MANTI -- Sure Manti High School is 11-and-oh and vying for its first state football championship, but it's obvious the Templars don't have a clue about how to play the modern game of football or look the part.
Where's the trash talk? Where are the tattoos? The tough-guy attitude and language? They went an entire two-hour practice on Monday without cutting loose a single four-letter word!What kind of football team is that?
And what kind of football team sings and dances in the school musical -- in kilts? What kind of football players tell each other they love one another? What kind of football players are they that the first thing people say about them is that they're nice?
Clueless, that's what they are. And if we're lucky, every football team will be just as clueless. The Templars are a breath of the fresh air that blows out of Manti-La Sal. They are clean-cut, hard-working, straight-arrow boys from a small town that is lined with malt shops and steeples and century-old pioneer homes, overlooked by a majestic white temple. They are straight out of Norman Rockwell. If Mayberry had a football team, this would be it. They are squeaky clean and make no apologies for it.
"We like being known as a clean team morally," says lineman Brody Perschon.
"We're definitely straight-laced," says linebacker Cy Tidwell. "I don't know of one kid who does anything."
Defensive assistant coach Jason Buck says it best: "It's cool to be good here."
As is usually the case, the team is a reflection of its coaches. The head coach is Brenan Jackson, a Jim Fassel-look alike with neatly slicked blond hair and wire-rim glasses who doubles as the assistant principal. He rebuffs fans when they compliment him for the fine job he has done with the team, telling them, "You need to tell the team that. They're the ones who deserve it and need to hear it." Apparently, he has misplaced his coach's ego somewhere.
Jackson turned a perennial loser into a winner, but he has also fostered a program that helps refine young men. When he became coach eight years ago, he took note of the coarse language and made a deal with the team: "You can use whatever language you hear me use." That didn't leave much in the way of R-rated vocabulary.
"I've probably heard 20 swear words all year, and never the big ones," says Tidwell.
"Most teams swear at us, but we don't say anything," says Perschon.
Somewhere along the way, Jackson and his players also failed to get the message that football is the end of all existence. These guys aren't just jocks. A half-dozen players had to rush home from their semifinal victory in the state playoffs to don kilts and fill their roles in the school musical, Brigadoon. Defensive end Ben McGarry has the lead role and teammates Jordan Thompson, Scott Barclay, Brady Nielson and Brad Dyreng and Perschon perform in the sword dance during the wedding scene.
"We do the best we can," says Perschon. "We were dancers in 'Cinderella' last year."
Cinderella? Somehow, Jackson and his staff don't suffer from the common coaching malady of hoarding athletes for their own sport. "If we know a kid who can help the band, we'll talk to him," says Jackson. "We tell them to use their talents and support other activities."
Jake Williams plays tuba in the pep band. More than half of Manti's players have performed in the annual summer Mormon Miracle Pageant. They've grown up playing the parts of Lamanite warriors or Captain Moroni and other characters from Mormon history.
Shawn Kjar is president of the student body, which is about 500 strong. Nielson is the senior class president. Brad Dyreng is vice president. Perschon is secretary. McKay Anderson is the school seminary president.
Of the 45 kids on the varsity squad, two-thirds of them have grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher. A half-dozen have 4.0s. Nielson has a 3.91 and apologizes for it -- "I choked last quarter."
"The parents of these kids have a great concept of life," says Jackson. "They want their kids to be well-rounded. We as coaches want them to be well-rounded. We want them to have as many life experiences as they can."
Hang around the Templars for a few minutes and you'll learn that macho attitude and bravado is as scarce as earrings and dyed, punk 'dos. But they do have something else. "We all have school spirit," says Anderson. Go ahead, try to be cynical around these guys.
During team meetings the night before games, they stand up and express their admiration for teammates, sometimes with tears in their eyes. They put their arms around each other at practice, they pat each other on the backs. They'll tell you that what they are mostly is "way good friends."
"They tell each other that they love each other and they mean it," says Jackson. "It's a powerful group of kids."
"There's no guile on this team," says Buck. "There are no cliques. Even the kids who might be considered nerds are treated like everyone else. These are salt-of-the-earth good boys."
Oh, yes, and they also can play football. They've outscored their opponents 437-93 this season. A few years ago they won the tri-county little league championship and began dreaming of playing for a state championship, then began a rigorous training program a couple of years later to make it happen. On Saturday they will meet South Summit for the 2A state title.
Is Jackson confident about the outcome?
"What I feel confident about is when football is over these young men will be successful because of what I've seen them do in football."