3A high school football preview: Richfield at Wasatch

Richfield (8-2) at Wasatch (6-3)

3A state tournament first round

Friday, 4 p.m.

Parry's Power Guide: Wasatch by 10

All-time series: Richfield leads, 2-1

Coach vs. Coach: Richfield's Corey Morrison and Wasatch's Steve North, first meeting

Last meeting: Nov. 6, 1993 — Richfield 47, Wasatch 24

It's been a long, long time — 22 years, to be precise — since the Richfield Wildcats last won as many football games as they have won this fall.

Back in 1988, Richfield went 10-2 and advanced to the 2A championship game, but it took the success-starved program more than decades to win at least eight games again.

Already this fall, however, the Wildcats have matched that win total.

With senior quarterback Tyler Sorensen at the controls, Richfield's football team has gone places, winning more games than any Richfield football team had won since that state-finalist team of more than two decades ago.

The Wildcats started out 6-0 before ultimately finishing the regular season 8-2, and they'll enter the opening round of the 3A tournament believing they can go on to accomplish ever greater things in 2010.

Rest assured that Wasatch understands what Richfield has already accomplished when those two schools collide at Wasatch High this Friday, starting at 4 p.m., in the first round of the 3A playoffs.

"This is probably the best team they've had in quite some time — they're a good little bunch," said Wasatch coach Steve North. "They'll bring a lot of people. This is the first time in a quite some time that they've had a good team, and it's been good for their community down there, from what I understand.

"They have a bunch of seniors that have grown up together and have played together, and they're kind of pushing each other and doing really well."

In breaking down the Wildcats, North says he sees a lot of similarities between them and Wasatch's arch-rival, Park City, which beat Wasatch 28-21 just last week.

"From watching it on film, it's almost like us and Park City," said North. "I think those guys are comparable to Park City. They probably don't have quite the speed that Park City has, but their athletic ability is really good.