Felt’s Facts: Down to 5 undefeated teams as we go to Week 7

Felt’s Facts – Week 7 – 2016

Undefeateds

After six weeks of the 2016 season, five teams remain unbeaten and a dozen have yet to win. No games match any of the undefeated teams or pair any of the winless squads this week.

Of the unbeaten teams, Class 4A rules with three – Alta (Region 7), East (Region 5) and

Springville (Region 8). Should those three remain undefeated into the playoffs, Alta and Springville are bracketed to meet in one semifinal with the winner potentially facing East in the finals.

Bingham (Region 3) is the sole survivor in Class 5A and South Summit has yet to taste defeat in Class 2A.

For Four Teams, Region Play at Last

The playoffs for most classifications are four weeks away and just three weeks away in Class 3A. This week, a Woods Cross victory over Highland secures a playoff berth for the Wildcats.

Other teams clinch ties for a berth by winning. (All of Class 2A and 3AA South qualify for the playoffs just by fielding a team, so 18 schools have already secured tournament berths.)

But in Class 1A, four teams, Diamond Ranch, Duchesne, Kanab and Rich, see region competition for the first time. In 1A, only four games of this season’s 20 league contests have been played.

First-time Meetings

Just two, involving the newest schools: Alta at Skyridge and Stansbury at Ridgeline.

This Week’s Most-played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

Meanwhile, six contests pit teams that have faced each other at least 50 times. They’re listed in order of most-games- played with the series leader mentioned first.

Logan and Bear River meet for the 83rd time since 1925. Logan has captured the last four over the Bears and leads the series 51-28- 3.

Richfield holds a 40-24- 2 series edge going into its 67th battle with North Sanpete. NS has won the last two over the Wildcats.

Box Elder and Ogden duke it out for the 63rd time since 1921. BE has taken the last four in the series to extend its lead to 40-20- 2.

Orem leads its series with Provo 31-27- 1 as they clash for the 60th time since 1930. Last year, Provo snapped Orem’s three-game streak over the Bulldogs.

Kanab controls its series with Milford 47-10- 1 as these teams play for the 59th time since 1949. Since 2000, Kanab has won seven straight in the intermittent series.

Judge Memorial has snared five straight over Park City to narrow the Miners’ series lead to 25-22-3 as they head into their 51st meeting since 1926.

Milestones

Ogden plays its 1,000th game in 118 seasons of football. (Only West has played more – the Panthers compete for the 1,022nd time in 123 years.)

Among coaches, East’s Brandon Matich shoots for his 100th career victory including 39 wins at Park City (2005-09).

Most Improved

Layton Christian leads the state as the most-improved team so far this season, moving from 2-9 in 2015 to 5-1 this year, an improvement of 5.5 games. Woods Cross (3-8 to 5-1) is 4.5 games better after six weeks of play. Grantsville and Timpanogos (both 1-9 to 3-3) have improved by 4.0 games. (The NCAA calculates this by taking the difference in year-to- year victories and the difference in losses, adding the two numbers and dividing by 2.)

This Weeks Top 5…

Scoring teams: East, 48.8 ppg; Alta, 46.5; Bingham, 45.7; Beaver, 42.0; Jordan, 41.4.

Defensive teams: Duchesne, 9.4; Rich, 9.8; Kanab, 10.0; Bingham, 10.7; Bear River, 11.2

By winning margin: Bingham, 35.0; East, 33.0; Beaver, 29.8; Alta, 26.5; South Summit, 26.0.

Timpview’s Comeback

After spotting Orem 23 points in the first quarter last week, Timpview stormed back to claim a 38-30 victory. It marked the sixth biggest comeback in Utah prep history.

The top five:

(1) Dixie, behind 28 points (42-14) to Stansbury in the third quarter, scored one TD in the third and four in the fourth to prevail 49-42 in a 2014 Class 3AA quarterfinal.

(1) Highland, down 28-0 to Bonneville in the second quarter, tallied 31 straight to win 31-28 in a 1995 Class 5A first-round game.

(3) Orem, trailing by 27 points (34-7) to Mountain View in the third quarter, rallied for four touchdowns and won 35-34 in 2011.

(4) Olympus, staring at a 25-0 scoreboard against Jordan in the second quarter, regrouped to score 27 straight for a 27-25 victory in 1957.

(5) Mountain Crest, facing a 24-0 deficit to Bonneville in the third quarter, fought back to snare a 27-24 overtime win in 1999.

South Summit’s Doubles

Records aren’t kept for scoring on back-to- back interceptions, but Parker Grajek performed that rare feat that last week in the Wildcat’s victory over Gunnison…. Records are kept for most extra points in a game, and over the past two weeks, South Summit’s Trey Hatch became the 10th player to kick at least eight extra points in consecutive contests.

Career Marks

With 294 all-purpose yards last week, Joshua Davis climbed to third all-time in career all- purpose yards (6,173). He’s 664 yards short of Austin Kafentzis (6,837 at Jordan, 2011-14) and 2,359 behind Emmett White (8,532 yards at Ben Lomond, 1994-97).

Jordan’s Spencer Curtis creeps toward first place in career reception yards – he had just 13 last week, bringing his total to 3,519. Curtis needs 53 more yards to eclipse leader Simi Fehoko (3,571 at Brighton, 2013-15). Curtis remains in third in career receptions (201) and sixth in TD receptions (33).

Fremont’s Haze Hadley ranks sixth in career receptions (185) and needs 10 more to jump into fifth. He’s 18th in reception yards (2,142).

Provo’s Ty Jones is tied for 16th in touchdown receptions (27) and last week became just the 25th Utah prep gridder to reach the 2,000-yard threshold in career receiving yards (2,009).

Brighton’s Sione Lund vaulted into a four-way tie for 16th place in career 100-yard games with 18.

Lehi’s Cammon Cooper became one of 82 players to pass for over 4,000 yards during his career (4,288).

Longest Plays of the Season

Grand County’s Taylor Horton connected with Brayden Schultz on a 91-yard pass against Gunnison Valley, but GV’s Kyler White returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards back in Week 4 (Sept. 9). Those two plays are included among this listing of the longest plays of the year in several categories.

Passing (min. 90 yards)
98 – Jacob Barben to Hobbs Nyberg, Dixie, Aug. 26 vs. Lone Peak
91 – Tayor Horton to Brayden Schultz, Grand County, Sept. 9 vs. Gunnison Valley
91 – Dylan Krans to Mack Wakley, West Jordan, Sept. 9, vs. Bingham
90 – Will Dana to Landon Maxfield, Alta, Aug. 26 vs. Hillcrest
90 – Marshall Dotson to Dallin Rasmussen, Manti, Sept. 9 vs. Emery County

Rushing (min. 95 yards)
95 – Jacob Mpungi, Pine View, Sept. 9 vs. Cyprus

Interception Returns (min. 95 yards)
95 – Porter Dowell, South Sevier, Sept. 16, vs. Grand County

Kickoff Returns (min. 98 yards)
99 – Brendan Rymer, Springville, Aug. 19 vs. Dixie
99 – Blayden Togiai, Skyridge, Sept. 9 vs. Timpanogos
98 – Kyler White, Gunnison Valley, Sept. 9 vs. Grand County

Fumble Returns (min. 90 yards)
95 – Nakoa Sadang, Northridge, Sept. 23 vs. Sky View

See you on the sidelines!

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Twitter: @oldschoolag

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