It usually takes all 10 weeks of the high school football regular season for the true contenders to separate themselves from the rest of the field.
With that said, five games is usually enough of a sample size to pinpoint trends, and that’s exactly where we are now five weeks into the 2024 high school football season.
Twelve teams are still undefeated — some of which are surprise — while 10 more are still searching for their first win.
As Week 6 kicks off this week, here’s a class-by-class look at the early trends and the teams who’ve separated themselves.
Class 6A
At the midway point of last season, there were five undefeated teams remaining in 6A. This season there’s just one.
It speaks to the willingness of elite programs to play each other in the preseason, but also their desire to test themselves against strong competition out of state. It created some big wins for the state too. Corner Canyon beat IMG Academy, Florida, while Skyridge beat Liberty, Nevada, and Cherry Creek, Colorado.
As impressive as those wins are, it’s the instate showdowns that give fans a glimpse about how the rest of the season may unfold.
Lone Peak has been a bit of an afterthought in 6A the past two seasons with a combined 12-12 record, but it’s far from an afterthought in 2024 after beating Corner Canyon 28-21 in Week 3 with an outstanding defensive effort.
Corner Canyon got a bounce-back win over Skyridge last week, 38-28, in a rematch of last year’s 6A state championship. The Chargers didn’t pull away until a TD with 3:03 remaining pushed it to a two-possession game.
It’s pretty clear that Lone Peak, Corner Canyon and Skyridge are on fairly level footing and any future matchups will be equally competitive.
Lehi is the lone unbeaten remaining team in 6A at 4-0 with double-digit wins over Davis, Desert Hills, Bingham and Herriman.
The Pioneers’ toughest games are yet to come, including region games the next two weeks against American Fork and Skyridge. Those outcomes could create a clear pecking order in 6A — or more chaos.
While Region 3 teams still face several difficult games against one another, the meat of Corner Canyon’s schedule is over. The Chargers went 5-0 in Region 2 play last season with a 36.6 average margin of victory, and there’s no evidence to suggest this season will be any different as Region 2 teams are a combined 9-16 this preseason.
Through the first five weeks, Davis appears to be the class of Region 1, but its 24-point loss to Lehi to open the season shows how large the gap is in competitiveness in the two regions.
Class 5A
Of all the classifications, 5A is the one that’s seemingly created more questions than answers through the first five weeks.
While defending champ Timpview is still the team to beat despite losses to Centennial, California, and Lone Peak, after the T-Birds there’s a long list of potential contenders.
Northridge, Roy, Orem and Maple Mountain are all 5-0 at the midway point of season, despite only Roy starting the season with much expectation. Brighton, Bountiful and Viewmont are each 4-1.
Traditional contenders, Springville and Olympus, are both 2-3 and have seemingly underachieved, but Olympus might be trending upward after its shutout win over Brighton last week.
West (2-3) and East (3-2) are very much in the conversation as well despite records that may suggest otherwise. East’s two losses came against quality out-of-state teams, whereas two of West’s losses also came against out-of-state teams while the other was a competitive game against 6A’s American Fork.
When the season began, the top five teams in the Deseret News preseason coaches rankings were Timpview, Bountiful, West, Brighton and Olympus.
The current top five are Timpview, Orem, Roy, Brighton and East.
How the next five weeks in 5A will unfold is anybody’s guess, but it should be extremely competitive and unpredictable as teams jockey for top four RPI ranking to create the best path forward in the playoffs.
Class 4A
The 4A semifinalists a year ago were Crimson Cliffs, Park City, Ridgeline and Green Canyon.
With the way the first half of the regular season has unfolded, all four could be headed for a repeat semifinal appearance.
Ridgeline and Park City are both 5-0 this season, while Green Canyon is 4-1 and defending state champ Crimson Cliffs is 3-2 after opening the season with losses to Morgan and Bingham.
Last Friday, Ridgeline earned its most impressive win of the season in a convincing 39-21 region win over previously-undefeated Green Canyon.
Park City’s most impressive wins came in the first three weeks as it beat Wasatch 17-0, Timpanogos 48-33 and Dixie 42-0.
If anyone is going to break up a possible semifinal repeat, it could come from Region 8, with Spanish Fork and Timpanogos both sitting at 4-1.
Timpanogos’ only loss was a 48-33 setback in Week 2 at Park City, but it was a very competitive game with Park City only leading 20-14 heading into the fourth quarter.
Spanish Fork’s resume is even more impressive with wins over Olympus and Sky View, and a 35-27 loss to 5A undefeated Maple Mountain.
Assuming Ridgeline and Park City run the table, Crimson Cliffs seems the most likely to challenge them in the playoffs. With just two starters back on offense and one on defense, the Mustangs were likely always going to start slow against a tough schedule. Things have started to click the past few weeks with wins over Springville, Cedar and Desert Hills.
If Crimson Cliffs can get past Snow Canyon in Week 6, a favorable schedule awaits it the rest of the season.
Class 3A
Defending champ Richfield and 2022 state champ Morgan appear on a collision course for a title game showdown.
Richfield is 5-0, with three wins under its belt against 4A teams heading into this week’s region opener against Juab. It is outscoring opponents by an average of 22.4 points.
Morgan has been even more dominant, with a 33.6 average margin of victory. It has wins over Crimson Cliffs, Sky View, Skyline, Idaho, and Layton Christian. On paper, the Trojans look like they’d be a contender in 4A this season.
Grantsville and Manti are very much in the 3A conversation as both own 4-1 records.
Grantsville’s lone loss came against 2A’s top-ranked Beaver, while Manti’s lone loss was a 28-20 defeat at Grantsville in Week 3. Prior to that, the Templars beat 4A’s Pine View and Snow Canyon in Week 1 and 2.
Barring any upsets the next two weeks, Week 8 will provide much more parity in 3A as Manti travels to Richfield and Grantsville travels to Morgan.
Ogden (4-0) is 3A’s other unbeaten team, but it lacks a signature win and won’t get an opportunity for one until Week 7 when it travels to Grantsville.
Class 2A
Even though San Juan’s 37-game winning streak came to a close in a Week 1 loss at 3A’s Grantsville, 36-30, San Juan is still the overwhelming favorite in 2A this fall as it seeks a fourth-straight state championship.
Since that loss, San Juan has rolled to big wins over Juan Diego, Kanab, Summit Academy and Judge Memorial.
The Broncos open region play this week against the only other 4-1 team in 2A — Emery.
Emery is coming off a 49-17 win over Carbon, a great bounce-back performance after a 35-point loss to Manti the week prior. It will take a massive performance to upset San Juan though, as the Broncos won last year’s region meeting 53-13.
Layton Christian is the biggest unknown in 2A at this point. Facing a more difficult schedule than any other 2A team, the Eagles are 2-3 with wins over Juab and Cibola, Arizona, and losses against East (5A) Beaver (1A) and Morgan (3A).
Beaver and Morgan are ranked first in their respective classification, while East is ranked in the top five in 5A.
South Summit opened the season ranked third in the 2A preseason rankings, but it started slow amid a challenging schedule. The Wildcats finally earned their first win of the season in Week 5, and they will hope to build on that this week with a chance at a statement victory at Layton Christian.
Class 1A
With shutout wins over South Summit and Grantsville, along with double-digit wins over Layton Christian, Duchesne and Millard, top-ranked Beaver has looked every bit the part of 1A favorite through five weeks this season.
Beaver is averaging 36.2 ppg while only allowing 7.0 ppg. Eight different players have scored TDs.
Just like last season, there are several other quality 1A teams who can challenge Beaver in 1A.
North Summit is also 5-0 this season, which includes a win over South Summit in Week 2 and then a narrow 18-12 victory over Milford last Friday.
Milford led 12-6 at the half, but failed to score as it suffered its first loss of the season.
North Summit and Milford both have been strong defensively this season, which is a must to have any hope of dethroning Beaver this year.
Milford will have a chance to measure itself against No. 1 in Week 9 when it hosts Beaver.