5 things to watch during high school football season


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah high school football season kicks off today as Layton Christian hosts four-time defending 1A state champion Duchesne in a game you can watch live on KJZZ 14 at 3:30 p.m. The rest of the state opens the season on Friday night.

Before the season gets underway, here are a number of story lines to follow. Here are five that stand out entering week one.

How many champions can repeat?

The coaches in each classification chose the defending champion to repeat in 2014.

Bingham returns six starters on defense and only two on offense, but one of them is quarterback Kyle Gearig. The Miners are also loaded with talented underclassmen and are ranked No. 23 in the country by USA Today.

Timpview returns star quarterback Britain Covey and defensive star Gabe Reid, but new players will have to step up with only four starters returning.

3AA MVP Gabe Sewell returns to lead the intimidating Desert Hills defense, but the Thunder must deal with the powerful and high scoring offenses of Pine View and Dixie as well as perennial contender Juan Diego.

Judge is the team to beat in 3A, but teams like Manti, Juab, Morgan and Grantsville have the talent to challenge them.

South Summit will get a challenge from rival North Summit, which was the only team to beat the Wildcats last season.

Even Duchesne will get a stiff challenge from longtime 1A rival Rich for the title.

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It’s easy to see why with all six returning star players that helped it claim the title last season, but history tells us a team or two will surprise everyone and make an unexpected championship run.

New faces in new places

There are 20 new head coaches this season around the state, and some big names are taking over programs and different schools.

Louis Wong won four state championships at Timpview and now takes over a program at Mountain View looking to turn things around.

Same for Provo, which has hired former Lone Peak coach Tony McGeary to build its program into a winner.

There are also some former local high school and college stars trying to give their alma maters a spark.

Former Utah star Andre Dyson returns to Clearfield after a seven-year career in the NFL and coaching stops at Weber State and Weber High School.

Former BYU star Jan Jorgensen returns to Carbon to help turn around a program that hasn’t had a winning season in 14 years.

Where will the top recruits land?

The top high school football talent in Utah is drawing more attention than ever when it comes to recruiting. Seventeen of the top 20 college prospects in the state, according to Scout.com’s rankings, have received an offer from a Pac-12 school. Five years ago, only four players in the state received Pac-12 offers.

Talent in this state is no longer a secret. Brighton’s Osa Masina, Salem Hills’ Porter Gustin and Herriman’s Andre James were all invited to Nike’s prestigious high school scouting combine called The Opening. Gustin performed well and finished in the top 10. James had the opportunity to announce his commitment to UCLA live on ESPN U. Schools around the country eagerly await the decisions of Masina and Gustin.

Other top players already committed are East LB Christian Folau (Stanford), Jordan QB/S Austin Kafentzis (Wisconsin), Northridge LB Dayan Lake (BYU) and Utah’s all-time single season sack leader T.J. Fehoko of Cottonwood (Colorado).

One could argue that the Class of 2015 is the deepest, most talented group of high school football players the state has produced. It will be interesting to see if these young men can back that up with their play on the field.

Chasing history

Austin Kafentzis started his first game as a freshman at Jordan and led the Beetdiggers to a come-from-behind win over Fremont. He has led the team to many wins ever since. Jordan has reached the semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium for three consecutive years and completed a dominant season in 2012 with a 5A state title.

In the process, the Wisconsin-bound quarterback has amassed impressive statistics and is in position to set several passing records before his high school career is done.

He needs just 1,928 yards to become the all-time leader in passing yards, 28 touchdowns to become the state record holder in career touchdown passes, and he’s also within striking distance of setting records for career pass completions and attempts.

The run at records doesn’t stop at throwing the football for Kafentzis, a career rushing leader. He needs just 769 yards to pass Fahu Tahi and become the all-time career rushing leader in Utah.

He also holds career state records in rushing touchdowns with 75 and career 100-yard games with 27.

Can Duchesne keep the streak alive?

The Duchesne Eagles have enjoyed a historic run. They enter this season with 47 straight wins, and if they run the table again and win a fifth straight 1A championship, they would end the season with 59 straight victories.

Their streak of 47 consecutive wins is currently the fifth longest in the country.

That streak will receive a strong challenge this season. They open the season against 2A opponents Layton Christian and North Summit. The Braves are ranked second in 2A and will likely be the most talented team the Eagles face this season.

Rich was a two-point conversion away from ending the streak in the 1A state championship game last season, and with 10 returning starters, it is capable of knocking off Duchesne this season.

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Jeremiah Jensen

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