For years, Utah high school football teams have been venturing across state lines to play teams from other states. Typically, however, those games involved teams already near the borders.
St. George schools have been playing teams from Nevada for years. The same goes for border schools like San Juan, Monticello, Rich and North Summit.
Recently, though, suburban schools are getting into the mix as well, and the result is a very exciting upcoming weekend of football involving the top teams in Utah. Four of the top five teams in the Deseret Morning News top 25 rankings take on out-of-state teams this week.
Fourth-ranked Jordan kicks off the madness at 6 (MDT) tonight as it travels to face Valdosta, Ga., a perennial Georgia high school football powerhouse. The 'Diggers made this same trip last year and prevailed 21-13.
Later Friday, No. 2 Alta will be in action in Las Vegas. The Hawks, who narrowly lost to Bingham last week, face Clovis East out of Fresno, Calif., on the campus of UNLV at 9:30 p.m. (MDT).
On Saturday, No. 1 Bingham and No. 4 Fremont are part of a doubleheader at Southern Utah University. The twin bill kicks off at 4 p.m. with Fremont playing Dorsey, Calif., followed by Bingham against Hawaiian juggernaut Kahuku at 8 p.m.
"I've always thought it would be cool to play someone outside the state," said Bingham coach Dave Peck. "When we had that opportunity, we jumped at it."
Kahuku is 0-1 this year, having lost to St. Louis, Hawaii, 21-7 two weeks ago. It was a rematch of last year's Hawaii state championship game that was won by Kahuku, 7-6.
Bayside Promotions organized the event featuring Bingham and Fremont.
Bingham was originally contacted about playing Kahuku, but Peck was reluctant to drop Fremont off his schedule after eight straight years playing each other. That's when Bayside Promotions organized Fremont's game with Dorsey, creating the doubleheader.
Dorsey played Northridge last year in a game at Dixie College and lost 20-12.
"Year in and year out they're pretty good, but they've never gotten over the hump," said Fremont coach Blaine Monkres, who compared the team to his own in that regard.
COMPLETE SLATE: In all, 12 Utah schools take on out-of-state teams this weekend. They are: Rich at Kemmerer, Wyo.; Virgin Valley, Nev., at Layton Christian; Jordan at Valdosta, Ga.; Highland, Idaho, at Davis; Milford at West Wendover, Nev.; Snow Canyon at Canyon Springs, Nev.; Hurricane at Moapa Valley, Nev.; Pine View at Shadow Ridge, Nev.; Alta vs. Clovis East, Calif.; Fremont vs. Dorsey, Calif.; Kahuku, Hawaii, vs. Bingham.
Overall this year, there are 41 games scheduled between Utah teams and out-of-state teams.
AROUND THE GRIDIRON: Woods Cross is 2-0 for the first time since 1993 and trying to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 1988 ... Bountiful and Sky View have yet to surrender a point in two games ... Bear River and Box Elder meet in the battle for the Golden Spike, with the Bees leading the all-time series 61-23-2 ... Murray owns an eight-game winning streak against Taylorsville ... Millard is gunning for its 500th win tonight.
PREPS ON THE WEB: Can't wait for the nightly scores? Log on to deseretnews.com/sports/hs to see live scoring updates of more than half the games in the state. While there, check out your favorite high school's own Web page, complete with the state's most comprehensive standings, schedules, results and leaders.
ATTENTION COACHES: A reminder to home coaches to please call the Deseret Morning News with the information from your game as soon as possible after the final whistle. The newspaper's local number is 237-2161; long distance is 1-800-688-2161. Coaches and statisticians are also reminded to e-mail offensive yardage statistics to prepstats@desnews.com by Monday afternoon for publication in Tuesday's paper.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com