Felt’s Facts: Get the lowdown on the prep football playoffs

Felt’s Facts – Week 11 2017

Tournament Time

Of the record 80 teams in this year’s playoffs, a record 63 – nearly 80 percent – also played in the 2016 tournament. Seven more return after a one-year hiatus: Bountiful, Corner Canyon, Judge Memorial, Mountain Crest, North Sanpete, Spanish Fork and Union.

Skyridge, in its second season, makes its first-ever appearance.

The other nine teams and the last time each made the tourney include Carbon (2000), Cyprus (2008), Bonneville (2009), Granger and Mountain View (2012), Richfield (2013), and Parowan, Riverton and Weber (all 2014).

Frequent Contestants

Seventeen schools have made the postseason at least 80 percent of the time those schools have played football. Four have perfect attendance, led by Rich, which has been in the playoffs all 33 years of the school’s existence. The others are Desert Hills (10th appearance), Summit Academy (sixth) and Ridgeline (second).

The other thirteen 80-percenters:
Hunter, 96.4% (27 of 28 seasons)
Juan Diego, 94.4% (17 of 18)
Syracuse, 90.9% (10 of 11)
Lone Peak, 90.5% (19 of 21)
Timpview, 90.2% (37 of 41)
Herriman, 87.5% (7 of 8)
Diamand Ranch, 85.7% (6 of 7) – didn’t field a team this season
Fremont, 83.3% (20 of 24)
Alta, 82.5% (33 of 40)
Skyline, 82.1% (46 of 56)
Enterprise, 81.0% (17 of 21)
Duchesne, 80.9% (38 of 47)
Corner Canyon, 80.0% (4 of 5)

The Top-20 Playoff Appearances (including 2017)
1. Millard – 65
2. Box Elder – 60
3. Delta – 55
4. Orem – 53
5. Grand County – 52
6. Beaver – 51
7. Morgan, North Summit – 50
9. Davis, Logan – 49
11. Kanab, Wasatch – 48
13. Jordan, Springville – 47
15. Monticello, Skyline – 46
17. Bingham, East – 45
19. Dixie, Highland, Judge Memorial – 44

Through last week, Millard has played in 132 state games, Skyline – 119, Delta – 110, Beaver – 104 and Davis – 102.

The Top-20 Postseason Victories (through Oct. 19)
1. Skyline – 88
2. Millard – 81
3. Timpview – 70
4. Beaver, Delta – 65
6. Davis, Dixie, East – 60
9. San Juan – 57
10. Bingham – 58
11. Judge Memorial, Kanab – 56
13. Jordan – 55
14. Highland – 54
15. Logan – 53
16. Morgan, North Summit, South Summit – 51
19. Bountiful – 49
20. Orem – 48

Consecutive Years in Playoffs

Here’re the schools that have advanced to the postseason at least 20 straight seasons, including this year (active streaks in bold).

41 seasons, San Juan, 1977-2017
38, Delta, 1975-2012
35, Highland, 1983-2017
33, Rich, 1985-2017
29, Bingham, 1989-2017
28, Beaver, 1990-2017; Skyline, 1985-2012; Timpview, 1990-2017
27, Hunter, 1991-2017
26, Bear River, 1981-2006
23, Bonneville, 1978-2000; Millard, 1995-2017; Morgan, 1995-2017
21, Alta, 1997-2017; Davis, 1972-1992; Kanab, 1971-1991; Manti, 1997-2017; Monticello 1973-1993
20, Beaver, 1969-1988

Other lengthy active streaks include Monticello, which advances to the playoffs for the 19th consecutive year (since 1999), Duchesne and North Summit, which make the postseason for the 18th year in a row (since 2000) and Juan Diego, which sees tournament action for the 17th straight year (since 2001).

Quarterfinal Streaks

These 2017 quarterfinalists have made quarterfinal round at least 75-percent of the time over the past 20 seasons, including 2017.

A note of explanation: In smaller classifications, fewer teams means fewer rounds in state tournaments, so, often, the quarterfinal round is also the first round of the playoffs. Also, Class 1A schools aren’t included since the 1A tournament has started with the quarterfinal round since 2001.

  • San Juan – 31st quarterfinal in 31 seasons (15 times, the quarterfinal was the first game, but SJ defeated North Summit to advance to the quarterfinals this year). With a victory at South Summit this week, the Broncos make the semis for the 23rd time in those 31 seasons.
  • Juan Diego – 17th in 17 seasons (eight times, the quarterfinal was the first game, including this year).
  • Millard – 22nd in 24 seasons (11 times, the quarterfinal was the first game, but Millard defeated South Sevier to advance to the quarterfinals this year).
  • Manti – 18th in 21 seasons (12 times, the quarterfinal was the first game, but Manti defeated Judge Memorial to advance to the quarterfinals this year).
  • South Summit – 17th in 21 seasons (11 times, the quarterfinal was the first game, including this year).
  • Delta – 23rd in 29 seasons (five times, the quarterfinal was the first game, including this year).
  • Grand County – 10th in 13 seasons (five times, the quarterfinal was the first game, including this year).
  • Beaver – 15th in 20 seasons (nine times, the quarterfinal was the first game, including this year).

Opening-round Winning Streaks

Several schools enjoy lengthy opening-round active winning streaks. Bingham has bagged 13 straight first-round games. With its victory last week, San Juan has also snagged 13 in a row. All-time, they tie with Skyline, which won 13 straight playoff openers from 1993-2005, but Bingham sets a state record with a win this week.

Rich has captured 11 consecutive opening-round contests while South Summit has won eight.

Seeking First Tourney Win a While

Four of this year’s participants haven’t won a playoff game since the 1990s. Kearns last celebrated a tournament win in 1993 (0-12 since) and Granger last pocketed a postseason victory in 1997 (0-8 since). Cyprus and Weber last advanced past the first round in 1999 (Cyprus 0-6 since and Weber 0-3 since winning the 4A crown in 1999).

Home-field Advantage

Twelve schools, led by Skyline’s remarkable 38-0 home playoff record, have won every postseason game on their own turf. Last week, American Leadership captured its first home playoff contest, which was also the Eagles’ first-ever tournament victory in eight tries.

Of the other teams undefeated at home in playoff games, only Corner Canyon (3-0), Parowan (2-0) and Summit Academy (3-0) host this season.

(The “unbeaten at home” that don’t host this season, which includes those that didn’t make the tournament, by victories – Skyline (38), Snow Canyon (11), Ben Lomond (2), Canyon View (1), Monument Valley (1), Ridgeline (1), Salem Hills (1) and Timpanogos (1).)

A dozen more hosting this week have a decided home-field postseason advantage. By percentage:

Timpview – .907 (39-4)
Beaver – .889 (24-3) and Milford – .889 (8-1)
Grantsville – .875 (21-3)
Juab – .867 (13-2)
Bingham – .854 (35-6)
Mountain Crest – .852 (23-4)
Highland – .840 (21-4)
Lone Peak – .808 (21-5)
Dixie – .806 (29-7)

Millard has the most home wins in the postseason – Millard 42, followed by Timpview – 39, Skyline – 38, Bingham – 35, San Juan – 33, Delta – 32 and Morgan – 31.

Notably, just seven programs have hosted the first game of the playoffs for more than 10 consecutive seasons: Millard – 19 from 1997-2015; Timpview – 18 from 1994-2011; Juan Diego – 16 from 2002-17; Bingham and San Juan – 13 from 2005-17; South Summit – 12 from 2006-17; and Jordan – 11 from 1981-91.

First-year Coaches

The season saw 28 coaching changes from 2016, and 18 of the newly hired coaches advanced their teams to the playoffs. Of the 23 who are first-time mentors, 16 took a team to the tourney, listed by school: Trint Richins (Altamont), Nate Porter (American Leadership), Jon Marshall (Beaver), Ross Arnold (Fremont), Kody Byrd (Grantsville), Kaleo Teriipaia (Jordan), Bart Brockbank (Lone Peak), Gary Crittenden (North Summit), Braden Mitchell (Northridge), Carter Miller (Parowan), Harry Schwenke (Salem Hills), Barkley Christensen (San Juan), Danilo Robinson (Sky View), Mike Knight (Syracuse), Jeff Lewis (Tooele) and Andrew Fresques (Woods Cross).

Two of the five who had previous head-coaching experience, but are new to their school, qualified for postseason action: Erik Kjar (Corner Canyon) and Blaine Monkres (Riverton).

More Playoff Notes

Two teams with winning records, Snow Canyon (6-3) and Timpanogos (6-4), failed to quality for the postseason. Two .500 teams, Brighton and Clearfield (both 5-5), didn’t make the cut. But 25 teams with losing records made the tournament “led” this year by Carbon, Gunnison and North Sanpete (all 0-9 before falling in the first round of the “all-comers welcome” Class 3A and 2A playoffs). Until this season, just four winless teams had appeared in the state tournament.

Six of the teams with losing records even host an opening-round game, including Class 3A’s Judge Memorial, 2A’s American Leadership and 2A’s San Juan. Those three were 3-6 at the end of the regular season, and their first-round home games were played last week. Class 6A’s Herriman and Hunter, both 4-5 and Class 3A’s Bonneville, 4-6, host this week.

First-time Encounters (7)

Bountiful at Corner Canyon (5A)
Cedar at Stansbury (4A)
Desert Hills at Bonneville (4A)
Granger at Lone Peak (6A)
Riverton at Weber (6A)
Skyline at Skyridge (5A)
Wasatch at Highland (5A)

Repeats of 2016 First-round Games

Jordan at Viewmont – the visiting Beetdiggers blasted Viewmont 63-20 last year and lead the series 2-1.

West Jordan at Syracuse – the Titans hosted last year, too, and defeated WJ 38-35 in their only previous meeting.

Season Rematches

This week also sees seven season rematches: Ridgeline at Spanish Fork (same field) in Class 4A; Manti at Summit Academy (same field) in 3A; San Juan at South Summit and Millard at Grand in 2A; and Altamont at Parowan, Rich at Milford (same field) and Kanab at Layton Christian (same field) in 1A.

More details follow under notes for each classification’s games.

Class 6A First-round Games – series record and last meeting

  • Granger at Lone Peak – first meeting
  • Riverton at Weber – first meeting
  • Northridge at East – Northridge leads 3-2; East won 24-15 in 2014.
  • American Fork at Hunter – AF leads 5-2 and won 31-21 in 2016.
  • West Jordan at Syracuse – Syracuse leads 1-0 and won 38-35 in a 2016 first-round game at Syracuse.
  • Cyprus at Bingham – 54th meeting; Cyprus leads 24-21-8 and won 17-14 in overtime in 1992.
  • Pleasant Grove at Kearns – PG leads 2-0 and won 52-25 in 2012.
  • Fremont at Herriman – Herriman leads 1-0 and won 52-13 in a 2015 quarterfinal game at Herriman.

Class 5A First-round Games – series record and last meeting

  • Wasatch at Highland – first meeting
  • Bountiful at Corner Canyon – first meeting
  • Jordan at Viewmont – Jordan leads 2-1 and won 63-20 in a 2016 first-round game at Jordan.
  • Skyline at Skyridge – first meeting
  • Alta at Roy – Roy leads 3-2. Alta won 24-19 in 1990.
  • Olympus at Springville – Oly leads 3-1 and won 43-37 in 2013; all four previous contests were also first-round games.
  • Provo at Lehi – 25th meeting; Provo leads 18-6 and won 49-7 in 2010.
  • Woods Cross at Timpview – Timpview leads 6-1 and won 41-13 in a 2014 semifinal.

Class 4A Games – series record and last meeting

  • Salem Hills at Mountain Crest – MC leads 1-0 and won 55-6 in a 2009 first-round game.
  • Park City at Dixie – PC leads 1-0 and won 17-3 in a 2003 first-round game at Park City.
  • Cedar at Stansbury – first meeting
  • Ridgeline at Spanish Fork – series tied 1-1; SF won 22-8 on Aug. 18 (Week 1) at home. Ridgeline took a 17-0 victory at home in 2016.
  • Tooele at Pine View – PV leads 5-1 and won 38-36 in a 2016 quarterfinal at Tooele.
  • Mountain View at Sky View – series tied 1-1; SV won 45-23 in a 2007 quarterfinal at home. Mountain View’s victory came in a 1983 first-round game at home, 21-15.
  • Bear River at Orem – Orem leads 1-0 and won 48-18 in a 1983 first-round game at BR.
  • Desert Hills at Bonneville – first meeting.

Class 3A Quarterfinals – series record and last meeting

  • Richfield at Morgan – Morgan leads 7-3 and won 32-13 in a 2013 quarterfinal at home.
  • Union at Juab – Juab leads 10-1 and won 42-23 in 2016.
  • Manti at Summit Academy – SA leads 1-0 and won 28-0 on Sept. 15 (Week 5) at home.
  • Juan Diego at Grantsville – JD leads 13-0 and won 34-21 in 2016.

Class 2A Quarterfinals – series record and last meeting

  • San Juan at South Summit – San Juan leads 7-6; South Summit won 51-8 on Aug. 18 (Week 1) at San Juan.
  • Millard at Grand County – Millard leads 22-4; GC won 40-7 on Sept. 8 (Week 4) at Millard.
  • American Leadership at Beaver – series tied 1-1; Beaver won 20-14 in 2010. ALA’s victory came in 2009, 21-14.
  • North Sevier at Delta – Delta leads 4-0 and won 63-6 in 1992.

Class 1A Quarterfinals – series record and last meeting

  • Monticello at Duchesne – 48th meeting; Monticello leads 26-21; Duchesne won 35-6 in a 2016 quarterfinal at Duchesne. The Eagles have taken 11 straight over Monticello.
  • Altamont at Parowan – Parowan leads 7-2 and won 53-0 on Aug. 18 (Week 1) at Altamont.
  • Rich at Milford – Rich leads 17-3; Milford won 21-7 on Sept. 15 (Week 5) at home.
  • Kanab at Layton Christian – Kanab leads 3-1; LCA won 7-0 on Sept. 22 (Week 6) at home. All four games in the series have been shutouts.

Drum Game

Monument Valley and Whitehorse clash in The Battle of the Drum, which includes a traveling trophy, a custom-made drum, to commemorate the rivalry of these two Navajo Nation schools. They collide for the 36th time with Whitehorse holding a slim 19-16 series lead.

Most Wins Since…

A victory this week gives Milford (8-1) its most wins since going 9-3 in 1999. Weber (8-1) enjoys its most victories since its 1999 state championship season (11-2).

Parowan (7-2) has seven victories for the first time since 2008, but the Rams have won more games just once in their previous 68 seasons. In 1989, Parowan went 9-2 and made its only championship-game appearance (but lost to North Summit 28-26).

Lehi (8-3) hasn’t fared better since the Pioneers won 10 games in 2002. Clearfield (5-5) didn’t make the playoffs, but finished with its best record since going 6-5 in 2004. North Sevier (6-4) celebrates just its 10th winning season in 59 years of football and first since the Wolves’ 10-3 campaign in 2008.

A Bonneville victory this week rewards the Lakers (4-6) with their most wins since going 5-5 in 2011. Viewmont (7-2) celebrates its most victories since its 8-4 season in 2011.

Five teams have their most wins since 2012: Altamont (5-4 vs. 5-7 in 2012), Northridge (6-4 vs. 9-3), Ogden (3-7 vs. 3-7), Orem (8-2 vs. 8-4) and Payson (4-7 vs. 4-7). Altamont last had more victories in 2010 (7-4) and Orem, in 1996 (10-3).

For the third straight year, American Leadership (4-6) has won a school-record four games.

2017’s Most-Improved Teams

Millard continues to lead the state as this year’s most-improved squad, going from 0-10 in 2016 to 7-3 so far, an improvement of 7.0 games. (The NCAA calculates this by taking the difference in victories and the difference in losses, adding the two numbers and dividing by 2.) Weber (3-7 to 8-1) and Mountain Crest (3-6 to 9-1) are 5.5 games better. North Sevier and Richfield (both 1-9 to 6-4) have improved by 5.0 games.

Winning Streaks

Bingham, Corner Canyon, Sky View and South Summit enter the playoffs with nine-game winning streaks, the longest active streaks. Weber has won eight straight. Layton Christian, Lehi and Orem enjoy six-game streaks, and Beaver, Morgan and Stansbury have won five in a row.

Milestones

Jordan attempts to pick up its 550th victory. Wasatch plays its 850th game and Parowan, its 600th.

Among coaches, Desert Hills’ Carl Franke aims for his 50th win in six seasons.

Kearns has scored in 34 consecutive games, tying a school record originally set from 1971-74.

Season Shutouts

Parowan has posted five shutouts, a school-record and the most in the state this year. Weber has blanked three opponents, the most for the Warriors since 1999 when they also whitewashed three teams. No other team has more than two shutouts thus far this year.

Player Update – Season Stats

Here’s where this year’s crop of players rank in the top-20 (or close enough) in all-time season performances. The list is alphabetical by school and then by player. An asterisk indicates the player’s team in done for the season.

East’s Sione Molisi ranks:

  • 15th (tied) for consecutive 100-yard rushing games – nine – and needs one more to reach the top-10.

Granger’s Mosese Sonasi ranks:

  • 21st in net rushing yards – 2,051 – and needs 154 more to break into the top-10.

* Green Canyon’s Chad Yorgason ranks:

  • Second in reception yards per game – 143.3.
  • 12th in receiving yards – 1,433.
  • 13th (tied) in touchdown receptions – 18.

Lehi’s Cammon Cooper ranks:

  • Eighth (tied) in passing touchdowns – 41 – and needs three more to reach the top-5 and 12 to match the state record.
  • 13th in passing yards – 3,551 – and is 67 yards shy of 10th place.
  • 13th in completions – 241 – and is 13 away from the top-10.

* Taylorsville’s Ma’a Hall ranks:

  • First (state-record) for reception yards per game – 144.9. His season is finished, but players still competing in the state tournament could change his position. Stay tuned.

* Taylorsville’s Dane Leituala ranks:

  • Eighth (tied) for consecutive 100-yard rushing games – 10.
  • 14th (tied) for 100-yard rushing games – 10.

Player Update – Career Stats

Here’s this week’s update on players who rank in the top-20 in all-time career performances that Felt’s Facts has been tracking this season. The list is alphabetical by school and then by player. An asterisk indicates the player’s team is done for the season.

Alta’s Will Dana ranks:

  • 19th in passing yards – 6,347 – and needs 889 more to reach the top-10.
  • 14th (tied) in TD passes – 70 – and is five away from the top-10.

Alta’s Zach Engstrom ranks:

  • Sixth in receiving yards – 2,872– and needs 224 more to reach the top-5.
  • Eighth in receptions – 171 – and needs 27 more to reach the top-5.
  • 21st (tied) in touchdown receptions – 27 – and is one away from the top-20.

Alta’s Jett Sollis ranks:

  • 13th in extra points – 133 – and is nine away from the top-10.

Corner Canyon’s Conner Ebeling ranks:

  • 13th (tied) in field goals – 21 – and needs two more to reach the top-10.

Corner Canyon’s Colton Lawson ranks:

  • 18th in receiving yards – 2,194 – and is 423 away from the top-10.

Dixie’s Hobbs Nyberg ranks:

  • eighth in receiving yards – 2,840 – and needs 256 more to reach the top-5.
  • 15th (tied) in touchdown receptions – 29 – and is three away from the top-10.
  • 15th in receptions – 151 – and needs 16 more to reach the top-10.

Jordan’s Crew Wakley ranks:

  • Eighth in touchdowns-responsible-for – 101 – and is nine away from the top-5.
  • 12th in total offense – 8,775 yards – and is 382 yards away from the top-10.

Kearns’ Sese Felila ranks:

  • Eighth (tied) for 100-yards-rushing games – 22 – and needs two more to reach the top-5.
  • Ninth (tied) for rushing touchdowns – 56 – and is four away from the top-5.
  • Ninth in carries – 606 – and needs 65 more to reach the top-5.
  • 18th in net rushing yards – 4,234 – and needs 454 more to make the top-10. Just 22 other Utah players have rushed for more than 4,000 yards during their career.

Lehi’s Cammon Cooper ranks:

  • Second (tied) in touchdown passes – 101 – and is 13 away from the state record.
  • Second in passing attempts – 1,276 – and is 158 short of the state record.
  • Second in completions – 786 – and is 25 away from the state record.
  • Third in passing yards – 10,197 – and is 754 away from second place and 2,732 off the state record. Cooper is just the third Utah player to pass for over 10,000 yards during his career. The others are Jordan’s Austin Kafentzis, 12,929 yards from 2011-14 and Mountain Crest’s Alex Kuresa, 10,951 yards from 2007-10.
  • Fourth in total offense – 10,103 yards – and is 961 yards away from third place. He’s one of just four Utah prep players to surpass the 10,000-yard mark for total offense. The others are Jordan’s Austin Kafentzis, 19,678 yards from 2011-14, Mountain Crest’s Alex Kuresa, 12,917 yards from 2007-10 and Taylorsville’s Dane Leituala, 11,064 yards from 2015-17.
  • Sixth in touchdowns-responsible-for – 109 – and is one away from the top-5.

Lehi’s Dallin Holker ranks:

  • 10th in receptions – 167 – and needs 31 more to reach the top-5.
  • 14th in receiving yards – 2,454 – and is 284 away from the top-10.

Lehi’s Kade Moore ranks:

  • Sixth in receptions – 195 – and needs three more to reach the top-5.
  • 10th in receiving yards – 2,738 – and needs 358 more to reach the top-5.
  • 11th (tied) in touchdown receptions – 31 – and is one away from the top-10.

Pine View’s Connor Brooksby ranks:

  • Ninth (tied) in field goals – 23 – and needs two more to reach the top-5.
  • 17th in extra points – 127 – and is 15 shy of the top-10.

South Summit’s Keegan Stracher ranks:

  • 17th in receptions – 141 – and needs 26 more to get to the top-10.

* Taylorsville’s Dane Leituala ranks:

  • Third in total offense – 11,064 yards. He’s one of just four Utah gridders to reach the 10,000-yard mark in total offense. The others are Jordan’s Austin Kafentzis, 19,678 yards from 2011-14, Mountain Crest’s Alex Kuresa, 12,917 yards from 2007-10 and Lehi’s Cammon Cooper, 10,103 yards from 2014-17, but he has at least one more game before ending his prep career.
  • Fifth in touchdowns-responsible-for – 110.
  • 15th in passing yards – 6,812.
  • 15th (tied) for 100-yards-rushing games – 20.
  • 17th in net rushing yards – 4,252. Just 22 other Utah players have rushed for more than 4,000 yards during their career.
  • 18th (tied) in touchdown passes – 67.
  • 19th in passing attempts – 800.

Another note: 35 players have more than 2,000 reception yards during their career including two more that don’t rank in the top-20: Orem’s Puka Nacua (2,186) and South Summit’s Keegan Stracher (2,056).

See you on the sidelines!

4A football playoff bracket

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

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