SALT LAKE CITY — Orem hasn’t been shy over the past month expressing its dissatisfaction for the No. 12 RPI seed the Tigers received for this year’s 5A state tournament.
As any good coach would though, Orem’s Jeremy Hill has used seeding for extra motivation throughout the playoffs, even taping No. 12s up in the locker room.
After dispatching higher seeds Brighton and Olympus in the previous two rounds, Orem was at peak motivation against top-seeded Salem Hills in Thursday’s 5A football semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
“We’ve talked about being the 12 seed, but in the end … wherever you start it doesn’t matter as much as where you are next week. That’s all that’s mattered to us.” — Orem coach Jeremy Hill
Orem dominated from the outset, rolling past Salem Hills for the easy 51-14 victory to advance to its third straight state championship — and first in 5A.
“We’ve talked about being the 12 seed, but in the end … wherever you start it doesn’t matter as much as where you are next week. That’s all that’s mattered to us,” said Hill.
Orem racked up 543 yards offensively while defensively it held Salem Hills to just 111 yards of total offense, and minus 20 yards rushing.
The only thing that prevented a perfect offensive performance for Orem was three first-half turnovers, but the defense bailed the offense out of two of those occasions.
Despite the offensive miscues, Orem still led 27-7 at halftime and didn’t allow a Salem Hills first down in the second half to coast to the finish line.
“We’ve been relying on our defense all year. We told them early this was a young offense trying to come into their own,” said Hill.
Noah Sewell led the way offensively with 149 rushing yards and three touchdowns while quarterback Micah Fe’a added 253 passing yards and three scores.
With the win, Orem advances to next Friday’s 5A state championship against the Timpview-Lehi winner at 6:30 p.m.
Hill credits his team’s tough preseason schedule — the same schedule that didn’t do any RPI favors — and tough playoff wins against Brighton and Olympus for preparing his team for the dominant performance against Salem Hills.
“All of that’s what’s led us to where we are. The RPI doesn’t help that kind of schedule for us, but it is what it is, we’ll take the 12 seed, 9 seed, doesn’t matter to us, we’ll come out here and play games,” said Hill.
Fe’a helped set the tone early offensively for Orem on third-and-14 by hitting Buju Tuisavura on a screen pass that the senior took 64 yards for the touchdown and the 7-0 lead.
- Watch replay: Orem 51, Salem Hills 14
On Salem Hills’ next possession it failed on a fake punt try, and then on the next possession failed on another fourth down try near midfield.
In reality those plays didn’t have much bearing on the outcome of the game, but Hill said it’s easy for newcomers to Rice-Eccles Stadium to get caught up in the emotion of the atmosphere, and that might’ve happened early in the game to Salem Hills which was making its first semifinal appearance in school history.
Following Salem Hills’ second failed fourth down try, Orem used the short field to march 50 yards into the end zone on Sewell’s first of three touchdowns for the 14-0 lead.
After two more stalled drives from Salem Hills, it got a bit of help from Orem as it coughed up a fumble at its own 16-yard line. Skyhawks quarterback Jarret Elmer hit Austin Hallows on a 16-yard TD pass on the very next play to cut the lead to 14-7.
The momentum was short-lived as Orem responded with a long scoring drive that Jaxon Williams capped with a 9-yard TD pass from Fe’a, and then Sewell added an 8-yard TD run shortly before halftime for the 27-7 lead.
“When our offense clicks like they did today, and they weren’t perfect and they’ll be better next week, we’re a pretty scary team,” said Hill.