GAME PREVIEW CAPSULE
Bear River (7-4, 4-2) at Desert Hills (7-3, 5-1), tonight, 5 p.m.
Previous Meeting – Desert Hills 15, Bear River 14 (3A first round, Oct. 30, 2010 at BR)
BEARS
Classification: 3A, Region 11
Coach: Chris Wise (11th year, 68-55 overall)
Offense: Spread
Last week: Beat Wasatch 36-6 in first round upset
Players to watch: QB Kyle Zundel (yep, another Zundel at BRHS) has accounted for nearly 2,600 yards of offense by himself (1,723 passing and 871 rushing) and has 30 combined touchdowns. That’s the good news. The bad news for the Bears is that no one else has done much. RB Jeramie Selman has 449 rushing yards and Colton jensen has 707 receiving yards, but let’s face it, this is the Zundel show.
PPG: 30.8
PAPG: 18.5
Trend: Last week the Bears shocked a lot of people by blasting Wasatch. Zundel was terrific, with nearly 300 yards of offense and 3 TDs. But looking at their schedule, you see that Bear River really hasn’t beaten a good team this year. Wasatch was way overrated. A better glimpse into the true nature of the Bears: a 42-0 loss to Box Elder, a 37-18 loss to Stansbury and a 38-21 loss on a neutral field to Pine View, which finished fourth in Region 9.
THUNDER
Classification: 3A, Region 9
Coach: Carl Franke (first year, 7-3 overall)
Offense: Spread
Last week: Beat Payson 48-21
Players to watch: We kind of equate this year’s DH team to last year’s Cedar team. Like John Ursua, Thunder QB Ty Rutledge is so talented and athletic that he makes everyone around him better. That includes sophomore RB Bridger Cowdin (725 yards rushing this season) and Jordan Hokanson (30 receptions, seven TDs). Defensively, Josh Anderson and Brian Highland will need to contain Bears QB Zundel.
PPG: 34.4
PAPG: 17.0
Team Stats: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football/desert-hills-stats
Trend: Desert Hills is averaging 44.5 points a game in the last four weeks since the debacle at Stansbury (a 12-7 loss), and it’s against decent teams like Cedar, Hurricane and Snow Canyon. A second straight home game is nice for DH, but the Thunder mustn’t get complacent against a team that they should be able to handle.
GAME OUTLOOK
The Bears are talented and Zundel is kind of a poor man’s Blake Barney. But Bear River repeatedly got blown out in the big games this year, which tells me that Zundel doesn’t have a lot of help. I think people forget how physical Desert Hills is. The Thunder shove you around and they hit hard. So if the Bears can somehow match that physicality we might have ourselves a ballgame. We’re betting they can’t
STGnews PREDICTION
Andy Griffin (40-8) — Desert Hills
J.A./Keric Seegmiller (40-8) — Desert Hills
Region 9 standings: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football-standings
Region 9 leaders: http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/high-school-sports/mens-football-leaders