High school football: With 4 top teams, 1A postseason play could feature plenty of drama

Unless you had roots in Randolph, the 1A football playoffs last year just weren't very exciting. Rich was simply too good, as it ran the table for its first state championship since 2002.

This year's tournament promises to be much more exciting.

The drama will likely have to wait a week, but there should be plenty of it once the 1A semifinals roll around next Saturday at Snow College.

"I still think there are four teams that could beat each other on any given day. I think it's a lot more evenly matched this year than last," said Rich coach Ashley Brown.

With that said, Saturday's two first-round games won't be nearly as competitive. Rich is a big favorite against visiting Monument Valley, and Altamont is heavily favored despite a long bus ride to Milford. North region champion Duchesne and South region champion Monticello each have first-round byes.

Assuming the results go as expected, Duchesne would face Altamont and Monticello would face Rich in the next round. Both would be rematches of regular-season games. In fact, any combination of the four in the playoffs will be a rematch, as 1A's big four all played each other this year.

"I think each team has different strengths. There are some mismatches here and there, and whoever can effectively capitalize on those mismatches will come out on top," said Monticello coach Lee Chadwick.

If there's a favorite among the four, it would have to be Duchesne — but only slightly. In consecutive weeks to close the season, the Eagles beat Rich 14-13, Monticello 29-27 and Altamont 26-0.

Duchesne isn't blowing teams away like Rich did last year, but it's winning close games, and Chadwick said that shouldn't be underestimated.

It did blow out Altamont, however, but Longhorns coach Mick Fieldsted is confident his team will put up a better fight if they meet again in the semifinals. It might be more optimism than reality.

In head-to-head games among the Big Four in 1A, Duchesne was 3-0, Rich was 2-1, Monticello was 1-2 and Altamont was 0-3.

"We've all played each other so we all have an idea of where we're at. It depends who shows up," said Fieldsted.

As for Monticello, it would love another shot at the defending champs. Rich jumped out to a 19-0 lead when these teams met back in mid-September, en route to a 34-10 win. The Buckaroos were still getting used to their new head coach, but it appears they've got things sorted out just in time.

"I think we're starting to peak at the right time and playing pretty good ball and starting to get some confidence in what we're doing," said Chadwick.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com