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Hurricane (12-0) vs. Desert Hills (9-3), Fri., 6:30 p.m. at Rice-Eccles StadiumHurricane leads series with Desert Hills 3-1. Neither team has won an 11-man state championship. Hurricane won titles in 1947 and '48 playing six-man football.
Players to watch:
- Brian Scott RB Hurricane
- Adam Thompson RB Hurricane
- Mike Needham RB Desert Hills
- Porter Harris QB Desert Hills
SALT LAKE CITY - The 3A high school football championship is an all-region 9 showdown from Southern Utah.
Undefeated and No. 1 Hurricane takes on 9-3 Desert Hills. This is Desert Hill's first trip to the championship game but for Hurricane they've been there many times before without coming away with a trophy. It happened in 2008, then again in 2009, and once again last year.
Hurricane has lost the last three state title games to Juan Diego in the final play or in final moments.
"We have a lot of heart and determination. We have the will to win, and we just got to come out next week and have that same mentality," Hurricane's Adam Thompson said.
The Hurricane Tigers hope that the fourth time is the charm, and they can finally hoist the championship trophy Friday in Rice-Eccles.
"I think we have a pretty good chance. We have guys that are good mentally," Hurricane's Brian Scott said.
The reason the Tigers are so optimistic heading into this year's title game against Desert Hills is the backfield. The Tigers triple threat has gained nearly 3,000 rushing yards and 50 touchdowns between the three runners.
Hurricane is led by Brian Scott, who, at 220 pounds, has the size and enough speed to cause problems for every defender attempting to slow him down. So far nobody has been able to do that this season.
"Just go all the way and fight for my teammates. That's all I really do," Scott said.
"Two-time state wrestling champion. His brother did the same thing for us five or six years ago. He's just tough. We're just lucky to have him and I tell him that every day. I just feel like I'm lucky to have him. Even when they knew that he was going to get it there at the end. He just has will power beyond everybody else right now," Hurricane coach Chris Homer said.
Scott has rushed for 1530 yards and 28 touchdowns and is averaging 8.3 yards per carry.
In last week's semifinal win against Spanish Fork, Scott ran the ball 36 times for 220 yards and three touchdowns When teams load up the box and try to stop Brian Scott, his two running mates, Adam Thompson and Weston Yardley, step in to take advantage.
Thompson is the fastest player on the Tigers team and has 753 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season, while Yardley has 692 yards and 10 touchdowns.
On the other side of the ball, Desert Hills advanced to Friday's 3A championship game by hanging on to beat Cedar 23-21 last week.
"I'm just very proud of my boys. They're an amazing group of young men and showed a lot of heart tonight," Desert Hills coach Jake Nelson said.
The Thunder have a thunderous running game as well lead by Mike Needham. The 6-foot-2, 195 pounder had 33 carries for 166 yards last week in the win over the Redmen.
"Our offensive line. That was the greatest game they've had all year and I'm very proud of them. We kept it up the whole game, played all four quarters. We didn't come out slow at any time in the game. We kind of got bad luck there at the first but we finished it off. I'm so proud of our team." Needham said.
Needham averages about 105 yards a game to go along with 14 rushing touchdowns this season.
Desert Hills has more of a balanced attack than Hurricane. Porter Harris has thrown for 12 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Ty Rutledge is his main target, catching eight of those touchdowns.
When Desert Hills and Hurricane met back on October 13th, it was all Tigers. But, Desert Hills was the first team to really slow down Brian Scott. He rushed for only 78 yards on 13 carries, but they couldn't stop the other two. Adam Thompson finished with 108 yards on the ground and Weston Yardley chipped in 84 yards. Hurricane jumped out to a 14-0 lead and cruised to a 35-8 win over Desert Hills.
"If we play like tonight, then it's going to be a good game. Definitely stop their offense, they have a good running game, but I think we should be alright next week," Needham said.
"I hate it," Homer said when asked how he felt about playing a team they've already played during the season. "We're just so familiar with each other. But, the good thing is that us region nine coaches get along really well. There's a respect factor there and we just feel good that one of us is finally going to get this monkey off our back for region nine."
