Dixie Flyers hope to get back to 4A state championship game, lean on talented senior class for leadership

Written by E. George Goold
August 5, 2022

ST. GEORGE — It’s a new season and a new group of Flyers on the Dixie High School football team.

The Flyers offense lines up at a football practice, St. George, Utah, Aug. 5, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

While memories of last year’s defeat in the 4A state championship game still linger for the Flyers, a new season brings new players and a fresh perspective for a Dixie team that had a remarkable playoff run before falling 45-20 to undefeated state champion Ridgeline.

“Well, we just talk about it,” veteran head coach Blaine Monkres told St. George News after practice Friday morning.

“When we start the year we tell them it’s a new year, you’re a new team, doesn’t matter what you did last year,” he added. “Nobody cares. That’s last year’s group, you’ve got your own mark to make on Dixie High football. So you just got to go out and get it done. You got to focus up, work hard, get a few breaks and hopefully we’ll get there again.”

Several key players return from that squad, led by senior athlete Seth Takau. The versatile Takau plays quarterback and also lines up at running back and sometimes wide receiver for Dixie.

Monkres said that it’s a two-man battle between Takau and senior Jalen Schultz for the starting quarterback position.

“He (Takau) and Jalen will both see time in the first game, we’ll just go from there,” Monkres said. “They’re both different, have different skill sets. We might use them both all year long, I haven’t made that decision yet.”

Last year’s squad relied on the quarterback-receiver tandem of Bronson Barben and Jakheo Mitchell.

Barben is currently on a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will play at Utah Tech when he gets back. Mitchell was named Region 10 MVP on offense after hauling in 37 passes for 637 yards and 10 touchdowns and will play at Utah State.

Monkres said he didn’t have to go far to find someone to step in for Mitchell.

“Blake Watson has had a lot of time and varsity reps. He has the skill set to pick up where Jakheo left off,” Monkres said. “He’s fast and tall – he’ll be a tough matchup for a shorter corner.”

Dixie head football coach Blaine Monkres talks to his team after a practice, St. George, Utah, Aug. 5, 2022 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Offensive line will be a strength for Dixie as three returning starters are back.

“They know what they’re doing, it’s just a matter of them getting their timing down and knowing all their blitz pickups,” Monkres said. “We should be good to go.”

Seniors Chet Atkinson (safety), Treven Alldredge (linebacker) and Dave Hollings (linebacker) return to bolster the Flyers defense.

“We’ve got the majority of our linebackers back,” Monkres said. “Our D line has been doing a great job for us; hopefully, we can put pressure on teams from a defensive standpoint.”

Monkres, in his 34th season coaching on a Utah high school sideline, likes to put in a lot of players in the pre-Region 10 portion of the schedule.

Dixie opens the season with two home games- Springville (Aug. 12) and Riverton (Aug. 19), then will play at Palm Desert, California in its third game (Aug. 26).

“Of course we want to try to win those games. We’ll get a lot of kids opportunities,” Monkres said. “Preseason just hopefully gets us prepared for the region to make a run, and then region prepares us to make a run in the state tournament.”

Dixie’s Region 10 opener is at home against Pine View on Sept. 9. Monkres predicted that Region 10 might come down to a battle between Desert Hills, Crimson Cliffs and Snow Canyon.

“I think Crimson is going to be really good on offense, that first game (against Desert Hills) will be a good indication of how the region is going to go,” Monkres said. “Snow Canyon has a good crew over there coming back, they’re going to be tough too. Those three are the favorites going into region play.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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