SANDY — If the saying rings true and defense wins championships, Alta may be hoisting the 5A trophy at the end of the season.

The focus may be on the offense. After all, the Hawks do return Mr. Football, running back Sausan Shakerin, but the true grit of this team lies with its defense.

"We have eight guys coming back on defense, and we were pretty good on that side of the ball last year," said Hawks coach Les Hamilton. "We may have to rely on our defense to keep us in games until our offense finds its rhythm. We have a bunch of new players on offense, so it may be our defense that carries us."

Jefferson Court was an all-state linebacker and the defensive MVP of Region 2 last year. He is back to anchor the defense and has along side him his running mates from last season. Boo Anderson and Jordan Anderson teamed with Court last year to make one of the better linebacking corps in the state. With all three back, it could be scary how tough things are for opposing offenses.

"We want to shut teams out," said Court. "We will attack offenses and try not to give up anything. We not only don't want the other team to score, but we want to try to score some points on defense, or at least create some turnovers and give our offense the ball in some good spots for them to score."

The talent does not stop with the linebackers, however. Before last season Hamilton said to keep an eye on Shakerin, that he had the potential to be something special. Look how that turned out. This year he said a player to keep an eye on is defensive end Derek Keller.

"In all the camps and offseason stuff nobody has been able to block him," Hamilton said. "He is one of the best pure athletes we have on our team. He is going to be a beast this year."

Keller has all the physical skills at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds. He runs the 40 in 4.63 seconds and squats over 400 pounds while boasting a 36-inch vertical jump. With him coming off the edge, opposing quarterbacks will need eyes in the back of their heads.

Assuming a team can get any time to throw the ball, the secondary may not allow any receivers to find any space. Brantly Dunn was an all-Region 2 performer last year and can be a shut-down cover man, and Kaden Carli moves from the offensive side of the ball — where he was a running back that could probably start on most teams.

"Our defense has some very big goals," said Court. "We had four shutouts last year, and I think we can top that this year. We know that if the other team doesn't score, we are going to win. The offense will come along, but with all the players we have on defense, we should be one of the best units in the state."