The Hive Sports

by AJ Conlin

Unfortunately, high school football is all said and done now, with the eventual victors of the 4A State Championship being the Crimson Cliffs Mustangs. In Region 10, the team that made it the furthest in the playoffs was the Park City Miners.

This region was at the bottom of 4A, in terms of power rankings, but shouldn’t be taken lightly. This season wasn’t just another tick in the books for the schools, but memories that players, coaches, and fans will have for life. This will be the final Region 10 Review article of the football season.

Cottonwood (2-8)

Region Record: 2-4

The Cottonwood Colts had a tough season last year. In fact, it actually looked like they were going to go win-less until they won their games between Hillcrest and Murray.

Offensively this season, they ended with 1575 passing yards on just a 51.8% completion rate. They threw for six touchdowns and 16 interceptions. They racked up 1269 yards on the ground and 15 rushing touchdowns. They fumbled the ball 12 times.

Defensively, they averaged just below 60 tackles per game, had 30 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, 12 interceptions, and 12 fumble recoveries. The fact that their offense to defense turnover ratio for the season is 28-24 is quite frankly embarrassing. They also turned the ball over more times than they scored a touchdown.

It is a miracle that the Colts finally found a way to win two games to end their season. Their guys have some serious work to do in the off-season to get ready for the season next year.

Hillcrest (1-9)

Region Record: 0-6

The Hillcrest Huskies have been historically bad, and this season was barely anything different. The only difference is that they actually won a game, as opposed to last season. Their win over the Carbon Dinos snapped their 17-game losing streak, just to start a new streak.

On offense, the Huskies were similar to the Colts, in the sense that they were just awful. They threw for 1593 yards while completing just 39.4% of their passes. They threw for 14 touchdowns and a whopping 20 interceptions. They ran for 1253 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground, while fumbling the ball five times.

Defensively, they were able to average 70.5 tackles per game, while racking up 90 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, seven fumble recoveries, just five interceptions, and four blocked field goals. Their turnover ratio of 25-12 is a huge reason as to why they were unable to get anything done this season. They also turned the ball over more times than they found the end zone.

Even with the coaching switch this season, the Huskies were unfortunately still unable to get much going this season. It may have been in large part to missing a natural quarterback. They’ll have to fix that problem, as well as many others this off-season if they want to have any sort of chance next season.

Jordan (3-7)

Region Record: 3-3

The Jordan Beetdiggers were not good this season. They struggled tremendously, even against the worst teams in the region.

Offensively, they completed 146 of their 266 passes for 1993 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. They added 923 yards off of 226 carries and nine touchdowns on the ground.

Defensively, the Beetdiggers averaged 36.1 tackles per game and racked up 27 tackles for loss, nine sacks, seven interceptions, and three fumble recoveries.

Overall, the Beetdiggers were subpar, and are going to need to find something new next year. They recently fired their previous head coach, and are now looking for someone to bring a new theme of victory to Jordan.

Murray (1-9)

Region Record: 1-5

The Murray Spartans had an abysmal football season. They couldn’t get anything going in any aspect of the game this season.

On offense, the Spartans struggled with just 1398 passing yards on a 42.7% completion rate. They threw for just six touchdowns and a whopping 17 interceptions.

On the ground, they carried the ball 207 times for an incredibly disappointing 588 yards. They had eight touchdowns and nine lost fumbles.

On the defensive side, they averaged 52.8 tackles per game. They racked up 47 tackles for loss, nine sacks, eight interceptions, five fumble recoveries, four blocked field goals, and one punt block.

The Spartans were just awful this year. They need to make some serious adjustments before they’re ready to take on anybody.

Park City (11-2)

Region Record: 6-0

The Park City Miners were actually good this year and made a deep playoff run. After narrowly escaping the Timberwolves of Timpanogos, their run was cut short in the semifinals by the Green Canyon Wolves.

The Miners were impressive offensively. They completed 54.9% of their passes for 1886 yards, 22 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. They ran the ball 480 times for 2778 yards, 31 touchdowns, and 16 fumbles on the season.

Defensively, they averaged 50.3 tackles per game, picked up 59 tackles for loss, 26 sacks, 24 interceptions, and nine fumble recoveries.

The Miners had a wonderful season this time around, but were disappointed to have it cut short. Unfortunately, they’ll also be losing many star seniors, but could still be a contender again next year.

Stansbury (7-5)

Region Record: 5-1

The Stallions had a pretty good year, but compared to previous seasons, was lacking. They made a short playoff run, but couldn’t make it past the Ridgeline Riverhawks in the second round.

Offensively, the Stallions passed for 2400 yards on a 50.7% completion rate, throwing for 23 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. They carried the ball 313 times for 1939 yards, 27 touchdowns, and just four fumbles.

On the defensive side, the Stallions averaged 45.8 tackles per game, and totaled 25 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, eight interceptions, six fumble recoveries, and one punt block.

The Stallions had some growing pains this season after losing the majority of their offensive production last year. With a lot of their guys working their tails off off-season already this off-season, don’t be surprised to see them come back even stronger next year.

Tooele (4-7)

Region Record: 4-2

Although the Tooele Buffaloes may have won four games and taken third place in the region standings, they are not by any means a good team. They only beat the worst of the worst during region play and were humbled by everybody else they played, ending with a 63-14 blowout loss to Mountain Crest in the first round of the playoffs.

On the offensive side of the stat book, the Buffs carried the football a whopping 474 times for 2670 yards, 35 touchdowns, while fumbling the ball 19 times, which is impressive for all the wrong reasons.

They added 80 completions out of just 143 passes for 1149 yards, 11 touchdowns, and threw six interceptions.

Defensively, they averaged 59 tackles per game while totaling 44 tackles for loss, 19 sacks, 11 interceptions, 10 fumble recoveries, and one blocked field goal.

Head Coach BJ Hunter has been with Tooele for just two years now, and has now gone 6-15. The administration at Tooele will probably begin looking into pulling the plug on his job as the Buffaloes’ coach.

Despite the stats looking decent, the football that the Buffaloes put onto the field was anything but that. They need to do some serious work and make some big changes to become a contender again.

Featured image credit: AJ Conlin, The Hive Sports