High school football: Rabbits have recovered from 0-4 start to earn a 3A semifinal shot at Tigers

When Hurricane beat Delta 20-8 in Delta all the way back in Week 2 of the preseason, the Delta Rabbits were in the midst of a hellish season-opening stretch.

The Rabbits started off 2010 with four tough games in a row, including the home tilt with Hurricane, and they lost all four of them to leave the rest of their season shrouded in uncertainty.

Flash forward to the present, however, and Delta is a much different football team now than it was then.

Indeed, since starting out the season 0-4, the Rabbits have reeled off eight consecutive victories and have grown and improved as a team every step along the way.

Delta's reward for its remarkable turnaround is a spot in the 3A semifinals for the first time since 2006, and the Rabbits will hope to show just how far they've come when they meet Hurricane for the second time of the season, this time in the 3A semis at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on the grand stage of Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Delta coach Russ Henrie's team is obviously much different now than it was two months ago, but he said that doesn't change who will be favored once kickoff arrives Thursday night.

"We've made some adjustments and moved some kids around and it's made us a better team, but we're still — by far — the underdog," said Henrie. "It's a David and Goliath thing. We're gonna have to shock the world in order to beat 'em, but you know what? We're gonna go give 'em everything we got and play them as hard as we can and take what we can get."

Hurricane coach Chris Homer and his team wouldn't expect anything less.

Homer and Henrie have gotten to know one another well over the past several seasons, and Homer says his coaching staff has tons of admiration for Henrie and his staff.

Accordingly, Homer isn't surprised that Delta has recovered from its 0-4 start to ultimately face his Tigers in the semis. But he did point out that such a feat is incredibly difficult to accomplish.

"I think people probably underestimate how hard that is to basically perform a recovery like they did, especially dealing with young men," said Homer. "They have good kids and good leaders, but 0-4 is a tough road to hoe when you don't know what lays ahead each week.

"(Coach Henrie) is a positive guy and he loves his kids, and they'll always respond to that, whether it's with wins or other things. In this case, it did turn into wins. I think that's a credit to him and his coaching staff. They are just good to their kids, and you can kind of see that."