Felt’s Facts – Week 9

Region Championships

The next two weeks will be crammed with meaningful games for postseason qualifying and seeding and to determine champions for the 16 regions.

No schools have claimed outright titles yet, but six teams, the sole undefeated squads in their respective regions, own at least a share of a league championship: Olympus (Region 6), Timpview (Region 7), Springville (Region 8), Logan (3AA North), Juan Diego (3A North) and Beaver (2A South).

Olympus, Logan and Juan Diego play non-region games this week, so must wait to attempt grabbing region honors outright until Week 10.

This week, the schedule-makers did something right as five games pair teams that are undefeated in region games: Hunter at Davis (Region 2), Bingham at Jordan (Region 3), Highland at East (Region 5), North Summit at South Summit (2A North) and Diamond Ranch at Kanab (1A South).

Of course, the winners of those games snare at least a share of their region’s championship and secure a top seed for the playoffs.

This week, if Mountain Crest and Sky View get by Clearfield and Fremont, respectively, they’ll meet for the Region 1 championship at Sky View in Week 10.

If Herriman defeats Lehi this week, the Mustangs play Lone Peak for the Region 4 crown in Week 10.

In 3A South, Manti (3-1) hosts Juab (3-1) for the region title on Oct. 23. North Sanpete, also 3-1, shares the league crown by defeating Canyon View the same day.

Playoff Fever

Forty-five teams have booked tournament tickets leaving 51 teams fighting for the remaining 27 berths. Just five schools – West (Region 2), Riverton (Region 4), Carbon (3A North), Richfield (3A South) and Parowan (1A South) – have been booted from postseason contention.

A list of the 45 teams that have secured playoff berths and 11 others that have clinched at least a tie for a postseason berth are listed online in Randy Hollis’ article in last Sunday’s Deseret News.

Postseason Streaks

San Juan has qualified for the state tournament for a state-record 39 consecutive seasons. The Broncos last failed to appear in the playoffs in 1976. Highland is in for the 33rd straight year, the third-longest streak. (Delta has the second longest streak, appearing 38 times in a row from 1975-2012.) Rich is in for the 31st straight season (fourth longest streak) and Bingham is in for the 27th consecutive year (sixth longest streak). Beaver and Timpview qualify for the 26th straight time and Hunter is in for the 25th year in a row.

First-time Matchups (5)

Canyon View at Juan Diego, Duchesne at Wayne, Lone Peak at Woods Cross, Mountain Crest at Clearfield and Provo at Corner Canyon.

Most-played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

Nine of the most-played rivalries close the regular season in Week 10. That’s the highest concentration found in any week, but there are still a couple of long-running, and critical, matchups this week.

North Summit and South Summit hold their grudge game for the 85th time in the state’s 10th most-played rivalry. South Summit has won five of the past six. The Braves last defeated SS in 2013 and still lead the series 46-35-4. They’ve dueled at least once a year since 1942 except for the 1954 and 1959 seasons.

Highland and East duke it out for the 58th time since 1957 with Highland leading 33-24. The Rams defeated East 10-3 last year to break the Leopards’ three-game winning streak in the series.

Unusual Meetings

Kearns faces Weber for the fifth time, but first since 1996. The series is knotted at two wins apiece.

Hillcrest and Orem played 21 times during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, but meet for the first time since 2000. Orem leads the series 14-7.

Pine View and Murray tangle for the third time; PV won both previous meetings in 2005 and ’06.

Alta and Timpanogos skirmish for the seventh time, but first since 2007. Alta has taken all six prior contests.

Logan last faced Desert Hills in a 2008 first round playoff game, which it won 49-0.

Fremont and Sky View square off for the seventh time, but first since 2009, with the series tied 3-3.

Other Game Notes

Bingham battles Jordan for the 47th time since 1910 and has won the last six to claim a 24-21-1 series lead.

Layton and Viewmont also meet for the 47th time, but it’s taken them only 47 seasons, since 1968, to play that many games. Viewmont leads this series 26-20.

Milestone Games

Last week, South Sevier picked up its first win of the season and its 200th victory as a school.

This week, Bonneville (at Box Elder) again guns for its 350th win.

Millard’s Marshall Sheriff goes for his 125th career victory at Millard. Olympus’ Aaron Whitehead tries for his 75th win in stints at East (39) and Olympus (35).

A pair of coaches are directing their 150th contests: James Cordova, all at Judge Memorial, and Syracuse’s Russ Jones including previous stops at Viewmont and Woods Cross.

A trio of head mentors coach their 100th career games: Morgan’s Kovi Christiansen, Duchesne’s Jerry Cowan and Lehi’s Ed Larson, who has also been at Provo, Ogden and Timpanogos.

Most-Improved

Mountain Crest continues to enjoy the biggest turnaround of 2015, improving 5.5 games. (The NCAA calculates this by taking the difference in victories and the difference in losses, adding the two numbers and dividing by 2.) The Mustangs have gone to 7-0 from 4-8 in 2014. They’re seeking their eighth win for the first time since 1998.

Two schools have improved 5.0 games: Altamont (to 4-4 from 0-10) and Kearns (to 7-1 from 3-7).

Record Field Goals

Diamond Ranch’s Corey Lewis booted a state record-tying 62-yard field goal at home against Monticello on Friday. He hit another from long distance – but this was from “just” 60 yards – which ties him for the third longest, with two others, as well. Bingham’s Justin Sorensen made his 62-yarder in 2007. (Thanks to Rhett Sifford of KAAJ in Monticello for the report on Lewis.)

Another kicker, Cyprus’ Alex Trevino connected on just one field goal last week, but his 59-yarder now ties for the sixth longest in state history.

Others have noted, but it bears repeating, that Wasatch’s Skyler Southam hit five field goals against Maple Mountain last week. That tied the state-record for single-game field goals with Pine View’s Ethan Baer (2014) and Mountain View’s Brian Smith (2005). It hiked Southam’s season total to a state-record 19 surpassing the old mark by two. The BYU-commit has now kicked 35 field goals over his four-year career, an ongoing state record.

Southam also became the first player to kick at least three field goals in four separate games the same season.

More Kickers

There seems to be some kind of collusion among kickers to see who can get on the “at least three field-goals in a game” list. Last week, Manti’s Jordge Lemus got in on the action by kicking three against Richfield.

This season, at least three field goals have been made in a game 13 times. The previous high was 10 in 2012 and 2014. Nine players have worked to accomplish the feat this season. In addition to Lemus and Southam, they’re Connor Brooksby (Pine View), Gage Cuthbertson (Murray), Tanner Dayton, twice (Maple Mountain), Parker Rigby (Olympus), Brayden Sampson (Roy), J.T. Wood (Bonneville) and Joshua Young (Logan).

More Accolades

Brighton’s Simi Fehoko jetted to third in career receiving yards (3,244). He’s just 82 yards shy of second-place Cody Raymond (3,326 at Jordan, 2005-07) and 201 short of record-holder Austin Raught (3,445 at Fremont, 2003-05).

Fehoko is still in fourth place in career TD receptions (35), but only one behind Marquis Wilson (Juan Diego, 2004-04) and six away from co-record holders Raught and Raymond.

Sky View’s Bryce Mortenson has 32 career touchdown catches which ties him for sixth all-time.

Jordan’s Spencer Curtis nabbed seventh place in career reception yards (2,679), just 26 yards out of fifth place. He’s ninth in career receptions (153) and needs but 16 to reach a tie for fifth place.

American Fork’s Tanner Smith rose to 19th in all-time career passing yards (6,173) and to 16th in both career attempts (797) and career completions (446).

Maple Mountain QB Jaren Hall, who sprained his ankle against Wasatch last week, ranks 13th in career attempts (834) and 17th in career completions (442). He’s just outside the top-25 in career total offense (6,439 yards) and career passing yards (5,770).

Orem’s 31-21 win over Timpanogos featured two of the longest plays of the season – one by each team. Orem’s Jake Herman sprinted for a 95-yard TD, the longest run this season, in the first quarter to open the scoring. Timpanogos’ Casey Hamilton returned an interception 95 yards (third longest this year), to close the scoring.

Summit Academy’s Darrin Gethers returned two kickoffs for touchdowns in the Bears’ 70-7 shellacking of Gunnison. That hiked his season total to four, high in the state this year. He’s just the third player in the last five years to return two kickoffs for TDs in the same game. (Judge Memorial’s Mike Chambers holds the record with three in a 1967 contest.)

This Week’s Top-5…

Scoring teams: Jordan, 46.9; Canyon View, 44.5; Diamond Ranch, 41.8; Lone Peak, 40.6; Mountain Crest, 39.9.

Defensive teams: Bingham, 7.3; Kanab, 7.4; Duchesne, 8.0; South Summit, 9.8; Springville, 11.0.

By victory margin: Diamond Ranch, 30.7; South Summit, 29.5; Lone Peak, 29.3; Bingham, 27.5; Sky View 26.1.

Bingham Shutouts

The Miners held an opponent scoreless for the fifth time this season. That’s one off the school record set in 1941 and matches the number of shutouts Bingham posted in 1940 and 1946.

Region Champs II

For the six teams that have secured at least a share of a league crown, here are the number of region championships, including this year, and the previous year won for each school.

Beaver – 16th, 2013.
Juan Diego – 12th, 2013.
Logan – 27th, 2013.
Olympus – 12th, 2013.
Springville – 23rd, 2010.
Timpview – 20th and third straight, 2014.

By winning this week, the following schools get at least a portion of a region championship – and, for the successful, here are their number of region titles, including this season, and the last year each won.

Bingham – 23rd and fourth straight, 2014.
Davis – 30th, 2013.
Diamond Ranch – fourth and fourth straight, 2014.
East – 34th, 2013.
Highland – 16th, 2009.
Hunter – 11th and fourth straight, 2014.
Jordan – 27th, 2012.
Kanab – 23rd, 2013.
North Summit – 23rd, 2013.
South Summit – 13th and third straight, 2014.

Bingham, Diamond Ranch and Hunter are three-time defending region champions; that’s the longest current streak.

See you on the sidelines!

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