Felt’s Facts – Week 4

The Unbeaten and the Winless

The number of undefeated teams dropped from 29 to 19 last week, while 10 squads picked up their first victory, leaving 22 still working for that initial win.

Four games this week pit unblemished Utah teams against each other: Beaver at South Summit, Grand County at Millard, Skyridge at Viewmont and Snow Canyon at Dixie.

Four more contests match winless teams: Cottonwood at Hillcrest, Enterprise at Gunnison, Ogden at Carbon and Riverton at Pleasant Grove.

Fast Starts

Skyridge, at 3-0 in its second season, has surpassed its 2-0 start last year.

A look at the other 18 teams with 3-0 records reveals four that are off to their best starts in several years – or in Milford’s case, a generation.

Milford, with a bye this week, last opened 3-0 in 1994. That year, the Tigers won their first eight games, their best-ever start. Snow Canyon and Viewmont hope to go 4-0 for the first time since both began 6-0 in 2006. That season marked Viewmont’s best-ever start, while SC’s best-ever was its undefeated 12-0 season in 1996. Millard seeks its best beginning since 2011 when the Eagles started 8-0.

The 14 other undefeated teams (Beaver, Bingham, Brighton, Corner Canyon, Dixie, Duchesne, Grand County, Kearns, Mountain Crest, Provo, Sky View, South Summit, Summit Academy and Timpanogos) have all started 4-0 or better at least once since 2012.

First-time Pairings

This week sees six first-time meetings between Utah teams: Duchesne at Richfield, Park City at Payson, Ridgeline at Copper Hills, Skyridge at Viewmont, Stansbury at Mountain Crest and Union at Mountain View.

Three games are first-time matchups with out of state teams. Alta plays Liberty (Henderson, Nev.) in the Polynesian Football Classic at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. (The double-header also features 3-0 Bingham facing 4-0 Kahuku (Hawaii), but they’ve met before). Summit Academy plays its first-ever game with a non-Utah team as the Bruins travel to Wendell (Idaho). Also, Green Canyon entertains Chugiak (Alaska); Chugiak is the third Alaskan team to travel to Utah. In the two previous games with Alaskan squads, American Fork defeated East Anchorage, 42-7, in 2007 and Pine View blitzed Juneau-Douglas, 46-13, in 2009.

Most-Played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

• Tooele and Grantsville spar for the 58th time with host Tooele dominating the series 42-12-3 since 1915.
• Springville and Lehi clash for the 56th time; visiting Springville rules the series 33-18-4 since 1919.
• Bonneville at Roy renew their feud for the 52nd time but first since 2014; the host Lakers have doubled-up their series edge over Roy, 34-17. From 1965, when Roy opened, through 2014, these two faced off every year.
• Davis and Clearfield also battle for the 52nd time; Davis, hosting this year, owns a 28-22-1 series lead since 1961.

Other Game Notes

Cedar travels to crosstown rival Canyon View in the annual Battle for the Pick. Cedar controls the series 17-3 and has carried home the Pick 10 of the last 11 years, ceding it to Canyon View in 2015.

Beaver invades South Summit; they last met just four games ago in the Class 2A title game which the Beavers won, 55-35. It’s the 23rd meeting between the two, but only the fifth during the regular season. The Wildcats have a 12-10 series lead.

Seven other contests feature teams that haven’t met for at least six seasons.

• San Juan visits Delta in their 10th meeting but first since 1992. Delta leads the series 6-3; one of the victories came in the 1991 Class 2A championship.
• Sky View hosts Madison (Idaho) with the series tied 3-3; they previously met annually from 1987 through ’92.
• Logan travels to Woods Cross holding a 3-2 series lead and a Class 3A championship-game win over the Wildcats in 1989. They last battled in 1994.
• Bingham and Kahuku clashed once before when the Miners whitewashed the Red Raiders 27-0 at Southern Utah University in 2007.
• Carbon hosts Ogden in their 15th meeting but first since 2008; the series is tied 7-7.
• East goes to Westlake in their second-ever meeting; the Leopards ousted Westlake from the 2010 playoffs in the first round, 48-28.
• Box Elder entertains Pocatello (Idaho) with a perfect 3-0 record against the Indians; they last met in 2011.

Milestone Game

Wasatch, hosting Skyline, aims for its 450th school victory.

First-year Coaches

Three of the 28 head coaches who roam the sidelines with new teams remain undefeated after three weeks: Beaver’s Jon Marshall (first-ever year), Corner Canyon’s Eric Kjar (first there, but ninth overall) and Sky View’s Danilo Robinson (first-ever year).

Game Notes from Week 3

Payson posted its first shutout since 2009, a span of 77 games. Only five schools have gone longer without shutting out an opponent. Altamont blanked an opponent for the first time since 2010, a span of 73 games. Parowan enjoyed its biggest-ever victory, crushing Calvary Chapel (Nev.), 72-0. The Rams’ largest previous win came over Monument Valley, 70-6 in 2002.

Duchesne has now won a current state-high 11 consecutive games. Beaver follows with a 10-game streak. Then come the 19 schools sporting a 3-0 record this season.

See you on the sidelines!

Felt’s Facts is a weekly column written by George Felt on high school football in Utah. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of St. George News.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2017, all rights reserved.