High school football 3A semi preview: Both Morgan, Hurricane boast strong defenses, running games

MORGAN (10-2) vs. HURRICANE (11-1)

Thursday, 6:30 p.m. — Rice-Eccles Stadium (field turf) — Salt Lake City

Ticket information: Students can purchase tickets from high school. Fans can purchase tickets at U. ticket office

TV: None — Radio: AM1230 — Parry's Power Guide — Hurricane by 2

Morgan and Hurricane, who will meet in the Class 3A semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Thursday inside Rice-Eccles Stadium, might not employ the exact same option-oriented attack, but when you start to break it down, you quickly realize there are more similarities than differences.

For example, though the focal points of each offense come from different places — Hurricane's main man is at fullback, while Morgan's is at tailback — both possess a star running back that's complemented by two other stellar runners in the backfield.

Both offenses will use pulling guards and misdirection to get their three leading rushers the ball, and both mix things up with competent passing attacks, though Hurricane has admittedly thrown more than Morgan.

Morgan coach Kovi Christiansen first made the above offensive comparisons while discussing his team's semifinal matchup, and Hurricane coach Chris Homer quickly ratified them in a subsequent interview.

"Both of us have two or three scary backs," Homer said. "It's hard to make our team one-dimensional. For us, all three of our running backs do a lot on offense ... I would think that Morgan's pretty much the same."

Those two offenses will square off against a pair of stellar defenses in a contest that many believe could ultimately be won by the team that commits fewer turnovers, mistakes and penalties.

Don't think, however, that Thursday's encounter will simply be a slog-it-out, boring affair between two option offenses. OK, the game could turn out to be a snoozer if one team steals all the momentum early and makes life miserable for the other, but the point is that both of these offenses have the ability to be entertaining.

"We're fun to watch," Homer said. "We both have pulling guards and a lot of action."

Star fullback Gordie Dotson, who leads the state in rushing yards (1,659) and leads 3A in rushing TDs (23), has certainly helped make the Tigers fun to watch, and he's complemented in that regard by wings Jacob Pugh and Zach Sorenson and 1,000-yard passer Jase Langston.