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Springville's Tuiono Valeti carries the ball against Maple Mountain in a high school football game on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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Springville's Treyton Harris (28) brings down Provo's Ronnie Wright during a high school football game on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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Orem's Easton Kojima (center) finds a hole near the goal line against Timpview in a 5A football state second round game on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

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On Friday, the Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah will host two 6A state semifinals with one 4A game to follow. One of these 6A games will feature No. 6 seed Lone Peak (7-4) vs. No. 2 seed Skyridge (9-2).

Each team has a bit of revenge on its mind as it enters this gridiron contest. For Lone Peak it wants to avenge an earlier season overtime loss to the Falcons 37-34. But last year, Lone Peak short circuited Skyridge’s dreams of taking state when the Knights won 28-21 in this very semifinal round.

There is a lot of familiarity in 6A as three of the four semifinalists return to Rice-Eccles as No. 1 seed Corner Canyon (10-1), last year’s champ, takes on No. 4 Mountain Ridge (10-2).

I suspect the Lone Peak-Skyridge game will be another nailbiter and I expect a great turnout from both sets of fans and a lot of interesting cheers by the students directed at their rival. Both schools are very familiar with each other and both programs are blessed with talent.

Corner Canyon should have an easier game with the upstart Sentinels. The question might be whether Lone Peak or Skyridge will have enough left in the tank to take on the Chargers.

In 5A, two local teams are still going strong and will play Thursday as No. 4 Orem (10-2) takes on No. 1 seed West (11-1). In the other semifinal, No. 3 Springville (11-1) takes on No. 7 Brighton (7-5).

It’s not that West doesn’t deserve the top seed but Orem being at No. 4 seems a bit questionable as the Tigers did beat Springville head-to-head to win Region 7. West’s only loss was to 6A American Fork 18-12, while Orem lost to 6A Lone Peak 34-21 and Rocky Mountain (Idaho) 39-37. One common opponent both have is Granger (7-5) though perhaps not too much should be put into that. Orem beat Granger to open the season 42-12 while West blanked the Lancers 42-0 five weeks ago.

On paper, it looks like Springville should advance as the Bengals have five losses. But Brighton just upset No. 2 seed Fremont (9-3) 27-14, a team that gave 6A Davis one of its two losses this year. The other Dart loss was to Lone Peak just this past week in a 41-38 overtime classic. The one common opponent both teams have is Alta (4-8). The Hawks were probably a lot better than their record suggests, losing to Brighton 28-25 and Springville 27-21.

These two 5A contests promise to be close games and one could see an all-Utah Valley final, or if things go bad, neither team makes it through. Since Springville’s only loss is to Orem by a 17-14 count on the road, I would love to see a rematch at a neutral site for all the marbles.

The other Utah County school left alive in the playoffs is No. 5 seed Provo (8-4) which takes on No. 1 seed Ridgeline (12-0) in one 4A semifinal. The Riverhawks are one of two remaining undefeated teams left across the state with 3A Cedar being the other, and the Bulldog faithful should take heart that last season Ridgeline was undefeated at this point of the state tourney and then lost to Spanish Fork.

Provo might be the only team that could derail Ridgeline this year as the Bulldogs have the combination of an explosive offense and good team speed on defense. Still, some common opponents suggest an enormous task awaits Provo as Ridgeline beat Park City 49-3 last week while the Bulldogs just got past the Miners 17-14. Both also played Green Canyon, who is also playing in the 4A semifinals vs. No. 2 seed and the two-time defending champions Crimson Cliffs. Provo beat Green Canyon 27-14 while Ridgeline dominated their Cache County rival 49-14.

While chalk has dominated the state tournaments generally, Green Canyon (8-5) has been the bracket buster. As the No. 14 seed, the Wolves upset No. 3 Snow Canyon 23-20 then beat No. 11 Skyline 28-26. Green Canyon gave Skyline just its second home loss in its playoff history against 38 victories.

Newer schools dominating large-school classifications: One interesting thing to note in the 4A though 6A classifications is just how new a lot of these schools are. Five of the 12 semifinal participating schools opened up less than ten years ago with Crimson Cliffs and Mountain Ridge opening up its doors in 2019. Crimson Cliffs has won the last two 4A titles while finishing second three years ago. The Mustangs are just one win away from their fourth straight championship appearance. Pretty amazing for a school this young.

Also in 4A you have Ridgeline which opened up in 2016. Green Canyon opened up a year later and made a championship game appearance against the aforementioned Crimson Cliffs in 2023.

Provo is by far the oldest of the group in 4A, opening its doors in 1912. Provo has one just state title and that came in 1982.

5A does feature four schools that have been around a while in West (1890), Springville (1902) and Orem (1956), though in Orem’s case they were known as Lincoln High which opened up in 1912. Brighton opened up most recently in the weeks after the Woodstock music festival in 1969. Orem has won seven titles including four in a row from 2017-2020. Springville (1985) and Brighton (1982) have each won one title. West has won 21 state titles but the Panther program hasn’t lifted the gold trophy since 1992.

In 6A, Lone Peak is the old school of the bunch, opening in 1997. The next oldest is Corner Canyon (2013). Skyridge (2016) and Mountain Ridge (2019) are the young pups.

Now for Mountain Ridge, this is the furthest the Sentinels have progressed in the state playoffs but Skyridge has won a state title and been in the championship game two other times.

In its 13th year, Corner Canyon has played in six state championship games winning four. So for its existence Corner Canyon has made the state title half of the time and won the title nearly one third of the time. Pretty mind boggling.

It also didn’t take Lone Peak to get going as well. Its first state title appearance was in 2002 with another in 2004 before the Knights broke through in 2011 with the first of three state titles. Lone Peak’s other two titles came in 2018 and 2021 while the Knights also took home the silver trophy last year and in 2020. So while the school is in its 28th year, Lone Peak has been in the championship game eight times or nearly 35% of the school’s history.

I think the common denominator of all these newer school successes is a lot of them were built in more affluent areas across the Wasatch Front and then of course attracted quality coaches. Also, some of these schools have seen an influx of talent that once played in other schools and these factors have been the recipe for success.

Small school classifications in championship round: In 3A, top seed Cedar City (12-0) goes for its first state title in school history as it takes on No. 3 seed Manti (9-3) which stunned No. 2 seed, and returning champ Morgan, 42-28.

In 2A, top seed San Juan (10-2) attempts to win its fifth state title as it takes on No. 3 South Summit (8-4). In 1A, No. 2 seed Beaver (10-2), which actually beat San Juan this year, will play arch-rival and top seed Kanab (10-1). In the 8-player championship finals, top seed Rich (9-3) goes for its third straight title as it takes on No. 2 seed Milford (9-2).

Trivia time: John Colosimo (Juan Diego), Roger Dupaix (Skyline) and Al Marshall (Beaver) all won eight state titles as coaches. Jordan’s Dunn “Snyde” Taylor (Jordan) won seven championships. Corner Canyon’s Eric Kjar is tied with five other coaches with six state titles and is one of five coaches in Beehive State history to win state titles at two different schools. Kjar won his first state title at Jordan in 2012. No one has coached three different schools to state titles in Utah.

Two other Marshalls — Jon and Thane — have coached a combined six state titles, Jon has won four titles at Beaver and Thane has won two at Beaver’s county rival Milford. Both hope to add to their tally this week. Speaking of Beaver, from 1979 to 1987 the Beavers played Kanab for the state title eight different times with each school winning four.

Lots of people are aware that Dave Houle has won a nation-leading 68 state titles as a coach in girls basketball and in boys and girls cross-country and track and field while at Mountain View High School. But Houle actually broke into coaching as Milford’s head football coach in 1977.