High school football: Rich completes 3-peat by winning 1A 8-player championship title

Rich continued to show that it belongs among the elite, as it defeated Milford 21-12 to win the 1A 8-player championship at Zions Bank Stadium on Saturday.

With the victory, Rich became the first program in history to win three consecutive 8-player titles.

“I have to give most if not all of the credit to the players and how hard they have worked and how good of examples they are to the younger kids,” said Rich head coach Tyson Larsen.

“There’s a lot of younger kids that just want to come and be with us. They work hard, they proven to be successful but they’re just good people.”

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Rich’s defense was strong and stout all game long, holding Milford to a goose egg at halftime and just 12 points for the entire game.

Considering Milford came into this game scoring at least 40 points in 9 of their last 11 games, Larsen could not have been more pleased with what he saw from his defense, not only in the championship game, but all year long.

“I was extremely pleased with our defense. We had a couple of tough games where we made some mistakes and so I was excited to see the growth today and us be able to defend probably the toughest passing team we have played all year,” Larsen said.

To go along with the defense, Rich’s running game proved to be successful in managing possession and getting the ball downfield.

For the game, Rich had 266 total rushing yards, with Wilkes Weston (150) and Jett Holmes (101) accounting for all but a few of them.

Not to be overlooked, Holmes took advantage of the limited opportunities he was given to throw the ball, going 2 for 3 for 25 yards and two touchdowns.

“This has been one of the most rewarding years we have had. We’ve had a lot of adversity and things happen. I truly believe this has been one of the most resilient teams I have coached, and they responded to the hard things the right way,” Larsen said.

While there are many things that contributed to the success of Rich this season, Larsen believes it was truly a team effort by a group of individuals who cared about each other and considered each other family.

“The theme of the season was trust. Trusting in the game plan, trusting in the coaches and trusting in each other,” Larsen said. “I guess maybe another theme is also just being selfless.”