I think they’re excited and ready to get started, but we’re a totally new team this year. – Rich coach Ashley Brown
Note: Rich finished with a 9-3 overall record in 2014 and was first in 1A North with a 3-0 record. It beat Diamond Ranch 20-0 in the 1A championship.
RANDOLPH — Three times between 2010 and 2013, the Rich Rebels came as close as a team can possibly get to winning a state championship only to come up short each time as the Duchesne Eagles four-peated.
That changed in 2014, as Ashley Brown’s club finally got to the top of the mountain.
Now comes the task of trying to repeat as champions, a job Brown feels will be an incredibly challenging task.
First, the Rebels will now be the team everyone else is trying to chase.
“It was good to win it last year so that’s the one good thing, but it’s not necessarily good to have a target on your back going into the season,” Brown said. “We’ll take it and see what happens.”
More concerning to Brown than what other teams are thinking, however, is the fact that he’ll go from a 2014 team stacked with experience to having to break in a bevy of new faces.
“Our kids hopefully are excited and hopefully want a chance to repeat this year,” he said. “We’ve had a good summer and kids have worked hard in the weight room, but we lost a lot of key players as well. I think they’re excited and ready to get started, but we’re a totally new team this year.”
Most notably missing on offense is 1A MVP Cache Sabey, Brown’s workhorse at running back a year ago. Gone too is fellow back Joseph Leifson, a more shifty runner. Together, that duo drove the Rich offense, and Brown will be looking to Mitch Jarman and Kyler Clark to fill the void.
In 2014, Jarman and Clark racked up a combined 527 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, and Brown is hopeful they can both step into the even larger roles left by Sabey and Leifson.
While Brown is confident in his replacements at running back, he’s not as sure what will happen in the passing game. His son Koy will return at quarterback after a solid junior season, but who will catch the ball remains an unknown after the graduations of leading receivers Jayden Wallentine and Wyatt Muirbrook.
“Every year when you coach a small school you gotta have kids step up and fill roles that kids left you from the year before,” Brown said. “It’s hard to say who that’s gonna be right now, but we have enough kids that we can find kids to put where we need them. I think with our tradition, the kids know they have to play hard and earn spots, but I think they’ll step up and do that.”
Brown’s biggest concern is on the offensive and defensive lines. Only center Ryland Frandsen is back from last year, meaning the coach is looking for four players to step up.
“We’ve got four spots that could be anybody’s spot,” he said. “I think we’ll probably be fairly young on the line. They’re all going to battle with each other...we might struggle a little bit early on in the season just because they’ll be young and inexperienced and the line is what makes everything go, but hopefully by the middle and end these kids will have experience and confidence in themselves.”
Thankfully for Brown, the rest of the defense will feature returning contributors from a group that gave up less than nine points per game a season ago. Jarman, Brown and Clark will be at linebacker once again and Ryker Rex and Riley Ostler will lead things in the secondary.
“They were a team defense (last year) that was willing to do their responsibilities, and that’s going to be the philosophy that we’ll get these kids to buy into this year, is ‘you do your job and your teammates will do theirs’ and if everybody does their job, then you’re pretty good defensively,” Brown said.
Despite the fact that everyone will be looking to dethrone Rich, combined with the question marks the team has heading into the season, Brown maintains the objective remains the same.
“Every year our goal is to try to be in the state championship game and win a state championship,” he said. “Our goal will be the same again this year. There're some good teams out there, but that will be our goal starting the season and hopefully our kids work hard enough and are willing to pay the price to earn that goal.”
Rich Rebels at a glance
Head coach: Ashley Brown is entering his 16th year as Rich’s head coach. He has amassed an 111-60 record in 15 seasons at the helm. He’s a graduate of Star Valley High School in Idaho.
Offense: (3 returning starters, spread offense)
Offensive coordinator: Ashley Brown
Returning offensive starters
Koy Brown (QB)
Kyler Clark (RB)
Ryland Frandsen (OL)
Defense (5 returning starters, 4-4 defense)
Defensive coordinator: Matt Kennedy (four years as assistant)
Returning defensive starters
Mitch Jarman (LB)
Kyler Clark (LB)
Koy Brown (LB)
Ryker Rex (DB)
Ryland Frandsen (DL)
Defensive newcomers to watch
Riley Ostler (DB)
Coaches preseason 1A North straw poll: Second
Deseret News 1A North prediction: First
Bottom line: Rich is at a point where it reloads instead of rebuilds. The Rebels will have to do that in 2015, and the road may not be without bumps, but they should still be good enough to contend for the region title. An X-factor could be quarterback Koy Brown. A strong season from him could help make up for the inexperience at wide receiver and on the offensive line.
….
Felt’s Facts for Rich High School
All-time record: 199-122 (30 years)
Region championships: 5 (1991 co, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014)
Playoff appearances: 30
Current playoff appearance streak: 30 (1985-2014)
All-time playoff record: 37-24
State championships: 6 (1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2009, 2014)
State championship record: 6-7
Most played rivalry: 39 meetings with Duchesne dating back to 1985. Rich leads 22-17.
Felt’s Factoid(s): Rich has competed in the state playoffs every season in its 30 years of existence.
Last 5
2014 — 9-3 (3-0 in 1A North – 1A Champions)
2013 — 9-3 (2-1 in 1A North – 1A Runner-up)
2012 — 8-4 (3-1 in 1A North – 1A Runner-up)
2011 — 5-6 (3-3 in 1A – 1A Semifinals)
2010 — 8-4 (2-1 in 1A North – 1A Runner-up)
Rich coaching history
2000-current — Ashley Brown (111-60)
1991-1999 — Jerre Holmes (67-30)
1989-1990 — Dan Haskell (8-12)
1985-1988 — Dean Scott (13-20)
Deseret News MVPs the past 10 years
2014 — Cache Sabey, RB/LB
2009 — Bradley Holmes, QB/LB
Deseret News First Team all-staters the past 10 years
2014 — Koy Brown, QB/LB
2014 — Joseph Leifson, RB/DB
2014 — Kyler Clark, RB/LB
2014 — Wyatt Muirbrook, WR/DE
2014 — Jayden Wallentine, WR/DB
2014 — Ryley Smith, OL/DL
2013 — McKay Jarman, QB/DE
2013 — Dakota Clark, RB/DL
2013 — Skyler Argyle, TE?DE
2013 — Hawkan Cornia, OL/DL
2013 — Isaac Hopkin, OL/DL
2012 — Austin Groll, QB/DB
2012 — Kaden Thomson, RB/LB
2012 — McKay Jarman, WR/DL
2012 — Kade Earley, OL/DL
2011 — Austin Groll, QB/LB
2011 — Brady Meek, RB/LB, Rich
2011 — Bracken Pinter, TE/DE
2010 — Kayden Calder, QB/DB
2010 — Kalen Larsen, OL/DL
2010 — Cody Groll, RB/DB
2010 — Phillip Peart, OL/LB
2009 — Caden Andersen, QB/LB
2009 — Hayden McKee, RB/LB
2009 — Clint Cornelison, WR/DB
2009 — Cooper Cornia, LB/RB
2009 — Tyson Larsen, OL/LB
2008 — Caden Andersen, WR/DB
2008 — Bradley Holmes, QB/LB
2007 — Kade Bell, OL/DL
2007 — Bradley Holmes, QB/DB
2007 — Clayson Myers, RB/LB
2007 — Tyler Satterthwaite, RB
2006 — Derek Andersen, RB/LB
2006 — Jared Hislop, RB/LB
2005 — Zach Marler, OL/DL
2005 — Derek Andersen, RB/LB
To view second team and honorable mention all-staters through the years, check out the Deseret News All-State Archives.
Ryan McDonald is a reporter at DeseretNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwmcdonald.