Whether because of bracketing, upsets or something else, it's just not all that often that the four so-called "favorites" of any tournament all advance to the semifinals to square off against one another.

But that's precisely what's happened in the 3A football tournament.

Defending state champ Juan Diego, Park City and Hurricane were billed as the three pre-tournament favorites before the postseason began, and they were joined by Wasatch, which spent most of the season ranked amongst those three other schools.

All four subsequently took care of business during the opening two weekends, and now they'll do battle over the next two weekends to determine which one is the best in Class 3A.

Juan Diego and Wasatch will kick off the fun when they meet at 11 a.m. Thursday inside Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"I certainly think that the four best teams in 3A are left," said Juan Diego coach John Colosimo. "I think the team that can come out and eliminate mistakes and play at a higher level will win this thing over the next couple weeks. … As I look at it, I think any of these four teams can win it, and that includes Wasatch.

"They seem to be the odd-man out — everybody seems to be talking about Juan Diego, Hurricane and Park City — but Wasatch has quietly improved and gotten better. And you get to this point, playing up on the turf, and anything can happen."

To be successful against Wasatch, the top-ranked Soaring Eagle knows it must find ways to keep Wasatch's spread offense as quiet as possible. In particular, Colosimo pointed out that containing quarterback Payton Davis and slot receiver Mike Davis will be particularly critical.

"I think they're very explosive offensively," said Colosimo. "I like the Davis kid — well, I like both of them — but as a receiver, as a running back, Mike, he's every bit as good of a football player as we've faced all year. He runs very hard, catches everything (and) he's pretty savvy.