Prep notes: Riverton eager to face Alta

The fact that Alta's football team would be 2-4 at this point would have been unfathomable back in the preseason.

Yet, here the Hawks stand — some would say "limp" — after losing their opening three games to three of the state's best teams before losing to fellow Region 4 contender Lone Peak last weekend.

So on one hand, this isn't the Alta team Riverton thought it would be facing in a big nonregion game midway through the regular season.

But despite the blemished record, it is still Alta.

And make no mistake about it, for the unbeaten Riverton Silverwolves, it's a big opportunity to show just how good they are this fall.

"Oh yeah, it is," said Riverton star defensive lineman Zach Erickson of whether facing Alta is an "opportunity."

In Alta, Erickson and Co. will face a team that plays great defense and can rush the ball well with star running back Taylor Eyring going the other way.

And Riverton will have to make the short trip across the valley to face Alta at Alta, beginning at 7 p.m. this Friday in a game that many up and down the state are very intrigued to see what happens.

"I think it's gonna be a good test for us," said Riverton coach Mike Miller. "They're a good football program. I think we have been, too. That's why we wanted to play them — we wanted to play a team that has had some success."

That is precisely what Friday's contest at Alta will be for Riverton and its stellar senior class — a test.

While Alta might crazily be 2-4 going into Friday — and could even more crazily be 2-5 if it loses — the Silverwolves need only think about what happened to them when Alta came to Riverton last year when assessing the difficulty of the task in front of them.

Rest assured, the 'Wolves haven't forgotten what happened that night.

It was a demolition.

Alta senior quarterback Boston Handley completed 10 of 16 passes for 344 yards and four TDs to lead the Hawks to a 47-7 rout over Riverton.

TOP 25 WATCH: For the fourth consecutive week, No. 1 Bingham, No. 2 Davis, No. 3 Timpview, No. 4 Cottonwood and No. 5 Riverton all retained their same spots atop the Deseret News Top 25 rankings.

There was a lot of small movement beneath those leading five but no major movement — with two exceptions.

Reeling Alta, which lost to Lone Peak, dropped six spots in the rankings from No. 10 to No. 16, while Bountiful, which lost to crosstown rival Viewmont, dropped from No. 11 to No. 20.

e-mail: drasmussen@desnews.com