Top 10 storylines to follow in high school football

High school football in 2023 kicks off this week. Surely, we all missed it very much.

The gridiron will captivate parents, families and fans across the state of Utah for the next 15 weeks between now and when the final play is called at Rice-Eccles Stadium in November.

Along with the hopes and dreams of every kid putting on the pads this fall, there are many other intriguing things going on around the sport to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Here’s a look at some of the most entertaining storylines to watch during this high school football season.

Realignment frenzy

The biggest news of the year was also the most expected. Another realignment cycle came to pass, and this one was a doozy. The only realignment more wild than this one is the one that torpedoed the Pac-12.

When all was said and done, there was scarcely even a region across the state that wasn’t impacted. The old Region 2 dropped entirely into 5A and became Region 4, while the 4A classification doubled in size by adding 13 schools, primarily from the Salt Lake and Utah County areas.

Many eyes will be on Corner Canyon (as they often are) as the Chargers moved out of the gauntlet of Region 4 (now Region 3) and took up residence alongside their Salt Lake counterparts in the new Region 2 to challenge Bingham and another competitive field commonly viewed as far less strenuous than their typical regular season.

Other strong teams also appear to have their paths cleared to reclaim state titles, such as Beaver. After several years of running the 2A classification, the Beavers played second fiddle to San Juan for the last two years. Now they find themselves in 1A in their first classification shift in over 30 years. 1A is competitive as ever, but the Beavers have long proven the top dog among that echelon of football.

All eyes on Isaac

Speaking of Corner Canyon, realignment isn’t the only thing drawing attention to the Chargers in 2023.

Senior quarterback Isaac Wilson is going to have the attention of football minds and fans all over the state as he looks to win his first state title as a starter. The younger brother of current New York Jets QB and former BYU signal-caller Zach Wilson will especially have the attention of fans cheering for the University of Utah as Isaac committed to the Utes last May, becoming the first of his several siblings to follow in his father’s footstep by donning red instead of Cougar blue. As a four-star recruit, Isaac embodies a great deal of promise for his Ute future, being perhaps the most high-profile QB recruit ever to commit to coach Kyle Whittingham’s program in some time.

By his body of work, Wilson has shown there really isn’t much he can’t do. “Big-play quarterback who can dissect defenses with consistent accuracy,” wrote Blair Angulo, a recruiting analyst for 247Sports. “Shows a steady, quick release and silent mechanics. Displays ability to fit throws into tight windows at every level. … Can deliver the ball on time without setting his feet. Looks comfortable throwing on the run and does well to keep his eyes down field. Should continue to add confidence as he becomes more experienced.”

Wilson threw for 40 touchdowns against 17 interceptions. Angulo’s scouting report said Wilson should learn to improve his decision-making. If he improves in that regard, then Isaac has a clear shot at the one thing he hasn’t done: win a state championship.

New coaches, new eras

In 2021, the top four longest tenured head football coaches in the state were Manti’s Cole Meacham, Pine View’s Ray Hosner, Bear River’s Chris Wise and Juab’s Mike Bowring. Two seasons later, all four of those coaches are now watching games from the bleachers or the couch.

Wise and Hosner were both done in 2022, but after 23 years at the helm, Meacham finally called it a career at Manti, winning three state titles in 2A. His longtime assistant coach, Fred Taukei’aho, stepped into the role after 19 years of assistant coaching. Similarly, and in the same region, Bowring retired from coaching, and 13-year assistant Jake Downard is now in charge of the Wasps.

In fact, those two retirements were just the tip of the iceberg for the 3A South, which saw four of its six head coaches step down in one offseason. No other region had more than three.

As of this year, the longest uninterrupted tenure at one school is now Jerry Cowan at Duchesne (16 years), followed by Box Elder’s Robbie Gunter (15 years), and a tie between American Fork’s Aaron Behm and East’s Brandon Matich (14 years apiece).

In addition to that, two different defending champions also had to adjust to new coaches as Skyridge and Desert Hills both have new coaches in place. Former Thunder coach Rick Berry became Southern Virginia University’s new defensive coordinator, and former SUU coordinator Solomona Tapasa stepped into the role. Meanwhile, the Falcons’ former coach, Jon Lehman, became the school’s athletic director, turning over the job to offensive coordinator Justin Hemm.

Skyridge and Desert Hills, nevertheless, were both projected by coaches’ votes as the top teams in their respective regions. It remains to be seen if anything changes soon.

Defending state champions

Of the seven state football champions that were crowned in 2022, three of them will not have a chance to defend it as the realignment cycle pushed them out of their old homes.

Lehi, the two-time defending champion in 5A, just wrapped up one of the most memorable seasons in recent years as the Pioneers went 14-0 with multiple dramatic finishes and wins over high-level opponents even in 6A. The Pioneers capped it off with one of the best title games the state had ever seen, a 3OT walk-off win over Timpview.

Now, instead of knocking off 6A squads in nonregion play, Lehi will have to do it in region play as a member of Region 3. The Pioneers are now region rivals with Skyridge, the 6A state champion just five minutes away from the Pioneers’ campus that they have never played.

Layton Christian made the jump from 1A to 2A, a move that was welcomed by most coaches in 1A. LCA was somewhat of a lone wolf in the 1A ranks, being the only nonpublic regional school in 1A as well as having multiple seasons fielding a small roster of extremely high-level players, some of which earned Division I offers.

The 2A class puts the Eagles in the pool of other teams more like them, such as Providence Hall, American Leadership Academy, Judge Memorial and Summit Academy.

Finally, Gunnison Valley had a refreshing turnaround spurred by quick success in the state’s first-ever 8-player football season, but with the 8-player classification now fleshed out to eight teams, the Bulldogs will return to the 1A South and will be back to standard 11-player football.

Stability for eight-player football

It wasn’t pretty, and there wasn’t much in the way of real competition for most of it, but by the time the UHSAA had navigated its way to the finality of the inaugural eight-player football league, the kinks had been worked out just enough to give those who had faith in it exactly what they deserved: an entertaining and competitive state championship game.

After most 8-player games last year were decided by 40 points or more, Gunnison Valley, essentially the one-year rental squad to make the league’s playoff bracket work, had to score a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and run out the clock on Monticello to claim the title in a hard-fought 26-22 win. The game showed in a big way that the future of the league looked a lot brighter than its short past.

Gunnison Valley has moved back to 1A, but football newcomer St. Joseph will field a team this season as the eighth team in the bracket. The plan was to have nine teams, but Diamond Ranch ultimately closed its doors when the treatment center’s license renewal was denied.

Several coaches in the league said that they expect it to be much more competitive and stable in Year 2 now that expectations and understanding of the game in its altered form are more established. In addition, Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind intends to play a fuller schedule and be a part of the playoff after forfeiting last season.

There has been indication of interest in joining the league from several other schools around the state, provided funding and facilities can be secured. Things are only looking up for the new league.

A great big 4A world

No classification quite experienced a change like 4A did, and it was a welcome one across the board.

The 2021 realignment oversimplified things to an unnecessary degree, whittling down the class to just St. George area and Cache Valley schools. Not only did this pigeonhole those respective programs into 4A despite continued rapid population growth in both communities, it also forced some expensive and unnecessary travel for tournament games. Teams with campuses mere minutes from each other often had to commute all the way to the Salt Lake Valley to play championship games in predetermined facilities hours away from their fanbases. This specifically happened in girls soccer, baseball, boys and girls lacrosse, boys soccer and softball.

When Crimson Cliffs and Desert Hills met in the football title game, they did the right thing and worked with the UHSAA to relocate the game to Utah Tech University’s field right in their own backyard.

Realignment exploded the 4A class from 13 to 26 teams and filled it with schools from Tooele to Park City, adding some width to the length of the region’s area. While many of the teams coming into 4A were struggling to stay competitive before dropping down, others, like 5A semifinalist Stansbury, may be coming in with intent to take over.

The Stallions, in particular, are still looking for their program’s first state title, and the move down to 4A after one of their best playoff showings in school history bodes well for their chances to break through the ceiling.

All in all, the new-look 4A is better than it was a year ago on its makeup alone, and the season will tell just how much the competitive landscape changed with it.

The high school transfer portal

When it comes to high school players transferring to new schools, the circumstances of the “how” often get murky.

The circumstances of the “why” are often clear as day, especially when most of the notable transfers all end up at the same place.

The 2023 season is no different from previous years, in that some of the state’s most talented prospects whose talent was perhaps bigger than the programs they played in ultimately took control of their own fate.

Three of the most notable transfers are Cyprus senior lineman Isaiah Garcia and Skyline senior Bo Tate, both of whom are now at Corner Canyon. In addition to that, senior quarterback Jackson Stevens left Davis to go suit up for Skyridge.

Tate and Garcia’s moves are pretty easy to understand. Cyprus and Skyline both had 4-7 seasons and hadn’t seen much success despite their talents. Stevens transferring could be emblematic of just how much truth is behind the nickname Region 3 gets — ”the SEC of Utah high school football.” Davis is a historically successful program, but nothing quite compares to the resources and visibility that now come with being a football player in Region 3.

With the new additions, Corner Canyon and Skyridge could be destined for another crash course in the 6A title game, even if they don’t have to meet each other in region play before they get there.

Racing for the record books

Last season, three teams finished the year with unbeaten records — Lehi, Morgan and San Juan. While Morgan’s 13-0 record exactly reflects its current winning streak, Lehi and San Juan both come into the new season with the potential to push for the record books as they try to go for another clean sheet.

San Juan currently sports the longest winning streak in the state with 25 straight wins, while Lehi has 19 straight going back to midway through the 2021 season.

Lehi has a tough road to keep its streak alive with the move up to 6A, as well as a date with Idaho 5A state champion Rigby. If the Pioneers get through that game with a clean record, they’d be at 22-straight and gunning to become the 14th team in state history to hit 24 when they play American Fork in their Region 3 opener.

For both Morgan and San Juan, the chance to keep the streak alive all the way through the season is a much higher likelihood. Both teams were far and away the best in their classifications last year and return tons of production.

For San Juan, it’ll be a chance to carry the Broncos past the record they previously set back in 2011 when they won 30 straight games. It’s a tough nonregion slate with Juan Diego and Layton Christian on the schedule, but San Juan is otherwise in a favorable position to make history.

Hope for Region 4

Formerly Region 2 in 6A, the entirety of the seven-team region dropped down into the 5A ranks and formed a new Region 4, comprising five of the original seven schools along with Region 3 dropout West Jordan.

Roy and West both dropped down to 5A as well, moving respectively to Regions 5 and 6.

The smaller 6A schools of Region 2 caused years of imbalance in the RPI-based playoff field, matching up with teams from other classifications that were simply better prepared for the gauntlet of 6A playoff football. Lower RPI teams were uncompetitive in first-round games, while region winners like Roy and Granger often served as upset fodder for lesser seeded teams from other regions.

The competitive balance, similar to how 5A’s Region 7 teams all went down to 4A, should even out and give these same teams a chance to continue being competitive against each other in region play while having a much better shot at making noise in the 5A playoffs.

Two’s company, three’s … ?

Now presenting perhaps the oddest trend in all of Utah high school sports.

Here’s the chronological order of 2A state champions going back to 2007: North Summit, North Summit, San Juan, San Juan, Manti, Manti, South Summit, South Summit, Beaver, Beaver, South Summit, South Summit, Beaver, Beaver, San Juan and San Juan.

You’re seeing that right. Every championship team in 2A since 2007 has repeated in the following year, without a single one-off or a three-peat.

Always two, never three.

It seems borderline anomalous. However, some part of it makes sense when considering how much junior classes matter in small-school football. Talented junior players can often have as much if not more impact on the success of their team and are able to gel with their teammates quickly.

It also bears noting that realignment changes the competitive landscape every two years.

That said, if there was ever a year for the trend to finally be bucked, it may be now. San Juan looks relatively without peer in the 2A ranks after its offense roasted just about everyone last season. The Broncos return eight starters including record-setting quarterback Parker Snyder to that offense.

If it’s not San Juan, any team besides the Broncos that hypothetically comes away with the 2A title can take comfort in history being on its side for 2024.