High school football previews to kick off

The countdown toward Aug. 22, the opening night of the high school football season, is officially under way, and questions are rampant.

Can Alta repeat in 5A despite a loaded Bingham team out for revenge?

Does anyone have a prayer of knocking off mighty Timpview in 4A?

How will Cinderella Logan fare a year later in 3A?

In 2A and 1A, do North Summit and Kanab have what it takes to win again?

Beginning Monday, the Deseret News will start providing answers to these questions by publishing the first of its 14 region previews. Individual previews for all 93 teams in Utah will also be published in the coming weeks online at deseretnews.com.

Sixteen of these schools begin the 2008 season under the direction of new coaches, including Ray Groth in Tooele.

"It's really neat for me. I've always said the best football is small towns; you're the only show in town," said Groth.

Other veteran coaches beginning anew include Blaine Monkres at Dixie and Monte Morgan at Salem Hills. Then there's Scott Mitchell, the former NFL quarterback who's guiding his alma mater at Springville.

All eyes, however, will be on Alta and Bingham yet again. The budding rivalry reached new heights in 2008 with Bingham beating Alta in Week 2, only to have Alta return the favor with a thrilling 21-17 semifinal win at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Alta went on to beat Layton in the championship game.

The Hawks lost a ton of senior starters, though, and repeating as state champs will be difficult. No 5A team has won back-to-back titles since Northridge's three straight titles from 2000-02. Alta will find out pretty early just how good the replacements are when it hosts Bingham in Week 2 on its new turf field.

The oft-forgotten team of last year is the 5A runner-up. Can Layton do it again, or is there another sleeping giant waiting in the wings? There are some early rumblings in the south part of the Salt Lake valley that Riverton might be that team with 17 returning starters. That's roughly the number of starters Layton returned the year before.