Shortly after outlasting Provo in the 4A football semifinals, Bountiful coach Larry Wall took a deep breath, wiped his forehead, cracked a small grin and mentioned how relieved he was that his team had qualified for the championship game.
For the record, "I'm not relieved to play Weber," he quipped Wednesday before practice.The relief, he explained, comes in knowing that "the uncertainty is over. Everything is drawn out. We've got the battlefield. We've got the lines drawn. Now you throw your best stuff at them and they're going to throw their best stuff at you."
All that best stuff being tossed around should make for one heckuva 4A title game between the Braves and the Warriors Friday afternoon at 12:35 at the University of Utah's Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Bountiful (12-0) and Weber (10-2) aren't exactly mirror images, but they're close enough in several ways to make things quite interesting.
"The two teams appear on film to have similar strengths," said Weber coach Kory Bosgieter. "Defense is the strength of our team. Bountiful has a good offense, but their defense is their strength, too."
"We have two really good football teams and both deserve to be here," added Wall. "These two teams are pretty similar as far as style and philosophy and talent, so that should make for a pretty good game."
The hard-hitting, aggressive defenses are both battle-tested -- especially after challenging semifinal showdowns with Fremont and Provo -- but Bountiful's offense probably gives it the edge. The Braves have more power behind their punch and are healthier.
Bountiful boasts a triple threat with quarterback Seth Patterson and running backs Matt Ramos and Cameron Jensen. Patterson has passed for 1,564 yards and 19 touchdowns with a 152.85 passing efficiency while also rushing for 582 yards and four TDs. Ramos has scored 17 touchdowns with 1,321 rushing yards and 23 catches, and Jensen has 15 TDs and 754 yards on the ground.
"We're a multi-dimensional team. We don't think as an opponent you can stack up on one phase of our game," Wall said. "We can run the ball and throw the ball. Our versatility presents a problem."
Then again, Weber's relentless defense, which has allowed only 8.7 points a game, also has a knack for posing problems.
The Warriors' linebacker corps is among the best in the state. Darin Scott leads Weber with 137 tackles, Ben Henry has 102 takedowns and Ashton Buswell, the Wendy's High School Heisman national finalist, has 91 tackles to go with five interceptions. Cornerbacks Dennis Conroy and John Graves have also combined on nine picks.
"I'm impressed on both sides of the ball the way they get after you. They come out and hit you," Wall said of the Warriors. "They are not a passive team in any aspect."
"Our defense is pretty opportunistic," Bosgieter said.
Offensively, Weber has always managed to be just good enough. But the Warriors suffered a seemingly lethal blow to their hopes for a first title since 1985 when their leading rusher, Adam Garcia, went out with a partially collapsed lung against American Fork in the first round. Buswell stepped in for him and rushed for a career-high 169 yards with the game-winning TD in the semis. Garcia has practiced this week after seeing sparse playing time against Fremont.
Bountiful, going for its third title of the decade but first since 1991, relies on an outstanding group of linebackers of which Jensen is the sparkplug.
"Now it's just a matter of playing the football game," Wall said. "This is what you shoot for in two-a-days when you're out their sweating in the summer."