5A high school football championship preview

With all due respect to the rest of the 5A classification, everything that's happened in the 2008 season was just a formality prior to what takes place at 6:30 on the Rice-Eccles Stadium turf tonight.

Alta and Bingham, the state's two football superpowers, will clash for the state title for the second time in three years, and they'll be facing each other on the turf for the third straight year. The Hawks and Miners have emerged as the state's top two programs, and winning the 5A state championship goes through them for now, and for the foreseeable future.

The last two games on the turf between the two teams have been classics. Bingham beat Alta 21-19 to win its first state football title in 60 years in 2006. Alta earned some payback with a 21-17 win in the semifinals last year.

Fans, coaches and players alike expect another classic tonight. Call it Alta-Bingham III.

"I'm going out on a limb and I bet there will be 25,000 people there," said Alta coach Les Hamilton. "People will stick around after the Timpview-Cottonwood game (the 4A championship at 2:30 p.m.), and the Bingham and Alta crowds are going to show up. I think it's going to be packed. Its going to be intense, loud. You won't be able to hear a thing."

Both sides say it's a dream come true to be facing each other for the state championship. Growing up, many of these same players faced each other in Little League, and played for Ute Conference titles. You could say players from these two teams have been on a collision course for tonight their entire lives.

"It's just like a dream come true — three years of the same thing, back-and-forth, back-and-forth," said Bingham defensive tackle Vince Giron. "It's just awesome, especially senior year, the last match. Everyone's just so excited and so pumped."

The Miners feel like they have something to prove after they lost to the Hawks 27-19 back in Week 2. Bingham built a 17-3 in the first quarter while taking advantage of turnovers and clutch special teams play. Alta, however, rallied and more than doubled Bingham in yardage in its victory.

No one doubts that the Miners are a completely different team now. They have won 11 straight games, all by double digits and 10 of them by at least 20 points. They simply dominated Northridge, Jordan and Skyline in playoff games. Bingham avenged its first loss of the season to Skyline, and can now make up for its defeat to Alta on the grandest stage in high school sports.