5A high school football championship: Bingham challenger very similar to last year's

SALT LAKE CITY — In watching film and studying his opponent for Friday's 5A state championship, Bingham coach Dave Peck knew right away why Fremont looked so familiar. It's Davis all over again, but with blue uniforms.

He believes the Silver Wolves are very similar to last year's Davis team, which the Miners beat 35-24 to claim the state title.

Just like Davis a year ago, Fremont won the Region 1 championship. And just like last year's 5A runner-ups, the 'Wolves feature an outstanding defense, one of the best running backs in the state and an offense that likes to control the clock.

The pseudo-rematch is actually a scary scenario for No. 1 Bingham.

"Last year we felt pretty good going into it but were behind going into the fourth quarter and had to rally," said Peck. "It's almost kind of eerie how the top team out of Region 1 has got through again," said Peck.

Regardless of the opponent, Bingham is heavily favored once again. Ranked nationally all season, the Miners have won 23 straight games, enjoy a 41-point average margin of victory and are loaded with future college stars.

A Fremont victory would be a major upset, but the 'Wolves are perfectly content with their role as underdog in Friday's game at Rice-Eccles Stadium, which kicks off at 2:30 p.m.

"They're going to be tough, that's for sure. They've proved that multiple times this year. Like every game, we'll have to come out, play hard, play our best game, play their best game, and see what happens — hopefully come out with a victory," said Fremont's Tayson Wilson.

Basically, Fremont can't turn it over four times like it did in a 20-14 semifinal win over Lone Peak. Bingham is notorious for pouncing on turnovers and burying an opponent early.

In a 51-23 semifinal rout of Jordan last week, Bingham forced four turnovers and scored 28 points of those Jordan giveaways. In 12 games this season, Bingham has 19 interceptions, six fumble recoveries and eight defensive touchdowns.

It's pretty easy to see why ball security will be Fremont's No. 1 objective.

"We can't make the little mistakes that we made last week for this game. We have to polish up everything, and we all need to get on the same page," said Fremont receiver Tate Lewis.