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Lehi's Austin McWilliams (56) and William McCleary (51) celebrate a defensive play during a 5A state football semifinal against Stansbury at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. (Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald)

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The Springville football team mauls tight end Walker Deede after the game-winning catch against Orem in the 5A state semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. (Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald)

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Lone Peak's Luke Durfey celebrates a defensive stop during the 6A football state semifinal against Skyridge at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (Patrick Carr, Special to the Herald)

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Lone Peak's Luke Hyde (right) hauls in a catch with Skyridge's Dalton Young (left) defending during the 6A football state semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 12, 2021. (Patrick Carr, Special to the Herald)

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A Springville running back runs the ball upfield during the 5A semifinal game against Orem at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. (Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald)

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Lehi's Hema Katoa (left) and Isaac Terrell take down Stansbury quarterback Ezra Harris for a sack during a 5A state football semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. (Darnell Dickson/Daily Herald)

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There is always something special for a high school football team when it knows it is playing in the last week of the season.

“You know this is your last game,” Lone Peak head coach Bart Brockbank said earlier this week. “You go into the playoffs knowing each week might be your last but when you know it is, I would say practice is a little less tense, a little more exciting. You spend a little more time with the seniors. It’s kind of a going-away week. I like spending the time with the seniors, talking about the year and going out and ending it right.”

The Knights, along with Lehi and Springville, all got to experience that this week as they prepared for the biggest games of the year, both taking place at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday.

The Red Devils and Pioneers will battle in the 5A title game starting at 11 a.m., while Lone Peak will be facing Corner Canyon in the 6A championship at 2:30 p.m.

Springville head coach Willy Child said he loves seeing his community come alive as his team has gotten ready.

“I don’t know how it is in other towns because I’ve never lived anywhere else,” Child said. “Seeing the signs up around town and getting all the text messages and phone calls, even from people who don’t even live in Springville anymore that are excited about the game, I love that community feel. I think it’s the coolest thing.”

For his part, Lehi head coach Ed Larson said he doesn’t think you can put a price tag on this type of experience.

“When you have a group of players that your really like, it’s great to go with them as far as you can go,” Larson said. “These kids are great. They’re fun to coach. They’re fun to be with. At practice, they compete against each other and they call each other out. There’s a lot of good things and just extending that is awesome.”

Each team faces unique challenges as they prepare for their respective title games.

The Pioneers love to set up the run by passing a lot, while the Red Devils look to do the opposite and set up the pass with a tough ground game.

Both teams, however, expect the other side to by physical and ready to go.

“They do a great job offensively, deciding who they are and what they want to accomplish,” Larson said about Springville. “They’re basically going to lock you up man-to-man for the most part and see if you can beat them. They’ve got good players and are a solid team all the way around.”

Child said: “Lehi has athletes at all positions. They aren’t dependent on one or two guys. They can spread it around. On defense, they’re really good at what they do.”

Lone Peak faces a juggernaut in the Chargers as they try to end Corner Canyon’s run of three straight state titles. The Knights ended the multi-year Charger win streak earlier this year, so they know Corner Canyon is going to be hungry.

“We have to be more focused,” Brockbank said. “We know that they are going to come in angry and frustrated, so we have to play at a higher level. We can’t just think that because we beat them once that we can walk all over them again.”

The keys to victory for all of the teams will be similar: Be strong in the trenches, win the turnover battle and avoid costly mental mistakes.

When the games come to a close, win or lose, the coaches said they want their players to have no regrets.

“I told them that you want to be able to look yourself in the mirror and look your teammates in the eyes and say that every time you were in, you gave it 100%,” Brockbank said. “You never took a play off and you can hold your head high. The process you can control, but the outcome you can’t. If we can each do that at the end of the day on Friday, hopefully good things happen. If not, you can still hold your head and know you gave everything.”

Larson said: “I think what I want them to learn is there’s a process. If you follow it, if you believe in something and keep steadfast to it, good things can happen. It doesn’t always go your way but it gives you the best chance to be successful. I think what we’ve tried to do with them is to get them to understand there is a process to how you prepare for games, how you prepare for the events in your life, and then you do the best with whatever’s presented to you.”

Child hopes the players realize that no matter what is on the scoreboard, they already paid the price to be worthy of getting to this point.

“They’ve invested pretty much a solid year and more to get to this point,” Child said. “They’ve put in all the sweat equity and they’ve just given up so much of their time for this opportunity. They believed in it. They’ve sacrificed a lot of their free time and their summers and their mornings to get to this point. Regardless of what happens, there’s no regrets just because of that investment.”

For more details on the 5A and 6A state football championships, go to UHSAA.org.

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