High school football: Felt's Facts season recap

Championship Game Notes

When Juan Diego's Bruce Nix clutched Cody Stephenson's 31-yard "Hail-Mary" to lift the Soaring Eagle to a 12-10 victory as time expired in the 3A title game, it marked the first time a team had come from behind to win a championship on the final play of a non-overtime battle.

It was also just the second title contest in Utah prep history to be decided by a score on the final play in regulation. The first was last year, when North Summit's Greg Woolstenhulme booted a 20-yard field goal to give the Braves the 2A crown over Manti, 31-28.

(By the way, of the 251 championship games, eight have been decided in one or more overtimes. In half of those games, the team that had the final possession scored to win, but only one came from behind to win. That was Timpview's 35-34 victory over Skyline in 1991, although technically, the winning play was the PAT that broke a 34-34 tie, and not the game-tying touchdown.)

JD has five title-game appearances in its first ten seasons. Only East (five appearances from 1914-23) has matched that accomplishment. Highland, Mountain Crest, Skyline and Snow Canyon made the championship contest three times in their first decade of football.

Timpview is just the fourth school to win at least four championships in a row. East (1919-23) and Skyline (1995-99) won five straight and Millard captured four consecutive titles (1950-53). The T-birds own the second longest postseason winning streak with 15 games (Skyline won 23 straight playoff contests from 1995-2000).

2009 State Records

This season saw Timpview's state-record, 36-game winning streak come to a screeching halt on opening day and the record 109-game, uninterrupted series between East and West end. But it also witnessed 15 team and individual state records set and another six tied. That's an unusually high number for a single season (about 12% of some 125 categories for individuals I track have new records). Of course, one player, Jordan's Alex Hart, set five of those.

Team

(1) Most Points Scored by Two Teams in a State Game (non-overtime): 104, Bingham 62, Jordan 42 (Oct. 31)

(2) Most Points Scored in a State Game in a Losing Cause (non-overtime): 42 by Jordan to Bingham's 62 (Oct. 31)

Tied: Consecutive Winning Seasons: 21, Skyline (with Davis, 1972-92)

Tied: Most State Championship Games Without Winning a Title: 5, Hurricane (with Park City and Wasatch)

Individual, Single-game

(1) Total Offense, 588, Nik Allred, Ogden (Sept. 18)

(2) Touchdown Passes: 8, Alex Hart, Jordan (Oct. 16) (ties national record)

(3) Passing Attempts: 66, Tyler Stevens, Logan (Sept. 30)

(4) Passing Completions: 43, Tyler Stevens, Logan (Sept. 30)

(5) Receptions: 20, Braden Hammond, Jordan (Sept. 11)