5A high school football preview: Fremont at Bingham

Fremont (4-6) at Bingham (9-2)

5A state tournament quarterfinal

Friday, 4 p.m.

Parry’s Power Guide: Bingham by 27

All-time series: Bingham leads Fremont, 7-4

Coach vs. coach: Bingham’s Dave Peck leads Fremont’s Kory Bosgieter, 2-1

Last meeting: Nov. 4, 2011 (5A quarterfinal) — Fremont 27, Bingham 20

SOUTH JORDAN — Don't look now, but Bingham seems to be hitting its stride exactly when it counts. After finishing out the regular season the Miners blew out a very talented Cottonwood team 52-13 in the first round.

The preseason 5A title favorites appear to be living up to its billing and will now take on a Fremont team that knocked it out of the playoffs last season. So is revenge on the mind of Bingham this week?

"I haven't focused on it at all, but I've heard several players talking about how they're going to get them back and all that," said Bingham coach Dave Peck. "Maybe there's a little revenge factor, but we need to just focus on what we do and we shouldn't need any extra motivation."

The Silverwolves overcame a tough start to the season to secure a spot in the playoffs — beating Hunter 14-6 in the first round. It's a team that features a run-heavy attack led by Jordan Preator.

"They're a hot team right now after a slow start and Jordan Preator — he's as good of a player as there is in the state," Peck said. "They have a lot of returning offensive linemen and they're going to present a good challenge for us."

Bingham features a tough defense and a balanced attack on offense led by quarterback Jantzen Bowles and running back Tonga Manu. Bowles has thrown for just 589 yards, but has rushed for 416 yards after sharing time at the position with Coleman Stout for most of the year. Manu leads the team with 655 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns.

The Miners present three very good options on the passing tree with receivers Hayden Weichers and Kalan Cantwell along with tight end Dalton Schultz.

The team is as confident as it's been all season after a big win over Cottonwood in the first round.

"It was our most complete game of the season," Peck said. "It's exactly the type of effort you'd want on both sides of the ball when you're entering the playoffs. I feel very good at where our team is at and I like our chances, but we'll first need to get by a very good Fremont team who beat us last year."

In order to beat the Silverwolves, Peck believes his team needs to stay away from allowing big plays.

"Giving up big plays to teams have really hurt us in our losses and even in some of our wins this year," Peck said. "We simply need to make Fremont work for everything they get. We can't make dumb mistakes and allow big plays down the field and we'll be fine if we do that. It's all about being assignment-sound and if we do we should be able to win the game."

Fremont statistical breakdown

Scoring offense: 12.1 ppg

Scoring defense: 28.1 ppg

Passing leader: Garrett Gallegos (81-142, 863 yards, 3 TDs, 8 INTs)

Rushing leaders: Jordan Preator (54 carries, 299 yards, 5 TDs)

Receiving leaders: Blake Garner (27 rec., 173 yards, 0 Tds), Tanner Hull (23 rec., 313 yards, 1 TD)

Tackles leaders: Jake Wadsworth (124 tackles), Colton Visser (90 tackles)

Sack leaders: Nate Wadsworth (1 sacks)

Interception leaders: Austin Johnson (4 INTs)