4A high school football: Springville loaded with offensive weapons

It is tough to stop a team when an opponent doesn't know where to start.

One of the keys all season and in Springville's 29-21 4A semifinal win over Dixie was the Red Devils' offensive balance.

"When we are at our best, we do that," said coach Scott Mitchell of spreading the ball around to all the team's weapons. "We are certainly not one-dimensional. We have the capability to go to a lot of people."

There were plenty of offensive heroes on Thursday afternoon. Seven different players caught at least one pass with Jordan Sumsion leading the way with five catches for 77 yards. Todd Gillies hauled in three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown while Taylor Baker had four catches and 37 yards.

"It's awesome. Our receiving staff is amazing. We have great hands all over the place," said quarterback Steven Bate. "We are a spread offense, and this year we have a ton of athletes. We do everything. We can run the ball. We have great runners. And like I said, we have great receivers. All teams have to focus on a lot of different things when they face us and that is definitely a good thing."

Another dilemma in facing Springville is even if the team can match up with four or five good, athletic receivers, the Red Devils are just as likely to hand the ball to one of their excellent backs. Marcus Case led the way on the ground with 16 carries for 61 yards and a touchdown, and Alema Key contributed seven rushes for 33 yards and two scores.

"It's nice because you have people making plays," said Sumsion. "All your teammates open things up for you. The run opens up the pass, and the pass opens up the run. We all know that we can rely on each other and that when we all are doing our jobs it makes things easier on everyone."

The Springville offense had 255 yards with 193 through the air and 62 on the ground. Bate completed 15-of-24 passes for 140 yards and the touchdown to Gillies. But even with those stats, the coach thinks there is still room for improvement, and he hopes it comes in next Friday's 4A championship game.

"We certainly still haven't played our best offensive game in these playoffs, really," said Mitchell. "We did enough to win this week, but hopefully we are saving that perfect offensive performance for the last game."

e-mail: mblack@desnews.com