Powerhouse defense the key to Alta's championship

SANDY — Now that the pads are put away, and the trophy put in its case, the Alta Hawks can look back at their championship 2007 football season with a great sense of pride.

"From the time we started working out, to conditioning and then finally wrapping it up with this win, we have been a family and we can be proud of what we accomplished together," said Region 2 defensive MVP linebacker Jordan Anderson after Alta's 19-7 win over Layton in the 5A state title game. "We are all like brothers, and we have had this goal for a long time."

The 2006 season ended with a bitter disappointment in the finals against Bingham. But even that was not all bad. Alta had eight players who were starters on defense in that game who were back to help lead the team this season. The experience and time gained playing together was invaluable in helping lead the Hawks to the school's first state title in 19 years.

"We have been playing together for like five years," said linebacker Boo Anderson. "We know what the other is going to do, and they know what I am going to do. We have learned to play together as a team, and that is one of the major reasons why we got here."

Coach Les Hamilton said the unquestioned strength of the team was the defense.

"We have relied on the defense a lot, and every time they have stepped up and risen to the challenge. They have earned the right to be what we rely on to win," he said.

"We have the best defense in the state. Period. No doubt about it," said the remaining member of the vaunted linebacker corps, Jefferson Court. "We knew we could be good, and I think we proved to everybody in the state we were the best."

That heralded defense came up huge in the team's biggest games. It shut down Bingham in the semifinals, holding them to only 17 points, and posted unheard-of numbers in the championship against Layton. It allowed minus-9 yards rushing and pressured the quarterback on nearly every drop back to throw.

"Our philosophy is always to get pressure on the other team's quarterback," said defensive end Derek Keller. "We don't like to sit back and watch what the other team is doing. We want to take the initiative and force them into mistakes, make them do things they don't want to do."

The defense was a disruptive force and was a major reason the Hawks were so successful, but the offense did lead the classification with nearly 40 points per game. Ryan Rosenvall stepped in as the team's new quarterback, and as the season progressed, so did he.