5-star Orem Tigers standout Noah Sewell scampers through Salem Hills Skyhawks in 5A semifinal blowout

SALT LAKE CITY — Every time Noah Sewell steps on the football field at the high school level, he’s going to be the best of the 22 players on either side of the ball. That’s just how it is for a senior widely considered to be one of the top 30 players in the entire country.

On Thursday as his Orem Tigers faced the Salem Hills Skyhawks in the 5A state semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium, however, the highly-regarded Sewell did something he hadn’t accomplished in quite a while.

Sewell finished with 149 yards rushing and three touchdowns on just 11 carries as the Tigers cruised past the Skyhawks 51-14 and into next week’s championship game. The yardage and carries totals were Sewell’s most since Oct. 10, and he tied his season high in touchdowns, which he set on Oct. 25.

“You’ll see again a steady dose of him next week as well.” — Orem coach Jeremy Hill, on Noah Sewell

Sewell’s relative lack of production in the run game in recent weeks was largely due to the fact that Orem coach Jeremy Hill has tried to preserve his star on offense. Sewell has been less than 100 percent throughout the season, but on Thursday, there was no holding back.

“We’re at the end, right? Now there’s nothing to save in the tank,” Hill said afterward. “There’s nothing to look forward to except for next Friday.”

On Thursday, it was apparent early that Sewell would have more of a workload running the ball, and he finished the first half with 63 yards on eight carries, two going for touchdowns as the Tigers took a 27-7 lead into intermission.

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Those eight carries were more than he had in any entire game since Oct. 16.

“He’ll usually come to me and say, ‘I’m good,’ or I’ll go say like when we were a little stagnant against Brighton (in the second round) I said ‘I need you right now to go get (a touchdown) for me.’ It’s kind of a two-way relationship there,” Hill said of his discussions with Sewell about how much he’ll use him in the run game.

Sewell said that’s essentially what happened Thursday.

“It’s just coach Hill trusting me,” the 6-foot-2, 265-pound Sewell said. “He just said, ‘I’m going to need a score or two,’ so I went in and just went to score.”

• Watch replay: Orem 51, Salem Hills 14

Sewell was far from done after the first half, as he broke a 33-yard run early in the third quarter, which set up a 7-yard score by Brinton Paulson on the next play. Then a few minutes later, Sewell took it himself 46 yards to the house to put Orem up 48-14.

“When you’ve got a kid like that, it doesn’t matter, we can put him in any of the 11 spots on offense or defense and he’s going to go out there and be an All-American,” Hill said. “Noah definitely gives us an advantage any game we’re in.”

The scary thought for the Tigers’ opponent in the title game, assuming things line up how Hill wants them to? 

“You’ll see again a steady dose of him next week as well.”