Woods Cross not ready to close book on milestone year

WOODS CROSS — This has been a milestone football season for Woods Cross in countless ways.

The Wildcats earned a berth into the 4A tournament for the first time since 2005. Woods Cross also put together its first winning season since 1993 and added a proverbial cherry on top with a convincing 35-20 first-round victory over fellow upstart Provo on Friday.

It offers a stark contrast to the days when the Wildcat program earned more notoriety for being a popular homecoming opponent than anything else.

Senior running back C.J. Corry always felt bothered whenever he was told that Woods Cross could not field a winning football team. But he and other Wildcat seniors entered the season believing they would be the ones to finally prove those detractors wrong.

"Yeah, it bugged me," Corry said. "But I knew it was going to change. I knew that we were going to be the ones to change it."

Woods Cross has relished pulling off surprising victories week after week and being in the hunt for a Region 6 title late into the season. Through ten games, the Wildcats have made life tough for teams on both sides of the ball.

They average 30.9 points per game on offense and allow just 16.2 per game. Woods Cross has scored at least 27 points in all but two games and is 7-1 in those contests.

The Wildcats point to experience as being the main difference maker. The senior class has taken ownership of the team and worked hard to propel it in a better direction.

"It started with good senior leadership," senior lineman Mitch Snyder said. "Good seniors and good captains show everybody how to work and how to get things done."

Given what Woods Cross has accomplished this year, there's reason to feel confident that the Wildcats can carve out a permanent spot in the upper echelon of their region in upcoming seasons.

Still, Woods Cross has not closed the book on 2009 yet. The Wildcats feel confident about continuing their season beyond this weekend.

"They're still hungry as if it's the preseason," Woods Cross coach Fred Fernandes said. "That's the one thing that's led to our success. We got a bunch of guys that believe and they want to be winners. The feeling around here is there's a lot more football to be played this year."

UPSET MASTERS: 4A teams drawing Bonneville as a first-round opponent in future seasons will have plenty of reasons to curse being stuck with that particular draw in the state tournament bracket.

For the third consecutive season, the Lakers pulled off a first-round upset when they rallied to edge Bountiful 14-7 in overtime after capitalizing on four Braves turnovers to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Previously, the Lakers beat second seeded Mountain View 28-21 a year ago and top seeded Highland 21-6 in 2007 – both times as a fourth seed out of Region 5.

RECORD SETTER: Alex Hart secured a spot in the state record books following his performance in Jordan's 62-42 loss to Bingham in the 5A tournament on Saturday.

Hart accumulated 367 yards while completing 28 of 49 passes. The senior exceeded 300 yards passing in all 12 games Jordan played this season.

His per game average of 367.58 yards easily eclipses the state record set by Timpanogos quarterback Christian Stewart, who threw for 319.82 yards per game during the 2007 season.

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com

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