The first full week of prep football playoffs have determined who will be keeping important company next week.
For example, seven teams - Provo, Bingham, Davis, Brighton, Cyprus, Kearns and Skyline - were the first to qualify for the bally-hooed privilege of playing on Rice Stadium's artificial turf in next week's 4A quarterfinals. The other three participants were to be decided in games played late Friday night or Saturday afternoon.And the Final Four in the 2A and 1A ranks became almost complete - excluding one late 2A game and a Saturday 1A contest. The 2A semifinalists include Manti, Millard, Hurricane and San Juan - the winners in Friday's quarterfinal contests; meanwhile, the first 1A teams to earn semifinal spots were Parowan, Monticello and Duchesne.
4A first-round playoffs
Cyprus 24, Mountain View 17: For the second consecutive week, the undefeated top-ranked team lost - only for the 8-1 Bruins, the loss abruptly concluded their postseason. Claiming the first-round victory on the road, the Pirates are now 6-4 overall and have a four-game win streak.
Provo 25, Granger 20: After the Lancers broke a 13-13 tie with a second-half TD and PAT kick, the Bulldogs scored twice in the final minutes of the game to upset fourth-ranked Granger.
After scoring to draw within 20-19, Provo missed an onsides kick but held Granger on four downs and got the ball back on its own 38 with 39 seconds to go. Throwing for more than 300 yards against the Lancers, Bulldog QB Sean Lasser completed a 32-yard pass to Brad Gardner and then followed with a 30-yarder to Lynn Boyd for the score to make it 25-20 with 15 seconds to play.
Provo improves to 5-4 overall. Ranked No. 1 and undefeated until the final week of the season, Granger ends its year with a 7-2 record, thanks to back-to-back losses.
Bingham 20, Orem 0: Quinn Remund and Brian Chamberlain combined to score all of the points for the 8-2 Miners. Remund scored a first-quarter TD with a 1-yard run and followed with a 6-yard TD carry in the third, while Chamberlain kicked the two PATs and two fourth-quarter field goals of 34 and 27 yards.
In registering its fourth shutout victory of the season, Bingham held Orem out of the end zone on four plays inside the Miner 5 just prior to halftime.
Orem, which was last year's 4A runner-up and the 4A state titlist the year before, finished with a 5-4 record.
Kearns 38, American Fork 17: After leading just 14-10 after the first half, the 7-2 Cougars exploded for 24 second-half points. Jeremy Castro threw for three TDs - a 10-yards to Roger Griffiths and passes of 1 and 3 yards to Jason Duchworth - and added another touchdown on a 2-yard run to lead Kearns. Fred Scott scored on a 4-yard TD run, while Chad Evans kicked five PAT points and a 21-yard field goal.
Ending the year with a 6-3 record in a turnover-plagued loss, American Fork stayed close in the first half on a 35-yard field goal by Ryan Nielsen and a 4-yard run by Brandon Hodges. However, while Kearns was racking up its second-half points, the Cavemen could only counter with a 10-yard TD pass from Rob Lamb to Brandon Crotts.
Skyline 41, Viewmont 20: The second-ranked Eagles upped their winning streak to eight games and their overall record to 8-2, while Viewmont finished at 3-7.
Other games: Highland will travel to Bonneville for a Saturday afternoon contest.
3A first-round playoffs
Jordan 19, Bear River 0: In a rematch of the season-opener for the two teams, the Beetdiggers turned the tables and defeated the Bears for their eighth consecutive victory against two defeats. And Jordan did it on the ground - Cory Collins carried 19 times for 104 yards, Greg White rushed 15 times for 95 yards and a 7-yard TD, and Brandon rushed 11 times for 68 yards and TDs of 5 and 4 runs.
Held scoreless for the first time this season, Bear River finished the year with a 6-4 record.
Logan 35, Tooele 6: Blair Hodson passed two TDs - a 12-yard pass to Scott Robinson and a 36-yarder to Richie Geertsen - and rushed 13 yards for another score as the second-ranked and defending champion Grizzlies jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter. Logan also scored on a 17-yard fumble-recovery return by Jared Peterson, a 30-yard run by Joel Griffiths, and five PAT kicks by Brandon Gunnell.
Justin Milward scored on a 10-yard run for the Buffaloes, which conclude the 1989 season with a 4-6 overall mark.
Springville 43, Wasatch 24: Ryan Hamilton broke the school rushing record en route to 1,500-plus yards this season in a limited-playing role as the Red Devils romped over the Wasps. Hamilton scored on TD runs of 21 and 80 yards, while Kerry Oman completed three TD passes - two of 61 and 37 yards to James Nackos and the other a 14-yarder to Robert Ellis. Also scoring for 6-3 Springville were Craig Condie (23-ayrd run) and Andrew Croshaw (4 PATs, 37-yard FG).
Wasatch, which ended with a 4-6 record, had three TD passes by Tyler Bluth - two to James Ballstaedt and one to Nick Larsen.
Box Elder 35, West 13: Kevin Welch scored three touchdowns and intercepted three passes for the second-ranked Bees, which scored two touchdowns in both the second and third quarters en route to the lopsided victory. Welch caught TD passes of 28 and 9 yards from Kurt Morrision and then scored on a 95-yard interception in the second half. While Morrison added another TD on a 5-yard run, Kelly Hashimoto kicked five PATs and Jamie Greer scored on a 52-yard punt return for the 8-1 Bees.
West, which concluded the season with an even 5-5 record, scored an a 39-yard pass from Marce Wilson to Shane Herrera and a 1-yard run by Marchoel Tunson.
Bountiful 20, Carbon 6: The Braves improved to 8-2 overall with the road victory against the 5-5 Dinos.
Dixie 32, Uintah 7: Tyler Wilkenson and Tom Brown each scored two TDs each for the top-ranked Flyers in a lopside late game in St. George.
Other games: Cedar and Emery are scheduled for a Saturday game.
2A quarterfinals
Millard 14, Morgan 7: Fourth-ranked and defending 2A champion Millard used a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to erase a 7-0 deficit and edge Morgan. Despite being held to just 66 yards rushing, the 9-1 Eagles used big-play passes to set up their two touchdowns - a 10-yard TD pass by Rick Robins and a 5-yard run by Bill Mace. Two roughing-the-punter penalties against Morgan also helped to sustain Millard drives.
Having finished with an 8-1 overall record, the previously undefeated Trojans lost a fake field goal - and its potential scoring opportunity and needed momentum - with a motion penalty. Mark Wheeler started the game's scoring with a 7-yard TD run.
Manti 26, Kanab 10: David Stevens connected with Tyler Bolli for two TD passes fo 9 and 62 yards to lead the unranked Templars to a quarterfinal upset of the top-ranked Cowboys.
San Juan 40, Delta 6: Despite starting the game by having penalties end their first three drives of the game, the Broncos still scored twice in the first quarter and went on to post a 40-0 lead before 5-6 Delta broke up the shutout bid.
Hurricane 36, Grand 20: Dace Goulding and Chris Hurst each scored a TD on the ground for the fifth-ranked Tigers, with each hauling in a scoring toss from QB Cal Nilsen. Travis Christiansen added a TD run for Hurricane, now 7-2.
1A quarterfinals
Parowan 39, Altamont 6: Brandon Thornton threw four TD passes to lead the third-ranked Rams, with two of those scoring passes of 36 and 19 yards going to Jody Collins.
Monticello 18, Milford 8: The fifth-ranked Buckaroos improved their record to 4-5 by downing the 2-7 Tigers in a quarterfinal game played at North Sevier High.
Duchesne 38, Rich 8: The second-ranked Eagles edged the fourth-ranked Rebels by an 18-14 margin when these two teams played earlier this season - but Friday's quarterfinal winning margin was much larger for Duchesne.
Saturday's game: Whitehorse puts its 8-2 record against top-ranked North Summit, 8-1.