New Number One
With 424 yards of total offense last week, Alex Kuresa has not only blitzed Ryan Zimmerman's 9,947 career yard mark, but also became the first player in Utah prep history to break through the 10,000-yard barrier: he now has 10,005 according to stats reported by Mountain Crest.
His 394 passing yards last week also put him No. 1 with a career total of 8,672, just 36 yards more than Zimmerman's 8,636. Zimmerman also played at MC, from 2000-02.
Kuresa now ranks fourth in TD passes with 77, one behind Alex Cate (Cottonwood, 2003-05) and just two behind current record holders James Lark (Pine View, 2003-05) and Riley Nelson (Logan, 2003-05). He's completed 578 passes and needs only eight more to match Zimmerman's career record of 586.
More Notable Performances
Grantsville's Lincoln Kelley has scored just four touchdowns this year, but all were returns covering over 95 yards. Kelley ran back a 98-yard interception vs. North Sanpete on Aug. 27, a 96-yard kickoff against San Juan on Sept. 10 and last week, a 98-yard kickoff and a 98-yard interception in a 42-13 win over Ben Lomond.
Parowan's Zack Wood has been one of the more versatile scorers this season: he's rushed for seven TDs, passed for four and returned a kickoff, punt and interception for three more.
Another resourceful player is South Summit's Trevor Rydalch, who has rushed for two TDs, caught a pass for another and returned a kickoff and a punt in addition to booting four field goals and 16 PATs for the Wildcats this year.
Hurricane's Corey Edwards has kicked 132 career extra-points, fourth-most all-time and just 10 away from overtaking second place. But Hurricane would have to go all the way to the finals and average eight touchdowns a game for him to catch record holder Riley Stevenson, who made 194 PATs at Pine View from 2002-05.
With the season at the halfway mark, some of the season's leaders and best performances are listed at the end of this week's edition.
Region Action
While most Region 1 teams play their fifth league game this week, 18 squads, including those in Region 10 (Carbon, Park City, Union and Wasatch), Region 12 (Delta, Emery, Juan, Manti, North Sanpete and Richfield) and all eight Class 1A schools, start region competition this week. But Region 10's American Leadership has a bye and won't see region action until Friday, Oct. 1.
Hot Starts
For the first time in its 12-year history, Riverton is 5-0. Richfield hasn't been 5-0 since 1988. With victories this Friday, Bingham (4-0) and Davis (5-0) will be undefeated after Week 6 for the first time since 2006.
Winning Streaks
Bingham and Timpview lead the state with 15 straight victories, San Juan has 13 straight and Westlake has won six in a row.
Milestones
Bear River is going for its 350th victory. … In just its 11th season, Juan Diego will try and pick up school win #100, which will also be the 100th win for John Colosimo at the helm of the Soaring Eagle.
Dixie's Blaine Monkres is still searching for his elusive 150th victory and Jerry Parker at South Summit is trying for his 50th.
Park City is playing its 800th game, Monticello, its 550th, Clearfield, its 500th and Sky View, game No. 450. … Les Hamilton will mark his 100th game as Alta's head coach.
Undefeated and Winless Matchups
A dozen teams remain undefeated and two of them meet in a key Region 1 battle: Northridge at Davis. The two have split their last six meetings and Northridge leads the series 10-7.
Meanwhile, the number of winless teams, now 11, will drop by one after the Copper Hills-at-Taylorsville contest. CH has won three of the last four over the Warriors.
First-Time Meeting
Just one – Herriman at Brighton.
Most-Played Rivalries:
Southern Utah enemies Beaver and Kanab square off for the 82nd time. The Cowboys have won seven straight in the series, but Beaver still leads 43-38.
Northern Utah County foes American Fork and Pleasant Grove meet for the 76th time. PG has taken three of the last four encounters, but the Cavemen maintain a 47-26-2 series advantage.
Morgan faces Grantsville for the 74th time, leads the series 44-27-2 and has won 10 straight regular season matchups over the Cowboys.
San Juan and Grand County battle for the 65th time; the Broncos have won four straight in the series and lead 35-28. Grand won its only state football crown with a 25-22 win over San Juan in 2002.
Logan leads its series with Sky View 28-20 as these two spar for the 49th time.
Bear River and Ben Lomond, which clash for the 46th time, have split their last four meetings; the Bears control the series 30-15.
Likewise, Bountiful and Viewmont face off in their 46th meeting; the Braves have won three straight over the Vikings and lead the series 26-19.
Juab and North Sanpete also meet for the 46th time; the Wasps lead 25-20.
Other Game Notes
Cedar and Snow Canyon have split their 16 games and neither has won more than two in a row in the rivalry. SC won in '95-'96 and in '05-'06 while Cedar prevailed in '97-'98. The Redmen won last year, 37-28.
Pine View leads its series with Hurricane 17-7, but the two have split the last six. Last year, Hurricane won 34-28 in double-overtime while in '08, Pine View prevailed by an identical 34-28 score, also in double-OT.
Jordan has captured five straight over Hillcrest while Hunter has taken five in a row over Granger. … Riverton has defeated West Jordan four straight times to narrow WJ's series lead to 6-5.
Juan Diego has won the last two encounters with Judge Memorial to take a 6-4 series edge.
Delta leads its series with Manti 15-2 (the Templars won in '87 and last year, 29-28), while South Sevier defeated Millard the last two seasons, but still trail in the series, 25-8.
Note to Readers
With the change by the Deseret News limiting comments to just two per story, responding to specific questions is a little more challenging. So feel free to both post those questions and also email me directly at utahprepfb@gmail.com.
Individual Stats
Many season and career statistics appear on this website, in Wednesday's Deseret News print edition and on maxpreps.com. Leaders in several categories are listed there. However, here are some of the top performances and season leaders not listed elsewhere as reported from various sources.
Top Single-Game Performances
Total Offense (500 yards min.)
513 – Dan Wilson, Copper Hills (8/27 vs. Box Elder)
511 – Slade Moyle, Enterprise (9/3 vs. Lincoln County, Nev.)
505 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest (9/11 vs. Las Vegas, Nev.)
500 – Michael Moorehead, West Jordan (8/27 vs. East)
All-Purpose Yards (300 min.)
502 – Marcus Case, Springville (8/20 vs. Dixie)
317 – Zack Wood, Parowan (9/10 vs. Gunnison)
Net Rushing Yards (250 min.)
370 – Marcus Case, Springville (8/20 vs. Dixie)
269 – Henri Jussila, Layton Christian (9/3 vs. Gunnison)
260 – Anetipa Vaisagano, West (9/17 vs. Skyline)
256 – Billy Keddington, Grand (9/17 vs. North Summit)
Rushes (30 min.)
32 – Taylor Eyring, Alta (9/17 vs. Brighton)
32 – Austin Manwill, South Sevier (8/27 vs. North Sevier)
30 – Taylor Eyring, Alta (9/10 vs. Jordan)
30 – Liti Molisi, East (9/3 vs. West)
Passing Yards (400 min.)
505 – Dan Wilson, Copper Hills (8/27 vs. Box Elder)
484 – Michael Moorehead, West Jordan (8/27 vs. East)
479 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest (9/11 vs. Las Vegas, Nev.)
419 – Alec Mecham, Pine View (9/17 vs. Cedar City)
402 – Kinloch Gray, Lehi (9/10 vs. Timpanogos)
Passing Touchdowns (6 min.)
6 – McCoy Hill, Jordan (9/3 vs. Sky View)
6 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest (9/11 vs. Las Vegas, Nev.)
6 – Slade Moyle, Enterprise (9/3 vs. Lincoln County, Nev.)
6 – DJ Nelson, Logan (9/10 vs. Park City)
Passing Completions (30 min.)
44 – Michael Moorehead, West Jordan (8/27 vs. East) [State Record – old 43]
40 – Dan Wilson, Copper Hills (8/27 vs. Box Elder)
31 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest (9/11 vs. Las Vegas, Nev.)
30 – Adam Boelter, West Jordan (9/10 vs. Pleasant Grove)
Passing Attempts (50 min.)
74 – Michael Moorehead, West Jordan (8/27 vs. East) [State Record – old 66]
67 – Dan Wilson, Copper Hills (8/27 vs. Box Elder)
57 – Dan Wilson, Copper Hills (9/3 vs. Olympus)
50 – Adam Boelter, West Jordan (9/10 vs. Copper Hills
Receiving Yards (200 min.)
232 – Brandon Aldstadt, Westlake (9/3 vs. Payson)
216 – Jaylon Miyasaki, Springville (9/3 vs. Mountain View)
216 – Jake Smith, Copper Hills (8/27 vs. Box Elder)
204 – Cameron Peacock, West Jordan (9/17 vs. Pleasant Grove)
Receptions (11 min.)
14 – Cameron Peacock, West Jordan (8/27 vs. East)
12 – Martavius Redmond, West Jordan (9/10 vs. Copper Hills)
11 – Troy Pickett, Mountain Crest (8/28 vs. Lone Peak)
11 – Cole Wilstead, Pine View (9/17 vs. Cedar City)
Touchdown Receptions (4 min.)
4 – Jaylon Miyasaki, Springville (9/3 vs. Mountain View)
4 – Martavius Redmond, West Jordan (9/10 vs. Copper Hills)
Touchdowns Responsible For (8 min.)
9 – Slade Moyle, Enterprise (9/3 vs. Lincoln County, Nev.)
Sacks (5 min.)
5 – Collin Crandall, Provo (8/20 vs. Cyprus)
Interceptions (3 min.)
3 – Austin Gottschalk, Northridge (8/27 vs. Syracuse)
3 – Cory Hart, Weber (8/27 vs. Viewmont)
Field Goals (3 min.)
3 – Jake Jex, Hunter (9/17 vs. Cyprus)
Extra Points (8 min.)
9 – Cody Rogers, Jordan (9/3 vs. Sky View)
Kicks Returned for Touchdowns (2 min.)
2 – Trevor Rydalch (kickoff, punt), South Summit (8/20 vs. Altamont)
2 – Eric Takenaka (kickoffs), West (8/20 vs. Juan Diego)
2 – Zack Wood (kickoff, punt), Parowan (9/10 vs. Gunnison)
Longest Plays (90 yards min. unless indicated)
Rushing
98 – Billy Keddington, Grand (9/17 vs. North Summit)
97 – Wade Heston, Tooele (8/20 vs. Judge)
97 – Christian Jensen, Murray (9/3 vs. Taylorsville)
95 – Devon Denny, Monument Valley (8/20 vs. Whitehorse)
94 – Britton Gunter, Box Elder (8/27 vs. Copper Hills)
92 – Tua Laei, Riverton (9/10 vs. Kearns)
92 – Devin Wright, Monticello (9/10 vs. Layton Christian)
Passing
93 – Tyler Jacobsen to Braxton Lucero, Syracuse (8/20 vs. Copper Hills)
90 – Andy Jones to Zane Smith, Brighton (9/3 vs. Hunter)
90 – Trevor Zibetti to Seth Rhineer, Provo (8/27 vs. Stansbury)
Interception Returns
100 – Trevor Church, Springville (8/20 vs. Dixie)
98 – Lincoln Kelley, Grantsville (8/27 vs. North Sanpete)
98 – Lincoln Kelley, Grantsville (9/17 vs. Ben Lomond)
94 – Braden Gregg, Roy (9/10 vs. Clearfield)
Kickoff Returns (98)
99 – Nick Vigil, Fremont (8/20 vs. Jordan)
99 – Eric Takenaka, West (8/20 vs. Judge)
98 – Saunjay Hillmon, Ogden (8/27 vs. Judge)
98 – Lincoln Kelley, Grantsville (9/17 vs. Ben Lomond)
Punt Returns
94 – Francisco Alcala, Millard (9/17 vs. Beaver)
Field Goal Return
92 – Anthony Lewis, Cottonwood (8/20 vs. Alta) – blocked kick
Field Goals (50)
54 – Trevor Rydalch, South Summit (8/20 vs. Altamont)
51 – Lincoln Salmon, Provo 9/17 (vs. Timpanogos)
50 – Jake Thompson, Logan (8/20 vs. Bear River)
Season Leaders
Total Offense (1,400 yards min.)
1,821 – Slade Moyle, Enterprise
1,786 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest
1,506 – Alec Mecham, Pine View
1,480 – Gabe Anderson, Sky View
1,417 – Christian Covey, Timpview
Touchdowns Scored (10 min.)
11 – Tanner Curtis, East
10 – Henri Jussila, Layton Christian
10 – Zack Wood, Parowan
10 – Levi Thompson, South Summit
Touchdowns Responsible For (18 min.)
27 – Slade Moyle, Enterprise
23 – John Ursua, Westlake
21 – Alex Kuresa, Mountain Crest
18 – Tanner Curtis, East
18 – McCoy Hill, Jordan
Field Goals (5 min.)
7 – Jake Jex, Hunter
6 – Austin Gottschalk, Northridge
6 – Lincoln Salmon, Provo
5 – Kyle Duke, Bingham
5 – Corey Edwards, Hurricane
Extra-Points (20 min.)
26 – Tyler Solorzano, Timpview
24 – Eldy Arumbula, Riverton
22 – Kyle Duke, Bingham
22 – Cody Rogers, Jordan
21 – Alex Giordani, West Jordan
21 – Trevor Hansen, Cedar
21 – Riley Harper, Cottonwood
21 – Victor Ramirez
20 – Austin Barker, Dixie
20 – Corey Edwards, Hurricane
20 – Jacob Thompson, Logan