The defending champs are getting a lot of respect this upcoming prep football season.
With kickoff of the 2006 season just 18 days away, the Deseret Morning News preseason rankings — as voted on by the coaches — reveal that four of the state's five defending champs are favored to repeat. Skyline was tabbed the top team in 5A, followed by Mountain Crest in 4A, Logan in 3A, Millard in 2A and Kanab in 1A.
Whether the coaches were paying a last bit of respect to the champs or they truly believe they're the team to beat remains to be seen. Usually, however, the coaches tend to vote based on last year.
In 2005, of the five teams voted No. 1 in the preseason, only Skyline ended up winning the title, but even that was in serious doubt after finishing a disappointing 5-5 in the regular season. Class 4A champ Mountain Crest was projected fourth, 3A champ Logan was third, 2A champ Grand wasn't even in the top five, while 1A champ Kanab was narrowly voted second.
Despite the unpredictable nature of the rankings, here's a closer look at how the coaches voted in each classification.
Skyline and Bingham dominated the 5A voting, garnering 20 of the 22 first-place votes between them. Skyline received 12 first-place votes, followed by Bingham's eight, while Jordan and Davis each received one.
In Class 4A, six first-place votes was more than enough to help a very young Mountain Crest squad edge No. 2 Timpview, which received four first-place votes. The state's second-largest classification appears to be the most wide-open. In addition to Mountain Crest and Timpview, East, Highland, Box Elder and Cottonwood also received first place votes.
There's no disputing who the team to beat in 3A is. With seven returning offensive starters and one returning defensive starter, Logan was the overwhelming favorite in 3A voting, garnering all 15 first-place votes of the coaches who voted. Pine View, the team Logan beat in last year's 3A title game, was the clear-cut No. 2 seed. After Pine View, there's a wide disparity between the coaches about who the best of the rest really is.
The only classification in which the defending champ wasn't projected as the top team a year later was in 2A. Grand was projected fourth, behind Millard, San Juan and Juab. Coach Marshall Sheriff's Millard team received nine of the 11 first-place votes.
The coaches in the state's smallest classification all voted for Kanab as the No. 1 team in 1A. Enterprise edged Monticello and Duchesne for second.
Beginning on Tuesday, the Deseret Morning News will be publishing region-by-region stories previewing the upcoming season.
2006 preseason high school football rankings
Each year, the Deseret Morning News ask every football coach in the state to vote for the top five teams in their classification. The votes are tallied, and five points is assigned for a first-place vote, four for a second-place vote, etc. The following are the results of those votes (first-place votes indicated in parenthesis):
Class 5A Pts. '05 Record
1. Skyline (12) 84 9-5
2. Bingham (8) 68 10-1
3. Fremont 27 8-3
4. Brighton 26 11-2
5. Alta 24 9-4
Class 4A Pts. '05 Record
1. Mtn. Crest (6) 53 12-1
2. Timpview (4) 42 8-3
3. East (1) 26 9-4
4. Highland (1) 25 11-3
5. Box Elder (1) 22 6-5
Class 3A Pts. '05 Record
1. Logan (15) 75 13-1
2. Pine View 54 12-2
3. Tooele 23 6-5
4. Dixie 13 6-4
5. Wasatch 12 9-3
Class 2A Pts. '05 Record
1. Millard (9) 49 6-4
2. San Juan (1) 38 11-1
3. Juab 26 10-2
4. Grand (1) 22 9-2
5. North Summit 13 2-7
Class 1A Pts. '05 Record
1. Kanab (8) 40 9-3
2. Enterprise 26 9-4
3. Monticello 21 8-4
4. Duchesne 19 9-2
5. Rich 8 3-7