 seed Hunter (4-7).

In 6A, there is another match-up between No. 5 and No. 12 seeds as American Fork (4-6) will visit Farmington (5-5). American Fork has played one of the toughest schedules in the state just by being in Region 3. Add in games against 5A powerhouse Orem, 6A juggernaut Corner Canyon and a good team from Nevada, there were some losses. Farmington started off its season slow but has won four of their last five and tied for the Region 1 title with Davis and Fremont. But don’t be surprised to see the Cavemen pull off the upset.

Only four valley teams were eliminated in the first round: Payson (1-9) didn’t qualify for the playoffs but Cedar Valley (3-8), Mountain View (3-8), Pleasant Grove (1-10), and Timpanogos (6-5) were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Timpanogos did host Bear River (4-7), losing 23-17. The Bears, at No. 21, were the lowest seeded team to win in the first round.

Back on the gridiron: A good chunk of county programs were seeded so high they had first round byes including 6A No. 2 Lone Peak (8-2), 6A No. 3 Lehi (7-2), 5A No. 4 Timpview, 5A No. 5 Orem, 5A No. 7 Maple Mountain, 4A No. 2 Provo and 4A No. 4 Spanish Fork.

Extra points: Two schools, including UMACW, will have to leave the state to get to their next games. The Marauders will travel to Randolph to take on Rich and the fastest route there will take them into Wyoming on I-80 then hitting US Highway 16 in Evanston to its final destination in the northeast corner of the Beehive State. The trip is actually just over two hours. But Whitehorse, located in Montezuma Creek in the southeastern tip of Utah, will trek nearly five hours to Water Canyon located in Hilldale. The fastest route will have their bus going through northern Arizona for the vast majority of the journey … Two former Utah County prep quarterbacks had huge games this past weekend as former American Fork quarterback Maddux Madsen led Boise State to a big 29-24 win over UNLV with two TDs passing and another on the ground. Meanwhile, Cooper Legas, who prepped at Orem, helped Tulsa make a remarkable 46-45 comeback victory against the University of Texas-San Antonio. Tulsa actually trailed 42-7 before the heroics of the former Golden Tiger who took over for starter Kirk Francis in the second quarter. Legas had 333 yards passing and five touchdowns … Utah County programs went 5-4 last week and now are 52-36 overall against teams outside the county.