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Spanish Fork's Gus Snell holds his face mask after his team lost to Dixie in the 2012 UHSAA 3A football championship game between Dixie and Spanish Fork at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. Dixie won 49-21. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald

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Dixie's Tanner Webster hugs a coach after beating Spanish Fork 49-21 in the 2012 UHSAA 3A football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. SPENSER HEAPS/Daily Herald

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High school football finals are an exciting time for us photographers. For one, they are chock-full of intense action and powerful emotion. The photographer’s proverbial fish-in-a-bucket. The other reason we are joyous is that it means a reprieve from night games on pitch-black high school fields, standing around for three hours in the cold. 

However, there is an element of sadness for losing that weekly chance to test our skills and see what images we can come up with. And it is sad to see one of our local teams end their season in defeat. That end was especially crushing for Spanish Fork, who gave all they had in an effort to capture their first ever state title.

My desire for Spanish Fork to win might have been slightly selfish (jubilation photos are usually better than photos of dejection) but I also felt genuinely sorry for the players who fought so hard for so long, only to fall short in the end.

With that said, here’s to a lively basketball season ahead!