Region 3 schools familiar with the team to beat

The region is largely the same, and the king of the region is most definitely the same.

With the exception of swapping in Taylorsville and swapping out Hunter, the Utah High School Activities Association didn't touch the league during its latest round of realignments.

Accordingly, what you're left with is a league full of competitive teams that are trying to chase down one juggernaut.

As is the case before this or any prep football season, the schools inside Region 3 not named "Bingham High" all hope to accomplish some special things this fall, including trying to win a region championship.

But, as Riverton coach Mike Miller pointed out, "you know who it goes through."

During the previous four-year realignment cycle, which coincided with Bingham's rise to juggernaut status in the state of Utah, the Miners went 20-0 against region opponents and won all 20 of those games by double-digits.

Heading into a new realignment cycle, the Miners will be doing everything they can to make sure that nobody inside their region ends that dominance anytime soon.

"Ever since (Bingham coach Dave) Peck took over here, all the years he's been coaching he's been having amazing stats. And when it comes to region, we just want all the other schools around us to know who's the school to beat," said Bingham star tailback Harvey Langi, a junior captain who already has offers from Utah, BYU and Stanford. "We wanna make a statement that we run harder, work out harder, hit harder.

"That's the only way to prove it — out on the field. You can talk all you want, but we just come out there and dominate and we just wanna keep that up in our region."

Bingham won the state championship in 2006 and has advanced to at least the semifinals in each of the last three years. However, before they worry about trying to win a state championship, Peck says his squad focuses on trying to win a region championship first.

"Our No. 1 goal is to be region champs," he said. "We'll do things in the preseason to basically get ready for region. (In the) preseason, it doesn't matter what your record is, but you better get things figured out by region because if you wanna go far in the playoffs, you gotta have a high seed.

"If you can be the No. 1 seed, you've got a good opportunity to get two home playoff games and that can get you to the semifinals. And once you get to the semifinals, anything can happen."