Felt’s Facts – 2017 Week 6

Undefeated and Winless

Halfway through the regular season, 10 teams savor perfect records while 13 others remain winless. There’s at least one unbeaten team in every classification.

A big matchup between undefeated teams this week sees Sky View at Mountain Crest in a Class 4A, Region 12 showdown. Another game pairs winless teams as Carbon visits Emery County in Class 3A North.

5-0 Starts

Eight schools have raced to 5-0 starts this year. Here’s a look at the last time each of them matched, or bettered, that start.

Skyridge (second season) and Summit Academy (sixth year) are off to their best-ever starts.

After winning just five games the last three seasons, resurgent Timpanogos has matched its best start and longest winning streak, originally set in 2012.

Grand County looks to go 6-0 for the first time since 1997.

In 2015, Mountain Crest won its first eight games while Sky View captured its first 12, a school record. Incidentally, Sky View coach Danilo Robinson remains the only unbeaten first-year coach.

Last year, Bingham stormed to a 14-0 start and the state championship before losing an out-of-state contest and South Summit romped to a 6-0 start.

Two other teams clock in at 4-0. Milford enjoys its best start since 1994 when the Tigers won their first eight games, a school record. Corner Canyon is off to its fastest start since 2014 when the Chargers took their first 12 contests, also a school record.

Turnarounds

Midway through the regular season, Altamont, Judge, Millard and North Sevier leads the state as the most-improved teams (which the NCAA calculates by taking the year-to-year difference in victories and the difference in losses, adding the two numbers and dividing by 2). Altamont and North Sevier have moved from 1-9 last year to 4-1 so far, and Judge and Millard from 0-10 to 3-2, an improvement of 5.5 games. Three teams are 4.5 games better than last season: Payson, Richfield (both 1-9 to 3-2) and Timpanogos (3-7 to 5-0).

Altamont hasn’t been 4-1 since 2002 and North Sevier’s only better start came in 1996 when the Wolves began the season 9-0.

Other teams experiencing turn-around seasons include Snow Canyon and Weber, which last saw 4-1 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. And Parowan enjoys a 3-1 start for the first time since 2010.

This Week’s Most-played Rivalries (min. 50 games)

Only one series qualifies this week: Cedar and Hurricane revive their rivalry for the 67th time since 1949. Cedar rules the series 45-18-3, but the foes have split the last four.

First-time Matchups (4)

Bear River at Green Canyon, Bonneville at Park City, North Sanpete at Summit Academy, Olympus at Lehi and Wayne at Richfield sophomores.

Getting Reaquainted

A dozen games pit teams that haven’t met since at least 2010.

• North Summit at Delta (last met in 1969) – Series tied 2-2; all previous meetings came in the state playoffs.
• Kirtland-Central (N.M.) at Monticello (1986) – Monticello trails 4-1.
• Davis at Woods Cross (1994) – Davis leads 15-1; WX only series victory came in 1993.
• Dolores County (Colo.) at Whitehorse – 1994; Whitehorse hasn’t defeated Dolores in four attempts.
• Juan Diego at Richfield (2000) – Richfield defeated the Soaring Eagle 28-17 in their only previous meeting.
• Box Elder at Viewmont (2001) – Box Elder leads 2-1.
• Kanab at Layton Christian (2007) – Kanab leads 3-0; LCA has yet to score on the Cowboys.
• Parowan at Rich (2007) – Rich leads 4-2.
• Roy at Bountiful (2008) – Bountiful leads 15-7.
• Copper Hills at Riverton (2010) – Riverton leads 7-5; they battled annually from 1999, when Riverton opened, through the 2010 season.
• Hillcrest at Pleasant Grove (2010) – PG leads 2-0.
• West at Murray (2010) – West leads 26-9 heading into the 36th meeting.

Milestone Games

Weber (hosting Syracuse) aims for its 300th victory and Dixie (visiting Pine View) competes for the 700th time.

In a landmark game for a coach, Dustin Pearce directs his 100th career game in stints at Enterprise (2004), Hunter (2008-10) and Herriman (2013-17).

Midpoint Stats – Single-game Records

The Deseret News and MaxPreps websites list many of the top season performances in a number of categories, but here are some that aren’t conveniently listed elsewhere or aren’t in one place.

The top-five for 2017 are listed, but only if a minimum threshold (set by Felt’s Facts) is met.

If the performance is among the all-time top-20, its place is listed in parenthesis.

Total Offense
617 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (no. 7)
519 – Kael Atkinson, South Summit, Aug. 18
514 – Cooper Legas, Orem, Sept. 2
470 – Dane Leituala, Taylorsville, Aug. 25
451 – Kael Atkinson, South Summit, Aug. 25

All-purpose Yards (min. 300)
313 – Zach Engstrom, Alta, Aug. 18
313 – Dallin Holker, Lehi, Aug. 18

Net Rushing Yards (min. 250)
274 – Pailate Makakona, Hunter, Aug. 18

Rushing Touchdowns (min. 5)
5 – Zach Hoffman, Juan Diego, Aug. 25
5 – Noah Sewell, Desert Hills, Aug. 18

Passing Yards
609 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (state record)
501 – Jacob Barben, Dixie, Sept. 1 (no. 10)
449 – Kael Atkinson, South Summit, Aug. 25
441 – Kael Atkinson, South Summit, Aug. 18
430 – Zach Wilson, Corner Canyon, Aug. 25

Touchdown Passes
10 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (state record)
7 – Bronson Barron, American Fork, Sept. 15 (ties for no. 5 with 10 others)
6 – Jacob Barben, Dixie, Aug. 25 (ties for no. 16 with 60 others)
6 – Jacob Barben, Dixie, Sept. 1 (ties for no. 16 with 60 others)
6 – Cooper Legas, Orem, Sept. 2 (ties for no. 16 with 60 others)

Passing Attempts (min. 50)
74 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (ties state record with one other)

Passing Completions (min. 30)
46 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (state record)
33 – Kael Atkinson, South Summit, Aug. 25 (ties for no. 18 with seven others)
30 – Bronson Barron, American Fork, Sept. 15

Receiving Yards
279 – Kade Moore, Lehi, Sept. 15
274 – Dallin Holker, Lehi, Aug. 18
240 – Hobbs Nyberg, Dixie, Sept. 1
207 – Chad Yorgason, Green Canyon, Aug. 18
198 – Kade Moore, Lehi, Aug. 18

Touchdown Receptions (min. 4)
5 – Dallin Holker, Lehi, Aug. 18 (ties state record with six others)
5 – Hobbs Nyberg, Dixie, Sept. 1 (ties state record with six others)

Receptions (min. 14)
17 – Dallin Holker, Lehi, Aug. 18 (ties for no. 3 with two others)

Touchdowns Responsible For
10 – Cammon Cooper, Lehi, Aug. 18 (ties for no. 3 with three others)
7 – Bronson Barron, American Fork, Sept. 15
7 – Harrison Creer, Olympus, Aug. 25
7 – Nata Suguturaga, Mountain View, Sept. 8
7 – Crew Wakley, Jordan, Sept. 1

Extra Points
9 – Connor Brooksby, Pine View, Aug. 18 (ties for no. 11 with 41 others)
9 – Johnny Lopez, Orem, Sept. 2 (ties for no. 11 with 41 others)
9 – Isaiah Montoya, Milford, Aug. 26 (ties for no. 11 with 41 others)
9 – Wyatt Mosher, Lehi, Aug. 18 (ties for no. 11 with 41 others)
9 – Jett Sollis, Alta, Aug. 18 (ties for no. 11 with 41 others)

All-time Top-20 Career Updates (alphabetically by school)

Alta’s Zach Engstrom remains 14th in both receiving yards (2,390) and receptions (143) as the Hawks had a bye last week.

Dixie’s Hobbs Nyberg is 11th in receiving yards (2,515) and 90 yards from moving into the top-10. He’s tied for 13th in TD receptions (30) and two away from 10th place. Nyberg is 18th in receptions (134).

Lehi QB Cammon Cooper ranks fifth in passing yards (8,237), ninth in touchdown passes (76, and three away from the top-5) and 12th in total offense (8,162 yards). He’s third in completions (664, but 87 away from second) and fourth in and attempts (1,101). Dallin Holker is 19th in receptions (133) and Kade Moore ranks eighth in receptions (167) and 15th in reception yards (2,344).

Taylorsville dual-threat quarterback Dane Leituala remains in 10th place in total offense (8,658 yards), but just 120 yards from overtaking Jordan’s Alex Hart (2008-09) for ninth. He’s also tied for 12th in touchdowns-responsible-for (89 – 37 rushing and 52 passing), but just four away from the top-10.

See you on the sidelines!

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