3A football preview: North Sanpete at Cedar

North Sanpete (6-4, 2-2) at Cedar (7-3, 3-2)

3A State Tournament first round

Friday, 5 p.m.

Parry's Power Guide: Cedar by 15

All-time series: Cedar leads 4-2.

Last meeting: 2006 preseason, Cedar won 48-6

Throughout most of the year — and entering this week's first-round playoff games — most of the talk surrounding Class 3A has been about the Northern guys.

Everybody knows how tough Region 10 was, and everybody knows that Logan and Juan Diego, both winners in their respective regions, will be teams to be reckoned with.

However, don't be stunned if Cedar of Southern Utah crashes the postseason party.

Since losing big to Class 2A's Millard in Week 2 of the season, the Cedar Redmen have largely flown under the radar and enter their first-round tilt with North Sanpete Friday unranked.

When you take a closer look, however, it's pretty easy to see why Cedar should be considered a serious contender in 3A.

Aside from their loss to Millard, Cedar's only other defeats came against two of Region 9's three 4A teams, Dixie and Pine VIew. Cedar fell 34-29 to high-flying and unbeaten Pine View, and it remains the only close game the Panthers have had all year.

Dual threat QB Logan Obering has been outstanding for Cedar and is his team's leading passer (569 yards and five TDs) and rusher (879 yards and 15 TDs).

Cedar, however, does face an extremely tough playoff draw, including a first-round date with a dangerous North Sanpete team.

Things looked great for North Sanpete after it came-from-behind to beat Wasatch in Week 7, but the Braves returned to Region 8 play and lost two of their final three games.

The two loses were against Juan Diego and Emery, and both were blowouts.

Don't count the Hawks out against Cedar, however, as running backs Jordan Walker (183 rushes, 1,055 yards, 11 TDs) and Tyler Daniels (148 rushes, 1,034 yards, 15 TDs) might be the best one-two rushing combo in Class 3A.

Interestingly, North Sanpete has scored the exact number of points (25.1 ppg) that it's given up.

North Sanpete Hawks statistical breakdown

Scoring offense: 25.1 ppg

Scoring defense: 25.1 ppg