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Orem defensive players bring down West wide receiver Lester Falatea in a 5A football state semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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Lone Peak's Tate Barney makes a move against Skyridge in a 6A football state semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025.

Harold Mitchell, Special to the Herald

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Springville's Max Harris runs with the ball in a 5A football state semifinal game against Brighton at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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In the Daily Herald’s football preview to start the season, yours truly predicted that two Utah Valley teams would be hoisting gold trophies when the dust settled in November.

I am still standing by that prediction.

Of course, one is guaranteed when Springville takes on Orem in the 5A final Thursday night. No valley teams are playing for the 4A title so Lone Peak has to beat two-time defending 6A champions Corner Canyon to make this prognostication a reality.

6A Final Preview

The first element to beating Corner Canyon is that one has to believe you can actually beat Corner Canyon. It has to go beyond simple slogans like “why not us?” or “on any given Sunday (or Thursday in this case)”. It has to be truly internalized by the players and the coaching staff.

I think Lone Peak has that moxie even as the No. 6 seed. And recent history proves it.

Corner Canyon comes into this game with a 11-1 record but that one loss was to Lone Peak. The Knights didn’t just eek out a victory, they doubled up the Chargers winning 42-21. Even more impressive about the victory was the game was hosted at Corner Canyon.

Granted, things got a bit strange for the Knights after that when they promptly lost their next three games to American Fork (31-28), Skyridge (37-34 in OT) and Lehi (34-6). It just wasn’t a hangover from a stirring victory on the road against a large-school juggernaut, injuries to key players like quarterback Kepa Niumeitolu, played a part to this Knight skid of sorts. And the teams that they were playing were pretty darn good as well.

There had to be concerns among the Lone Peak faithful going into the playoffs. But as the old adage goes, “everyone is 0-0 when the playoffs start”.

Lone Peak started off strong with a 41-14 win over No. 11 Farmington. Then the next two games presented huge obstacles.

The Knights had to travel to No. 3 seed Davis and take on the Darts and their high-octane offensive attack. This meant that Lone Peak had to win this game in a shootout which the Knights did in overtime, 41-38.

The challenges kept coming as now Lone Peak had to defeat one of its arch rivals in No. 2 seed Skyridge. Instead of a high scoring game, this time around was a lower scoring affair. But the Knights avenged one of their earlier season defeats by taking out the Falcons, 13-7.

The contest wasn’t probably as close as the score indicated as the Knights dominated in most statistical categories. But there was one glaring area that Lone Peak needs to address to have any chance to beat Corner Canyon for a second time. It was the main reason its game with Skyridge was as close as it was. The Knights had 13 penalties for 125 yards while Skyridge had just three for 25. That’s a lot of real estate to give up and four of Skyridge’s 15 first downs came as a result of penalties on Lone Peak. The Knights can’t afford to give the Chargers cheap yardage nor short circuit their own scoring chances.

With all that said, Lone Peak isn’t afraid of the Chargers. They have actually beat Corner Canyon two of the last three times and defeated Corner Canyon in a state title clash in 2021.

5A Final Preview

Orem (11-2) is the No. 4 seed while Springville (12-1) is the No. 3 seed. But most people would consider Orem to be the favorite in this game. The Tigers actually beat Springville 17-14 to give the Red Devils their only loss.

If you look at the scores in the playoffs, the Tigers have been more dominant. Orem first took out Timpview 40-22, Woods Cross 35-7, and then top-seeded West 34-7. Meanwhile Springville beat Spanish Fork 49-14 but was tested by No. 6 Box Elder, winning 28-21, before downing No. 7 Brighton in the semifinals, 30-24.

Perhaps the style of play reflects the scores. In 13 games Orem has scored 492 points or 37.8 per game. Meanwhile, Springville in its 13 games has scored 428 points or 32.9 per contest. Defensively, it’s basically a wash as Orem has allowed 157 points while Springville is just a point better at 156. More or less both teams give up just over 13 points per game as both defenses are pretty stingy.

Orem has played the tougher schedule with its two losses being to Lone Peak which is in the 6A championship game and to Rocky Mountain Idaho who are 10-2 and still going strong in the Gem State playoffs.

Orem has had a lot of success in recent years winning four state titles 2017 through 2020. But in 2021 Springville upended the Tigers streak in one of the greatest games in Utah prep history. That’s when Ryder Burton found Walker Deede in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game which delivered a 27-26 semifinal victory for the Red Devils.

Burton’s younger brother Beckett will be part of a 3-headed QB monster that Springville employs.

Springville did lose the next week to Lehi so the last time Springville won a state title was 40 years ago when somebody named Scott Mitchell was the Red Devil quarterback. Mitchell went on to star at the University of Utah and played 12 years in the NFL.

Orem has won a total of eight state titles and five since Springville last won one.

Orem symbolizes what high school football has become for most of the elite programs, not just in the Beehive State but across the nation. Several of Orem’s top players such as Easton Kojima, Max Stonebraker, and Aisa Galea’i played elsewhere last season. Kojima and Stonebraker donned uniforms for Maple Mountain while Galea’i played for Timpview. All three players scored touchdowns in Orem’s semifinal win over West.

Meanwhile, Springville head coach Dave Valeti reported only one move-in that plays varsity as the rest of the team played entirely in the Springville system. This Springville community is so tight knit that two former head coaches in Doug Bills and Willy Child still coach on the staff. Bills directs the offense while Child coordinates the special teams. Other assistants like Jeff Roylance have been with the program for decades.

The style of play will be new school vs. old school with Orem using a lot of spread formations with four and even five-wide receiver sets, Springville likes to run the ball though it has actually gone retro in some aspects using the wildcat formation and other formations that appear like what football looked like decades ago with the single wing.

Orem would love to come out with a fast start and get up on Springville early. Though the Red Devils have shown the ability to throw the ball, their best success airing it out is when it catches the opposing side by surprise rather than relying on it as their primary attack. Springville will want to establish the run and keep Orem’s high-flying offense off the field.

On paper, Orem looks like it has more talent, especially with the pieces that catch the ball. But Springville seems to know its identity which is based on physical play across all three phases of the game. It is hoped here that the two teams stage another classic like they did earlier this year or that semifinal game in 2021.

Seeding matters

I’m sure a lot of the Provo faithful were bummed out to see the Bulldogs earn just a No. 5 seed and be on the same side of the bracket as No. 1 Ridgeline. The Riverhawks will now play No. 14 seed Green Canyon, a team Provo beat in week one 27-14 for the 4A title.

It seems that the Region 9 schools in the St. George area were generally overrated. Provo took out No. 4 seed Hurricane 28-13 while No. 3 seed Snow Canyon and No. 6 Pine View didn’t survive the second round. Green Canyon took out Snow Canyon while No. 11 seed Skyline beat No. 6 Pine View. Basically, that entire quarter of the bracket was blown up then Green Canyon went on to stun No. 2 seed Crimson Cliffs in the semifinals, 24-21.

Crimson Cliffs did deserve the No. 2 seed as it beat Provo 28-24 winning that game in the last seconds. But Provo certainly had an argument to be seeded No. 3 as Snow Canyon had a 6-3 regular season and Provo played a tougher schedule and won its league.

Provo would have actually been better served as being the No. 6 seed. They would have just had to travel a bit further south to play Snow Canyon and Hurricane actually beat the Warriors 38-24, so the Bulldogs would have likely taken care of business there.

Yes, in the end, anyone that wants to raise the 4A trophy has to beat Ridgeline but state championship games are different animals in regards to pressure. Just ask Syracuse, which won their league in 2012 and even won a first round playoff game 54-0. But when they played Jordan, led by current Corner Canyon head coach Eric Kjar, the Titans came out like deer in the headlights and got blitzed in the all-time worst blowout in Utah prep football championship game history, losing 58-2. That was not a misprint, Syracuse lost 58-2.

So maybe Provo would have had a better chance seeing the Riverhawks a week later. Players get injured, other players recover from injury. A week later, especially with the added pressure with everything on the line, can make a difference. That’s why most Super Bowls, more often than not, end up as blowouts even though the two best teams are meeting. The pressure cooker gets to one team over the other.

Smaller classifications finish seasons

I apologize to Cedar City fans. By downing Manti 41-35, the Reds won their second state title in school history. Last week I said they had never won a title. Their last state title came in 1949. The Reds also finished their season undefeated at 13-0.

San Juan won its fifth straight 2A state title. The Broncos did lose two games this year and one was to 1A runner-up Beaver. San Juan scored 707 points in its 13 games. The Broncos had games where they scored 50, 69, 61, 65, 66, 77, 51, 57 and they actually pummeled rival Grand County 81-6. In the state title game vs. San Juan the Broncos led 38-3 at half before finally winning 57-10. Their lowest point total on the year was in a 26-7 win over 3A Grantsville. In their losses to Beaver and 3A finalist Manti, they still managed 28 and 30 points respectively.

Kanab beat Beaver for the second time on the season to claim the 1A title. Kanab finished 11-1 with their only loss to 2A champion San Juan 46-32.

And in 8-player football Rich won its third state title, downing Milford 21-12 which is quite the low-scoring game for 8-man football which tends to be a lot more wide open.

How about this weather?

Fans should have no complaints about the weather. November has been unseasonably warm and last week’s games were played in the low 60’s and mid 50’s. Weather for Thursday does seem more November-like with temperatures in the 40’s in the afternoon and then in the 30’s as the sun goes down with a possibility of rain.

Change of venue?

The UHSAA has moved championship games when common sense suggests it is applicable. So why not move the 4A game to Utah State in Logan? Green Canyon is in northern Cache County and Ridgeline in southern Cache County with Logan right in the middle. In fact, the state did that in 1987 when Mountain Crest played Sky View. It still holds the record as the most attended championship game in state history with over 18,000 fans.

By the way, Green Canyon basically divided Sky View High School while Ridgeline divided up Mountain Crest. Both schools are less than 10 years old. But maybe save some bus miles and let fans drive 10 minutes or so to the game rather than trek to Salt Lake.

Just a thought.