Rice-Eccles Stadium will be buzzing on Friday — and by the end of the night, three state football champions will be crowned.
Corner Canyon and Skyridge will play for the Class 6A title.
In 5A, 10th-seeded Bountiful will attempt to spoil Timpview’s state title bid after several near misses for the Thunderbirds.
And in 4A, Green Canyon will play Crimson Cliffs after shutting out Park City.
Class 6A
Kickoff: 2:30 p.m.
Corner Canyon
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Corner Canyon High School hosts and beats Lone Peak in a 6A quarterfinals football game in Draper on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.
Quarterback Isaac Wilson has been both one of the most highly recruited and talked about players in the state for two years now. This season he has Corner Canyon in a familiar place: the state title game.
Before he heads to Utah next year, Wilson will play Skyridge in a chance to avenge last year’s loss in the title game. Wilson threw for more than 45 touchdowns this year and has over 8,000 passing yards in his career (with over 4,257 this season). He’s also cut down on the interceptions, from 17 in 2022 to nine this year.
Wilson has four games over 400 yards, and added over 1,000 yards on the ground.
The QB hasn’t done it alone, though. The Chargers have an absolutely stacked roster, featuring seven of 247Sports’ top recruits in the state:
No. 1 — Isaiah Garcia, OT – Utah
No. 3 — Isaac Wilson, QB — Utah
No. 6 — Kash Dillon, Edge — Utah
No. 23 — Bo Tate, LB — Baylor
No. 26 — Roman Caywood, Edge — Boise State
No. 39 — Tate Kjar, WR — Utah State
No. 52 — Braxton Young, WR
Skyridge
(Alex Vejar | The Salt Lake Tribune) Skyridge High School senior quarterback Jackson Stevens talks to reporters after the Falcons beat the American Fork Cavemen, 34-21, in a 6A semifinal game on Friday, Nov, 10, 2023, at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The Falcons have had to face adversity to reach the title game.
Coach Justin Hemm won’t be on the sideline, as punishment after the team used an ineligible player. But Skyridge will be able to lean on its own star quarterback.
Jackson Stevens hasn’t gotten as much attention as his counterpart. But the quarterback of the defending state champions has been very productive this year.
Just from a stats perspective, Stevens has more passing touchdowns than Wilson (50) and is right up there in yards per game (313).
In his career, he is nearing 90 passing touchdowns and surpassed 9,000 yards. More impressively, he has more than doubled his touchdowns this year but kept the interceptions rate almost the same (from 11 last year to 16 this year).
The Falcons also have a wealth of highly recruited talent:
No. 28 Jackson Stevens, QB
No. 31 La’akea Kalama, WR
No. 34 Trent Call, ATH
No. 41 Jack Burke, WR
No. 43 Ian Mariner, DL
No. 57 Porter Buck Logan, S
Class 5A
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m.
Bountiful
Faletau Satuala is the Redhawks’ top-rated recruit.
But running back Siaki Fekitoa deserves some attention here, too. Just a sophomore, Fekitoa has rushed for nearly 1,000 yards and helped pace Bountiful’s path to the state title game.
Bountiful wasn’t supposed to make it to the final week of the season. A four-loss 10-seed to start the playoffs, Bountiful sprung upsets against Granger, Springville and knocked off Alta in a close game, 20-19.
Fekitoa went for 124 yards and three touchdowns against Granger and 178 in the opening round against Cedar Valley. He has 10 touchdowns in this playoff run and over 70 yards in each game.
Timpview
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Timpview's Tei Nacua (10) as Timpview faces Lehi in the 5A high school football championship game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.
Puka Nacua has taken the NFL by storm this season, setting rookie records for the Los Angeles Rams.
But his younger brother, Tei Nacua, has also made a name for himself.
As a senior, Nacua has over 800 yards receiving and had over 150 in the state semifinal game.
Timpview withstood a 14-point comeback attempt by Olympus in the final quarter to go back to the state title game. Needing a final drive with under two minutes to go, the Thunderbirds went over 70 yards to set up the game-winning field goal. Nacua caught three balls on that game-winning drive.
He will have his pick between BYU, Utah and others when it comes to it. But he is looking for his first state title first.
Class 4A
Kickoff: 11 a.m.
Crimson Cliffs
The Mustangs are in the state title game for a second straight year.
Quarterback Steele Barben threw for 238 yards and two touchdowns and running back McCord Christiansen rushed for 161 yards and two scores of his own to beat a favored Ridgeline team in the semifinal game.
Green Canyon
The Wolves (10-3) shut down and shut out Park City, 21-0, in the schools’ semifinal matchup. It was the third shutout of the season for the squad from North Logan.
