High school football: Rich will have competition in 1A this year

Everything about 1A football last year was a foregone conclusion — Rich was just that good. The Rebels didn't lose a game in 2009 and enjoyed an average margin of victory of 32 points on their way to the 1A state championship.

A year later, things figure to be much more competitive.

"I think there's five teams in 1A that all have a good shot at winning. Whoever plays the best on any given night can beat any of the other five," said Rich coach Ashley Brown.

Rich is definitely one of those teams, and still probably the favorite in 2010, but it won't be as dominant. The program graduated 13 players, including MVP quarterback Bradley Holmes and all-everything player Caden Anderson, who signed on to play football at Weber State.

Those two had been starting since they were freshmen, whereas numerous others were three-years starters. There's a lot of pressure on their replacements.

"Anytime you lose that many kids you know you're going to have a challenge to get kids to fill those shoes. We're excited, and ready to get going," Brown said.

As for the rest of 1A, they're excited to have something besides second place to play for.

Even though the playing field is more level, Duchesne coach Billy Hoops believes Rich is still the favorite, with a talented group of underclassmen returning from last year.

"I know they have a lot of good players underneath those (seniors), and those guys know how to win," Hoopes said.

In addition to Rich and Duchesne, Hoopes agrees with Brown's assessment that Monticello, Altamont and Milford should all be very good this year as well.

Every school in 1A is glad to be playing teams its own size again. Even though Rich could've easily passed for a 2A or 3A team last year, that group was an anomaly, and last year's realignment served its purpose.

"It was nice to play against some of those (smaller) schools. There for a few years it just seemed like Kanab was in the championship every single year. If you got on that side of the bracket, you were kind of in trouble," Hoopes said.

Kanab made the jump to 2A last year, but Duchesne doesn't shy away from play programs like that. Duchesne's preseason slate includes games against Enterprise, South Summit and North Summit, all of which should help it prepare for an Oct. 8 region showdown at Rich.

That game will likely determine the 1A North champion.