Only one Utah high school will be able to defend its state title this year in the prep football wars, which begin in full force around the state Friday.
That's because of last year's major realignment, which completley changed the face of the Utah's high school leagues and classifications.A fifth classification was added - the first addition of a class in 20 years - and the number of regions expanded from 13 to 16.
The only defending champion will be Grantsville in 2A. Last year's 4A champion Clearfield has moved up to 5A, last year's 3A champ West has moved to 4A, while last year's 1A winner Monticello has moved to 2A.
While the realignment was made with all sports and activities in mind, some football coaches aren't happy with the way the new alignment affects their sport. Most regions are smaller, meaning fewer games and increased pressure to win those games. Also the possibility exists for many more ties in the final standings because of fewer games. That means extra playoff games to make the state playoffs.
West's Don Holtry is one coach who isn't a big fan of the new realignment. He doesn't like the idea of so many non-league games. In the Panthers' new league, Region 7, there are just five teams, which means schools will play more practice games (five) than league games (four).
Holtry points out that a team can have a great season, get a key player or two injured for a couple of league games, lose, and then miss out on the playoffs.
"I don't think any coach is happy with it," said Holtry. "They should have waited three or four years (for realignment)."
Actually some coaches are happy with the reclassification. Cedar City Coach Todd Peacock likes it because his school "went from being one of the smallest to one of the biggest" in 3A, which consists of schools in the 500 to 1,000-student range.
In the case of 2A regions which went from 10 to eight schools, the coaches are happy about having at least one practice game on their schedule.
"We didn't have any practice games last year. But we have two now and that's kind of nice," said Manti Coach Brenan Jackson.
Rich Coach Jerre Holmes says he "hates to talk about it," because he's afraid 1A may be phased out altogether the way things are going. That would leave his 166-student school with no one to play against in football.
With Monticello going to 2A, 1A is left with just seven schools, including two, Whitehorse and Monument Valley, that play most of their games against out-of-state schools.
Some rivalries are likely to change because of the realignment.
Two of Salt Lake's best rivalries have been affected by the realignment - Skyline-Olympus and Highland-East. While Skyline and Highland moved up to 5A with the larger schools, Olympus and East stayed in 4A with schools their size.
The Eagles and Titans will keep their rivalry going with a preseason game Friday night at Olympus, but unfortunately, the Rams and Leopards won't keep their 35-year rivalry alive on the football field, this year anyway.
Some rivalries will be re-ignited with the new alignment. Bountiful, the only team to jump from 3A to 5A, will be paired in the same league as Viewmont in Region 2. Hillcrest joins southeastern Salt Lake County schools Brighton and Alta in Region 4 after the spending last few years with western Salt Lake County schools. And East and West are back in the same league for the first time in over a decade.
In looking at each of the classes, there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut favorite, except perhaps in 1A.
Class 5A appears to be wide-open just as 4A was a year ago. No team dominated during the regular season and Clearfield came out of the blue to take the state title.
According to a preseason poll of coaches, the top 5A teams will likely be Skyline, Mountain View, Hunter, West Jordan and Bonneville.
The Eagles return several experienced players incluing Nick Morgan, T.J. Stevenson, Brandon Doman and Matt Alba and a slew of large linemen. Mountain View, which came on strong late in the year, has some big bodies and a couple of 5-8 running backs in Johnny Tejada and Kaeo Farley.
Hunter returns its fine quarterback David Hancock and running back Juan Johnson, who was one of the state's top runners last year until he was sideline by an injury. West Jordan and Bonneville always come up with strong programs.
In 4A, West would seem to be head-and-shoulders above everyone else, considering that the Panthers return nearly every key player from last year's state championship team. But as Holtry points out, while they're good on paper, they still have to perform on the field.
The competition will be tougher for the Panthers this year with strong teams such as Timpview, Provo and Olympus moving from the higher classification.
Several 3A schools should shine now that the majority of the old class has moved up to 4A. Southern Utah schools such as Dixie and Pine View will be tough, while schools such as Wasatch, Carbon and Emery are looking to add more victories this year.
A few former 2A schools such as Delta, Richfield and North Sanpete may take awhile to adjust to the tougher competition.
In 2A, Morgan looks to be the team to beat with several top players returning from a 10-1 team, including Nate Larsen, Lindsay Hassell and Danny Fry. Beaver, which lost a close game in the state finals, also returns a bunch of players and should be the team to beat in Region 13.
Class 1A with just seven schools, has five fewer schools than just two years ago. Still a state champion must be crowned and two-time runnerup Rich appears to be the team to beat, along with Altamont.