It’s a beautiful fall day in the neighborhood and the perfect time to look at the upcoming UHSAA Football Quarterfinal matchups taking place tomorrow November 7th. Start times vary across the valley from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM. It might be the perfect day to catch two ball games if you’ve got a bad case of football fever.
5A QUARTERFINALS
- Bountiful @ West 3:00
It begins at West at 3PM. Check out Running Back phenom Louie Hamilton. He’ll blow your socks off.
- Box Elder @ Springville 5:00
- Brighton @ Fremont 6:00
- #1 Player in the State ATH Salesi Moa looking to keep his high school career going
- Woods Cross @ Orem 6:00
Orem is a team that I’ve yet to watch play but on paper look near unstoppable. Four players stand out above the rest.
- ATH Kaue Akana-BYU
- DL Lopeti Moala-BYU
- TE Kai Wesley- Baylor
- 6’7/ 235
- QB Tayden Kaawa- Alabama
- 6’5/ 235
This team looks destined to play for the title in two weeks.
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6A QUARTERFINALS
- Lone Peak @ Davis 4:00
Both teams are playing at a high level and have elite talent at key positions.
Lone Peak are led by the Pula Twins who are in their final season before joining the Utes, and BYU commit Bott Mulitalo in an anchor on the offensive line.
Davis features the #1 Quarterback in the land, Tradon Bessinger. He’s tossing touchdowns at will to a number of targets. ATH Jaxton Itaaheau and Bode Sparrow are difficult for any team to cover. Sparrow is touted as the #3 player in the 2027 class.
This one could be 49- 48 by the end.
- Syracuse @ Corner Canyon 4:00
Syracuse’s Ledger Wight and Ryker Van Komen combine for nearly 2,000 yards rushing. They will need to be clever with the playcalling and mix it up against the #1 team in the state because Corner Canyon will certainly score.
With Helaman Casuga at QB, Weston Briggs running the ball, and Kai Meza at receiver, behind one of the best O-Lines in the state, this offense is a machine primed and ready to score.
On defense, Jayden Pearce and Manase Brown crash the edges, Mason Wood fills the gaps, and Diesel Dart lurks up top.
This one will be fun to watch.
- Herriman @ Mountain Ridge 6:00
Herriman feature two players that are top five in interceptions this season.
-Troy Ellenmeier and Macrae Parker
They will need to be at their best to slow down QB Jaxon Hunt and Wide receiver Kohen Cunningham who have connected a dozen times for touchdowns.
This is a true toss up game.
- American Fork @ Skyridge 6:00
American Fork’s ‘front seven dominant’. That’s one of the many things I scribbled last week when watching the game against visiting Lehi. I expect more of the same in this game and for this to limit the Skyridge ground attack. Not to worry Skyridge, quarterback Kaneal Sweetwyne will be looking for two of his favorite targets, Hunter Sheffield and Talmage Oswald in the high-flying passing game that has gone for over 2500 yards this season.
Covering this passing attack will be three standouts in the American Fork secondary.
- #3 CB Jackson Theobald
- #7 CB Derek Manning
- #4 S Corbin Bauerle
Last week versus Lehi, I watched each of these young men make courageous tackles and hustle to cover their assignment. It’ll be Fork’s defense versus the Skyridge offense, and it should be a game worth watching.
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All of them are worth watching at this point. Some players are playing their last moments of football ever; some will be making their last high school football memory tomorrow night. The stakes at hand are high in every single one of these games. A win puts your team into the Semi-finals at Rice-Eccles where anything is possible, and the losers will be done playing for the season. It’s a harsh truth to the playoffs in any sport. Someone has to go home.
So, who will advance? Will one of the underdog visitors pull the upset?
Communities across the state will find out together tomorrow night.
Only up.
Find the Humor and Keep on Movin’
Whit W.