Duchesne Looks for 3-Peat in 1A

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Courtesy MGHelmets.com

The Deseret News always does a great job of preparing fans for the state's high school football season.

On Saturday, writer James Edward broke-down the 1A field.

Duchesne is the two-time defending champ with a 22 game win streak entering the 2012 season.

According to Edward, Duchesne will still be a force even though it lost a lot of talent to graduation.  He also thinks Altamont, Layton Christian, Monticello, Rich and Summit Academy will figure in the hunt.

Click here to read his preview.

Cottonwood Names New Head Football Coach

by Jeff Fisher 
High School Football America

Amy Donaldson of The Deseret News is reporting that Greg Croshaw, the former head coach at Dixie State College is the new head coach Cottonwood High School.

Crowshaw takes over a program has struggled with off the field issues over the last couple of years.

First, Teko Johnson died two years ago before ever coaching a game at Cottonwood.  That was followed by head coach Josh Lyman resigning last month during a school investigation into his conduct involving female students.  On Saturday, assistant coach Mike Gallegos was killed in an auto accident.

Crowshaw has faced his own adversity according to Donaldson's report that you can read by clicking here.  In 24 years as Dixie State's head coach, he won 214 games and nine conference titles.

Cottonwood was 5-5 last season, but does return plenty of talent this season, starting with quarterback Cooper Bateman, who has verbally committed to Alabama.

State Releases Audit on Timpview High School Football Program

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Results from the Utah State Auditor's Office investigation into the Timpview High School football program have been released.

Amy Donaldson of The Deseret News is reporting that nearly $9,000 in revenue collected from football activities was never deposited into school accounts, and that more than $60,000 in fundraising revenue belonging to the school was co-mingled in a separate booster club account.

It was this sort of activity that led to the resignation of the school's highly successful head coach Louis Wong in May.

Donaldson also notes in her report that you can read by clicking here, that the Auditor's Office investigation noted a "lack of standard procedures statewide when it comes to overseeing fundraising, donations and booster club activities.

On March 29th, I spoke with Donaldson at the start of the investigation.

Click here to listen to that interview.

Rosters for Utah HIgh School Football Coaches Association All-Star Games

by Jeff Fisher

High School Football America

Below are the rosters for tomorrow night's two Utah High School Football Coaches Association all-star football games at Alta High School.

The first game pits the 3A stars against the 2A/1A stars at 5 P.M., followed by the 5A/4A game that pits the North against the South.

Last year the 2A/1A team beat the 3A all-stars 14-0, while the 5A/4A South team won 37-7.

2A/1A Roster

Beaver — Marquez Jessup, Jeremy Brown

Duchesne — Max Lewis, Shiaba Allen

Manti — Brady Aste, Blake Schiess, Trey Gunderson, Tyler Thomson, Freddy Taufa, Chris Lauti Rich — Brady Meek, Wade Andersen

Richfield — Kyle Thomas, Justus Clark

3A Roster

Hurricane — Kevin Mortensen, Bryan Lee, Cammeron Hatanaka, Alex Sefita, Brian Scott

Desert Hills — Nate Brinker, Porter Harris, Bud Pope, Nich Contrys

Juan Diego — Cayden Sanchez, Brock Garn, Jared McCauley, Ryan McCauley, AJ Barbiero

North Sanpete — Dakota Leethan

Park City — Heath Vincent, John Finch

Judge — Miles Ellis, Matt Crispo, Elliott McGill, Matt Lewis

Spanish Fork — Luigy Paulino, Andy Perkins

Cedar — Bryson Heynie, Kahi Eldridge, Michael Beck, Braidon French

Delta — Gerry Banda, Colin Christensen, Jace Johnson, Kayden Hughes

Bear River – Wes Fukui

Dixie — Austin Barker

4A/5A North Roster 

Bountiful — Teau Satuala, Luke Larsen

Box Elder — Britton Gunter, Martin Aleantar, Rylee Reeves

Davis — Morni Iniguez, Rossiter Porter

East — Vaha Vainuka, Sione Makoni, Liti Molisi

Fremont — Jake Gallegos, Luke Hollingsworth, Nick Vigil

Granger — Elmer Pauni

Highland — Justin Weaver

Kearns — Gus Lavaka, Afuvia Leiato

Logan — Austin Rice, Johnny Luke, D.J. Nelson, John Schmidt, Dalton Cole, Latu Pauni, Jameson Hartman

Mountain Crest — Tanner Richardson

Northridge — Scooter Arnold

Viewmont — Josh Staples

West — Eric Takenaka, Tauras Sickerson

4A/5A South Roster

Alta — Bryan Engstrom, Tyson Blackner, Parker Timmerman

Bingham — Paul Langi, Will Nasilai

Lone Peak — Micah Hanneman, Andrew Schirmer, Tyler Johnson, Kurtis Taufa, Zac Saunders, Connor Humphrey

Mountain View — Filipe Sitake, Joseph Hartshorn

Olympus — Calvin Escobedo, Scott Porter, Nathan Watchman

Orem — Cole Payne, Joe Jensen

Pleasant Grove — Braxton Winterton, Nathan Sampson, Trevor Jenkins

Riverton — Joey Jensen, Kurtis Nokes

Skyline — Maurice Mapps Jr., Brandon Shingleton, Zach Russon

Springville — Jalon Miyasaki, Caleb McCray, Conrad Beach, Steven Gueck

Timpview — Rickey Shumway, Josh Burr, Gordon Moimoi

Westlake — Addison Bates.

Timpview Elevates Wittingham to Head Coach

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Timpview didn't have to look far to find a replacement for Louis Wong.

Cary Wittingham, brother of Utah head coach Kyle Wittingham and Timpview defensive coordinator, is the new head coach of the Thunderbirds.

Wittingham's hiring comes while the school still tries to sort-out the mess left behind by Wong, who was suspended after an investigation into a misuse of funds within the football program.

Utah Adds 6th Classification in High School Football

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Starting with the 2013 season, Utah will crown six football champions.

The Utah High School Activities Association has approved the addition of a 6A classification beginning with the 2013-14 school year.

The UHSAA will not divide its members into the new classifications until next October's enrollment figures are released.

Click here to go to the UHSAA website for more on the realignment.

Timpview Suspends Head Football Coach

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Timpview head football coach Louis Wong remains on suspension without pay today while school officials investigate allegations against him from a financial audit conducted by the Provo School District and Utah State Office of Education.

Wong's suspension was handed-down last week when auditors shared their finding with school officials citing concerns within the football programs finances.  Wong has 15-days to appeal, otherwise he could be fired from his teaching and coaching within 30-days.

Wong, who has been the head coach at Timpview since 2005, has led the school to a 77-10 record and four straight state titles from 2006 through 2009.  During that span, Timpview set a Utah state record with 36 straight victories.

Bingham to Host Prep Football Classic

by Jeff Fisher
High School Football America

Andrew Aragon of Deseret News is reporting that the 2012 Utah high school football season will feature a tripleheader that will match three of the state's top teams against three very good out-of-state football programs.

The event, called the Beehive Classic: Showdown at the Hive, will be played September 1st at Bingham High School.

The first game will feature 2010 Class 4A runner-up East High taking-on Junipero Serra (Gardena, California).  Serra is the alma mater of Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady.  Last year was 8-3.

In the middle game of the tripleheader, Jordan will square-off with Long Beach Poly (California).  Poly is known as the high school that has sent the largest number of players into the NFL.

The day will close with host Bingham playing Valor Christian (Colorado).  VC won its third straight Colorado 4A state championship last season.

2012 National Letter of Intent Signing Day - Utah High Schools

Hunter Dimick - DL (Syracuse) - Utah
Moses Folauhola - DE (Hunter) - Utah
Chase Hansen - QB (Lone Peak) - Utah
Austin Lee - S (Alta) - Utah
Moana Ofahengaue - DE (Westlake) - Utah
Nua Poteki - OL (Brighton) - Utah
Vaha Vainuku - DL (East) - Utah