Felt’s Facts – 2017 Week 5

Defending Region Champs

Region 1 enters its third week of competition, and Regions 9 and 10, their second. But 11 of the 18 regions commence league play this week. Teams in Class 5A’s Regions 7 and 8, and in Class 1A begin later.

This season, several teams try to extend their string of consecutive region championships, either outright or shared. Bingham has captured five straight region crowns and Juan Diego has claimed three in a row. Six schools, Davis, Duchesne, East, Lone Peak, Olympus and Springville defend back-to-back region titles.

In Utah prep football history, Millard has won the most consecutive region championships, 12 from 1949-60, while Dixie (1966-76) and Juan Diego (2003-13) have snared 11 straight.

The Unbeaten and the Winless

The number of undefeated teams dropped by six from 19 to 13 last week, while six squads picked up their first victory, leaving 16 still working for that first win.

No instate contests match winless teams or undefeated squads, but 4-0 Dixie travels to 3-0 Madison (San Diego). Dixie is ranked 98th nationally in MaxPreps while the Warhawks are 320th. Incidentally, Dixie is ranked third in the state behind Bingham and East in the same poll.

Fast Starts

Second-year Skyridge (4-0) continues to enjoy its best-ever start, while six-year-old Summit Academy (4-0) has matched its best-ever start of 2014. Of the other 10 teams sporting 4-0 records, two seek to start 5-0 for the first time in several seasons. Grand last won its first five games in 1997 and Dixie in 2005.

Milford (3-0) aims to start 4-0 for the first time since 1994, when the Tigers won their first eight contests.

Among coaches, of the 21 first-year mentors, Sky View’s Danilo Robinson is the sole survivor to remain undefeated. Of the five who are new to their school, but have previous head coaching experience, only Corner Canyon’s Eric Kjar is unbeaten.

Week 5’s Most-played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

Millard and Delta meet for the 94th time since 1926. Millard leads the series 50-39-4; they’ve split their last four clashes. It’s the fifth most-played rivalry in the state and third most-played active series.

Morgan battles Grantsville for the 84th time. Morgan enjoys a five-game winning streak in the series, which it leads 50-28-2 since 1945.

Heading into their 61st meeting since 1930, Orem owns a 31-28-1 lead over Provo, but the Bulldogs have captured two straight over Orem.

Richfield and Juab tangle for the 52nd time since 1955. Richfield leads the series 28-22-1, but the Wasps have won the last ten meetings.

First-time Matchups (9)

• Dixie at Madison (San Diego)
• Layton Christian vs. San Lorenzo Valley (Felton, Calif.) at Mission Viejo, Calif.
• Logan at Green Canyon
• Manti at Summit Academy
• Mountain Crest at Ridgeline
• Spanish Fork at Skyridge
• Taylorsville at East
• Wasatch at Cottonwood
• Wayne at Monument Valley.

Getting Reacquainted

Ten games pair teams that haven’t clashed since at least 2010:

• Jordan at Springville (last met in 1992) – Jordan leads the series 7-4-1.
• Uintah at Timpanogos (1996) – Uintah defeated the Timberwolves 49-13 in their only other meeting.
• Lone Peak at Kearns (2006) – The Knights swept a pair of games from Kearns in 2005 and ’06.
• Bear River at Sky View (2007) – These foes battle for the 37th time with BR leading the series 19-16-1.
• Juan Diego at North Sanpete (2008) – JD has a 3-2 series edge.
• Murray at Highland (2008) – The Rams dominate the series 15-1; Murray’s win came in 2001.
• Payson at Mountain View (2008) – MV controls the series 5-1; Payson defeated the Bruins in 2006.
• Skyline at Brighton (2008) – Skyline rules the series 18-6.
• Olympus at West (2009) – Heading into their 40th meeting, Oly leads the series 24-15.
• Woods Cross at Roy (2010) – Woods Cross enjoys a 4-2 series advantage.

Boot Showdown

Stansbury and Tooele battle for the Boot for the ninth time. Stansbury has hauled home the traveling trophy five times. Tooele’s wins in the series came in 2009, ’10 and ’15.

Milestones

Wasatch seeks its 450th overall victory.

Shutouts

Parowan has posted three shutout victories, matching a school record with the 2001 Rams for the most in a season…. Davis suffered its first whitewashing since 2011, a span of 65 games…. The Darts were blanked by Clearfield, which celebrated its first shutout over Davis since 2007 and first over anyone since 2010. Only four current schools have gone longer without posting a shutout win: Lehi (2004), Canyon View (2008), Copper Hills (2008) and Hillcrest (2009).

Scoring Streaks

Beaver has scored in 53 consecutive contests and can match the school record, set from 1998-2003, by scoring this week at San Juan.

While that’s nowhere near the state record of 262 games established by Skyline (1987-2007), it’s interesting to note that six of the nine longest all-time scoring streaks are active streaks. Bingham has put points on the board in 165 games in a row since 2005, the longest active streak and second longest all-time.

The other top-10 streaks:
3) 160 – San Juan (1999-2013)
4) 149 – Jordan (2004 – current streak)
5) 148 – Juan Diego (2005 – current streak)
6) 144 – Timpview (2006 – current streak)
7) 138 – Alta (2003-2014)
8) 137 – Sky View (2005 – current streak)
9) 129 – Lone Peak (2007 – current streak)
10) 127 – Spanish Fork (2005-2016)

All-time Top-20 Career Records

Several players, listed by team, have improved their positions or joined the top-20 all-time in various career categories.

Alta’s Zach Engstrom places 14th in both receiving yards (2,390) and receptions (143).

Dixie’s Hobbs Nyberg is 12th in receiving yards (2,439).

Lehi QB Cammon Cooper ranks fifth in passing yards (7,875), 11th in touchdown passes (72) and 13th in total offense (7,798 yards). He’s also fourth in both completions (641) and attempts (1,065). Dallin Holker is 18th in receptions (133) and Kade Moore ranks 12th in receptions (154).

Taylorsville dual-threat quarterback Dane Leituala has moved up to 10th in total offense (8,357 yards) and 20th in touchdowns-responsible-for (82 – 35 rushing and 51 passing).

See you on the sidelines!

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