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Lone Peak quarterback Kepa Niumietolu passes the ball against Skyridge in the 6A football semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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Springville's Lisiate Valeti (2) crosses the goal line for a touchdown in a 5A state football playoff game against Highland on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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If you feel it’s early for high school football to be kicking off, well, you aren’t alone.

The Beehive State is ahead of the curve. In fact, when Brighton hosted Davis on Thursday, that game actually kicked off prep gridiron contests across the nation. On Friday, high school football will be in full swing for the next 15 weeks until things come to a close the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Utah is one of the fastest growing states so the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) realigns its schools every two years. For the 2025-26 school year, there are several Utah County schools changing classifications and regions.

The 6A classification is a bit strange with just three regions. Regions 1 and 3 have five teams and Region 2 has seven. Cedar Valley and Westlake will compete in Region 2, while northern Utah County schools American Fork, Lehi, Lone Peak and Skyridge will welcome Draper’s Corner Canyon into Region 3.

Region 3 has been called the SEC of Utah prep football. The teams that make up this league have won the last seven 6A titles while Lehi also won back-to-back 5A team titles in 2021-2022. Cedar Valley and Westlake should find things a bit easier in Region 2 though certainly Bingham, Herriman and Mountain Ridge are strong programs.

Pleasant Grove is moving down to 5A and will join arguably the best 5A league in Region 7 with the likes of Orem, Maple Mountain, Springville and Timpview. Also joining this league coming up from 4A is Spanish Fork, which was just one play short of winning its first-ever football state title. It seems like cruel and unusual punishment to put Payson in 5A football after the Lions won just winning a single game in 4A last season. But in regards to enrollment, the numbers are the numbers. This league, which also contains Wasatch, should provide epic matchups every week.

As 4A Region 8 loses Payson and Spanish Fork, it does pick up Park City. The Miners have been consistent winners and were 10-2 last season. Provo has won the last two league titles and brings back a lot of talent. Salem Hills, which competes in 5A in about every other sport, will stay in 4A for football. Meanwhile, Orem will compete in 4A in many sports but in 5A for football. All of this can get a bit confusing. Orem city schools Mountain View and Timpanogos will compete in 4A Region 8.

ALA will stay in 2A football while Utah Military Academy-Camp Williams (UMACW) will play 8-man football in 2025 and most likely will move up to 11-man football in 2026. This 8-player thing is catching on as 12 schools will take part including Escalante and Panguitch. Milford went from 1A 11-player to 8-player for this latest UHSAA realignment.

There is one new school this year. Desert Peak opens up in Tooele County and will play in 4A Region 11 which has some tough Cache Valley programs.

Coaching Carousel

Every year brings a number of coaching changes and Utah County programs aren’t immune. It was a busy offseason and some of these changes took place at high-profile programs with a bit of mystery surrounding the circumstances.

Former BYU safety Travis Uale will take the reins at Timpview on an interim basis as Donny Atuaia stepped down this summer. At Maple Mountain, the school’s administration parted ways with Kalin Hall and turned inward to its staff to hire former Salem Hills head coach Harry Schwenke. Meanwhile, Jeremy LaPan was named the head coach at Pleasant Grove, taking over for Taylor Walkenhorst, who took the head job at Bonneville.

At Lehi, Ed Larson went out on his own terms and truly guided the Pioneer program to greater heights. One of his long-time assistants, Andy Hadfield, will take the lead. Meanwhile, former BYU linebacker Uani Unga replaces Abe Poduska at Mountain View while Wasatch, though technically not a Utah County program, brings in Derik Bringhurst for Jody Morgan, who just lasted one year at the Heber City school. Zac Connors is the new head man at Cedar Valley, replacing the school’s original coach, Weston Zabriskie.

American Fork’s Aaron Behm, who started as the school’s head football coach in 2010, is the longest tenured coach in Utah County. And think of this: While Payson actually had five coaches in five years before Brian Wall recently settled into the position, American Fork has had just two head coaches since 1982 with Davis Knight and Behm.

With these coaching changes, much like what you see in college programs, players will move or transfer to schools as a reaction to these changes. So this migration of players can tip the balance a bit one way or the other.

Honoring Our Veterans

Though the West Field vs. Salem Hills non-region game on Aug. 29 won’t have a huge implications in the rankings, it’s what happens before the game that is really important. Get there an hour early because that’s when the activities start as Salem Hills, and its head coach, Jeff Higginson, puts on an amazing tribute to veterans.

Last year, Gov. Spencer Cox even made a visit.

This has become an annual event at the southern Utah County program and gets bigger and better every year. Last year, Salem Hills invited Provo to be a participant and members of the band and cheerleaders made a wall with both Salem Hills and Provo players escorting veterans through it. There were musical numbers and other tributes and it will hard not to get teary eyed. For me personally, it was a bittersweet as my own father-in-law, a veteran of the Korean Conflict, had passed away in the spring prior.

The pre-game honors were extra special for Provo head coach Kirk Chambers, who was grateful that his team could take part. Provo had started its season off with two losses and then there was the cancellation of the rivalry game with Timpview when threats were made against Chambers and his family.

Provo earned a victory that night, a win that kickstarted a run through Region 8, leading to a league title and a No. 2 seed for the 4A playoffs.

A Pause in the Rivalry

Provo and Timpview will not play this year in football. Last year the game was canceled and this year the two schools, each in different regions and classifications, did not schedule a game. I think this is a good call in light of what happened last season. Provo School District Superintendent Wendy Dau did outline a plan to bring better unity between these two Provo city schools.

Timpview has dominated the rivalry and won 30 straight games against the Bulldogs from 1990 to 2019, with Provo’s last win coming in 1989. The matchup has taken an odd turn lately. Timpview won by forfeit due to the pandemic in 2020 and the teams didn’t play in 2021 and 2022. The T-Birds won 21-3 in 2023 but the 2024 game was ruled a forfeit win for Provo.

With Timpview in Class 5A and the Bulldogs in Class 4A, both schools have realistic chances to host trophies in 2025.

No titles for Utah County in 2025

Last year was the first time since 2016 that Utah County was shut out in winning a state football title. Lone Peak and Spanish Fork lost close ones in the 6A and 4A championships, respectively, while Timpview was eliminated by Roy 29-19 in the 5A semifinals. Though Corner Canyon (6A), Bountiful (5A) and Crimson Cliffs (4A) have been tabbed as favorites, I truly expect teams from the valley to capture titles, as in plural.

Utah Valley Prep Football Schedule

Friday