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SANDY — The Jordan High School football team has finished No. 30 nationally for the 2012 season. The announcement was made by MaxPreps, a California-based company that ranks more than 16,000 high school varsity football teams.
Jordan (12-1), whose lone blemish was by a single point to St. John Bosco of Bellflower, Calif. (34-33 on Sept. 29), buried Syracuse, 58-2, on Nov. 16 to capture the Utah 5A state championship. It was the Beetdiggers first title since 1994 and its 12th in school annals. Jordan is one of 50 schools being honored on the eighth annual MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard.
Jordan is the second Sandy-based school to participate on the Tour of Champions as Alta was honored for football for the 2008 season when it was ranked No. 31.
"For nearly a decade, MaxPreps and the Army National Guard have honored America's finest high school football teams with the prestigious Army National Guard national ranking trophy," said MaxPreps President and Founder Andy Beal. "Coach Kjar and the Jordan Beetdiggers have proven on the field that they are among the nation's truly elite high school football teams."
"We're extremely honored especially to be mentioned with other top programs in the country. We appreciate MaxPreps and the notoriety they bring to high school football and are extremely proud to be honored by them," said Jordan head football coach Eric Kjar, who completed his fourth season.
Sophomore quarterback Austin Kafentzis, who was the MaxPreps freshman player of the year in 2011, passed for 3,018 yards and 32 touchdowns while running for another 1,884 yards and 26 TDs in Jordan's offensive juggernaut that averaged better than 44 points per game. Kafentzis worked behind a stellar offensive line that featured center B.J. Cavender, a four-year starter, and first team all-state guards Tyshon Mosley (headed for Utah State) and Zach Larson (Southern Utah).
Senior linebacker Tyler Swan anchored the Beetdiggers' 4-2 defense with 136 tackles, six fumble recoveries and a pair of pass interceptions. Other key playmakers were freshman strong safety Cooper Clark (107 tackles, seven interceptions), junior tackle Mori Savini (52 tackles, 8 ½ quarterback sacks), and junior linebacker Colton Shaver (68 tackles, one sack, one interception).
Utah Army National Guard Sergeant First Class Sam Bell presented Coach Kjar and the team with the Army National Guard national ranking trophy during a pep rally Wednesday morning. The team also received a banner for their accomplishment.
"For eight years the Army National Guard has recognized nationally ranked football teams with the Army National Guard national ranking trophy," said LTC Christian J. Johnson of the Army National Guard. "We take great pride in doing so because it symbolizes the indomitable spirit common to high school athletes and the U.S. Soldier. It is our honor to share this symbol with the team, coaches, parents, and school. It is an award for the entire community and is much deserved."
MaxPreps uses a sophisticated computer program, known as the Freeman Rankings, to determine team rank for the Tour of Champions. The system utilizes the huge number of game results stored in the MaxPreps database. Generally, the more a team wins the higher the ranking, but the system takes into account quality wins (against other highly ranked opponents), margin of victory, and strength of schedule. Playoff games are weighed 2.1 times a regular season game.
