Unexpected state champions

Lots of familiar contenders are taking part in this week’s semifinal games in 3A, 4A and 5A and in the 1A and 2A championship games. But a few teams were not expected to make it this far.

Could a surprise team end up hoisting a championship trophy in 2008 instead of the usual favorites? Maybe. There have been plenty of times in past state tournaments where things played out in an unexpected manner and a surprise state champion ended up being produced.

I thought I would take a look back at some recent unexpected state champions. I am indebted to Utah high school football historian George Felt with providing me a generous amount of background information on these teams. If you haven’t yet done so, check out his weekly Felt’s Facts column here on the Deseret News website. It is well worth reading.

Here now are five surprise state champions from the past ten years:

Dixie (1998) — The Flyers took a most unlikely road to capturing a 3A title. Dixie fell to 4-5 after losing to Pine View 24-17 in the regular season finale on October 23rd. Those two teams met in a play-in game four days later and it looked like the Flyers’ disappointing season would be at the end. But Dixie stunned the Panthers 21-7 and that play-in victory sparked one of the state’s most memorable runs. The Flyers followed up by upsetting Lehi, North Sanpete and Snow Canyon in succession to reach the title game against Cedar at SUU. Cedar was the no. 1 seed in Region 9 and essentially played a home game, but it didn’t matter. The Flyers completed their miracle run with a 35-28 victory.

Skyline (1998) — I know a few of you might dispute the Eagles’ inclusion here. But the ’98 team was seeded fourth coming into the 5A tournament and, even with a 7-2 record, few people expect them to make it past a tough Bingham team in the first round. But Skyline routed the Miners 42-14, setting the stage for a memorable run through the bracket. The Eagles dispatched Mountain View, Hillcrest and Jordan to add another championship banner to its collection. Granted the Eagles were a dynasty in the 90s. But teams like Clearfield, Hunter, Jordan and Bingham were considered the title favorites before the 5A playoffs began. Coincidentally, Hillcrest paved the way for Skyline’s run by upsetting top-seeded Clearfield in the quarterfinals that year.

Weber (1999) — The Warriors make the list because of how they came out of nowhere to claim a state title, only to return to mediocrity shortly afterward. Weber posted its first and only double digit win season in school history, going 11-2 in ’99. That remarkable record was sandwiched by 5-4 and 3-6 seasons. Weber was a third seed from Region 4 in that year’s 4A tournament. The Warriors caught fire and dispatched West 19-18, American Fork 26-3 and Fremont 17-14 to reach the championship game against top seeded Bountiful. The Braves were heavily favored to win the title, but Warriors stunned them 17-14 to claim it instead.

Bountiful (2003) — Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking: The Braves were 8-2 in the regular season that year, Genius. How are they a surprise state champ? Fact is Bountiful was a third seed out of Region 5 that year, suffering a three point loss to no. 1 seed Highland and a 10 point loss to no. 2 seed Olympus. They were not exactly the favorites even out of their own region. But the Braves stunned no. 1 seeded Lone Peak from Region 7 by a 26-8 margin to spark their run to a 4A title. They met up with another third seed in the final when they faced Logan. Bountiful won 21-13 over the Grizzlies to become only the fourth team since 1996 that entered a state tournament seeded three or lower and came away state champions.

Skyline (2005) — No list of surprising champs would be complete without including the most recent Eagles title team. Skyline was left for dead after finishing the regular season at 5-5. It suffered several blowout losses, including a crushing defeat to a Riley Nelson led Logan team at home. I didn’t think Skyline would even make it out of the first round vs. Lone Peak and told my Dad as much before that game. He not only predicted they would upset the Knights, but that Skyline would put it together and win a state title. My Dad was probably the only person outside of Skyline High who thought so, but his prediction turned out accurate. The Eagles edged Lone Peak to kick off their incredible run and the fourth seeded Eagles capped it off with a title game upset of Brighton. At 9-5, they were the team with the most losses to win a state title since Dixie in ’98. And the Eagles also ended up being the lowest seeded team to win it all since Skyline also claimed the top spot as a fourth seed in ’98.

Will an unexpected champion emerge this season? It’s possible.

A pair of third seeds still remain alive going into this week: Skyline in 5A and North Summit in 2A. But the Braves getting a win over Manti would hardly surprise anyone outside of Sanpete County, considering they are defending champions. On the other hand, Skyline beating Bingham and then Alta or Syracuse would be unexpected given how many people projected the Miners or the Hawks to win it all this year

Another possibility to work a surprise outcome is Syracuse. The second seeded Titans went from 0-10 in ’07 to an 8-2 regular season finish in ’08. If Syracuse upsets Alta, they would become only the fourth team to advance to a title game in their second season of existence. The other three? Layton (1969), Fremont (1995) and Snow Canyon (1995). Also, Syracuse is already the only team besides Hunter to go from a winless first season to a semifinal berth in its second season.

It will be fun to see how everything plays out.