It was another great week in football for Utah County schools with many outstanding individual performances as a trio of teams earned a shot at becoming the champs.

Football expert Brian E. Preece takes a look back at the superlatives from the 5A and 6A semifinals:

Three Utah County teams will vie for state titles Friday while across the state five gridiron champions were crowned including the first in 8-player football.

Region 4 rivals Corner Canyon and Skyridge will battle for the 6A title while familiar foes Lehi and Timpview face each other in another rematch for the 5A crown.

Lehi’s defense dominates: Before Stansbury faced Lehi, the Stallions had the highest scoring offense in all of Utah prep football. But the No. 4 seeded and previously undefeated Stansbury left the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium without scoring a point as Lehi pummeled the Stallions 42-0.

Lehi benefitted from five Stansbury turnovers, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries to score 35 first half points. The only thing that seemingly slowed down the Pioneer onslaught was the running clock in the second half. It was Lehi’s seventh shutout in 13 games.

Kadiyon Sweat had two picks while Nathan Anderegg had another, while Hema Katoa and Camden Williamson pounced on fumbles. Williamson also had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss. Pioneer defensive end Isaac Terrell also made his presence known with his own tackle for loss and teaming up with Williamson on a sack himself. Middle linebacker Chanse Williams and Katoa led the team in total tackles with eight and six respectively.

The Pioneer offense did its job as well as Jackson Brousseau was 17-for-29 for 225 yards and four touchdowns. Carson Gonzalez ran for 105 yards on just 13 carries for a score. Gonzalez had 156 all-purpose yards with 56 yards receiving to his credit. All total, Lehi had 391 yards total offense, and most importantly, took care of the pigskin with zero turnovers.

Micah Beckstead and Quezon Villa lead Timpview to the 5A state championship game: Beckstead ran wild all over the No. 11 seed Orem Tiger defense racking up 189 yards on 23 carries with three touchdowns leading Timpview to a 48-31 victory. No. 2 seed Timpview advances to meet top-seeded Lehi for the 5A state title.

Beckstead had scoring runs of 42, 25 and 20 yards while teammate Quezon Villa thrilled the crowd with a 92-yard kickoff return to paydirt. Villa also scored on a 14-yard reception and his 41-yard scamper with just under a minute remaining in the game put the exclamation point on the Thunderbird victory. Villa had 215 all-purpose yards while Beckstead netted 208.

Lance Reynolds III had a nice game in a losing cause for the Tigers tossing for 237 yards and three touchdowns while having 95 yards on the ground on 15 carries. Feleti Iongi had nine receptions for 99 yards for the Tigers and 181 all-purpose yards.

Falcon defensive backs show ball hawking skills as Skyridge punches ticket to 6A title game: In a game where Bingham actually had more total yards than Skyridge (376 to 325), turnovers, particularly interceptions, proved to be the difference as No. 2 seed Skyrdige defeated No. 3 seed Bingham 45-20 to advance to the 6A championship game.

Smith Snowden opened the Falcon scoring barrage with a 95-yard pick six. Saxon Higbee and Dalton Young also had picks which derailed the Miner offensive attack as Skyridge went into halftime with a 21-7 halftime lead. Young led the team with 12 total tackles while Higbee had ten himself.

Iakopo Malufau was a one-man wrecking crew from his defensive tackle position registering 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack while outside linebacker Mason Anderson registered 11 tackles.

In his second start since missing six games to injury, Falcon signal caller McCae Hillstead was 12-for-18 for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Tate Walker ran for three scores while Falcon place kicker Ian Kessler was 6-for-6 on extra points and added a 29-yard field goal.

Rematches in the 5A and 6A games: The 5A and 6A title games will be rematches between region rivals.

Lehi defeated Timpview 28-24 in a classic where the Pioneers scored a touchdown with 1:21 remaining and saw its defense hold on.

Meanwhile, Skyridge’s only loss on the year was to Corner Canyon 21-17. The Falcons went without Hillstead in that contest.

Tale of the Tape: Looking at the 5A final, it’s really Timpview’s offense against Lehi’s defense though the two teams are actually very good on both sides of the ball. Lehi (13-0) has scored 558 points in 13 games for a sparkling 42.9 points per game average while just yielding 103, or 7.9 points per game.

Timpview (10-2) has scored 536 points in 12 games for a 44.6 average while yielding 237 (19.8 points per game). Both teams played good competition during the year as the Pioneers defeated Corner Canyon 25-24. But Timpview’s schedule might have been a bit more difficult overall as the Thunderbirds took on three 6A powerhouses in Bingham, Lone Peak and Skyridge, only losing to Skyridge, 20-13.

Timpview is seeking its 12th state title, the most of any Utah County school. But the Thunderbirds haven’t won a title since 2014. Timpview has lost in its last two trips to the championship game where they were defeated by Orem in both cases.

Lehi is going for its fifth state title in school history and third with Ed Larson at the helm. Lehi is also the defending 5A state champion.

In the 6A ranks, top-seeded Corner Canyon (11-2) did lose two games this year, the aforementioned defeat to Lehi by a single point while the Chargers were also blown out by Bishop Gorman out of Las Vegas, 42-7. Skyridge is 12-1 with its lone loss to Corner Canyon.

The numbers seem to favor Skyridge in the rematch as the Falcons have scored 535 points (44.6 per game) while yielding 133 (10.3 per game). Meanwhile, Corner Canyon has scored 492 points (37.8 per game) while giving up 241 (18.5 per game).

Skyridge played a good bulk of their season without Hillstead and Falcon fans are hoping having their 3-year starter and all-state quarterback back for this meeting will be the difference.

Though a relatively new school, Corner Canyon has won three state titles and their head coach Eric Kjar has won four titles, as he also led Jordan to a state title in 2012. This is Skyridge’s second trip to a state championship game. The Falcons lost the 5A state title to Lehi in 2017.

In Skyridge’s trip to the 2017 5A title game, the Falcons did defeat Corner Canyon in the semifinals when the Chargers were led by current New York Jet starting quarterback Zach Wilson. Wilson’s younger brother Isaac is the starting signal caller for Corner Canyon.

Redemption Victories: Desert Hills (10-3) defeated Crimson Cliffs (10-3) 30-14 for the 4A title for its third one in school history. Crimson Cliffs defeated the Thunder earlier in the year 21-14 and were making their first appearance in the championship game in their fourth year of existence. The two St. George schools are less than six miles apart.

In the 3A title game, Morgan (13-0) crushed Juab (12-1), 55-3. The two schools have met three times in the last four years to battle for the gold trophy. Juab won the last meeting 17-14 in 2020. Morgan only allowed 90 points on the season, or less than a touchdown at 6.92 points per game.

Other state title games: San Juan finished 13-0 and scored 603 points on the season (46.3). The Broncos defeated Beaver (8-5) for the second time this season, 41-21, to win the 2A title.

In 1A, Layton Christian (10-3) thumped the Kanab Cowboys (10-3) 55-19, and in the first ever 8-player championship, Gunnison (7-4) downed Monticello (4-2), 26-22.

By the way, two more undefeated teams went down last week. Juab lost to Morgan in a battle of unbeatens, while in 5A, two other teams with 12-0 records squared off but Stansbury had their perfect season ruined by Lehi.

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