Back during the COVID high school football season in 2020, while many states hadn’t opened things up for high school athletics, Utah was one of the states that kept on trucking by starting the high school season on time on Aug. 13 — albeit with limited attendance, masks and social distancing on the sidelines.
Herriman in fact hosted Davis in the first high school football game in the nation that season.
For ESPN’s Geico High School Kickoff, that season became a scheduling headache with far fewer games to choose from. In Week 3, it circled Bingham at Corner Canyon as a worthwhile game to cover and sent in two semi trucks with portable lighting to enhance its primetime ESPN broadcast.
Corner Canyon won comfortably 42-21 with Jaxson Dart throwing for six touchdowns on national TV. It began his quick ascent up the recruiting rankings, which ultimately led to him being named MaxPreps national player of the year. He threw a state record 67 TD passes.
Dart never slowed down, signing with USC before transferring to Ole Miss where he played for three seasons. This past summer he was a first-round draft pick by the New York Giants.
Now it’s his little brother’s turn to play on the national stage.
After Corner Canyon won the 6A state championship last month with a come-from-behind win over Lone Peak, the Chargers were invited to participate in the inaugural “Overtime Nationals,” an event being billed as the high school football national championship.
Sponsored by Overtime Productions and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, Corner Canyon will face St. Francis Academy (Baltimore, Md.) on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. MST in a game broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
In the most recent MaxPreps national high school football rankings, St. Frances is ranked No. 2 while Corner Canyon is ranked No. 23.
The winner receives $250,000 for their high school athletic department.
Dart’s little brother Diesel Dart — an uncommitted junior — is one of the defensive mainstays for Corner Canyon.
Jaxson Dart was in Utah last weekend during the Giants’ bye week, and he hoped on the Canyons School District podcast with Canyons Superintendent Dr. Rick Robins to talk about the national championship game, Corner Canyon’s tradition and his memories about being part of a program that has won six state titles in the past eight years — all since Eric Kjar took over as head coach.
“What an opportunity to represent — obviously, the school district, but the whole state of Utah,” said Dart on the Connect Canyons podcast with Robins. “I feel like this state is very unappreciated when it comes to a national landscape of talent.”
In fact, at the start of the NFL season back in September, there were 37 players who played their high school football in Utah on NFL active or practice squad rosters.
Dart is among those 37 and he believes Corner Canyon certainly has a chance against St. Frances.
“It’s going to be fun to watch, but I think it’s going to come down to the line of scrimmage and who’s going to be able to control the game that way. A lot of the times I feel that dictates games especially when you’re in situations like this where the talent is very even,” said Dart on the podcast. “I actually got to go watch the New Jersey state championship game and the football that’s being played there is a little different than the football that’s out here.”
Dart said he’s excited to see how Corner Canyon’s passing game measures up, led by Texas A&M QB commit Helaman Casuga, measures up against the St. Francis defense.
Dart admits he would’ve loved an opportunity to play in a national championship game like his little brother gets to.
“I’m just super jealous and envious that those guys get to play in that. That is something I would have loved — and I know all my teammates during my time there would have loved to play in this. For Diesel and all the guys, I know this is something that they’re really looking forward to, and they’re really excited to put their name out there against the best,” Dart added.
Having gone on and played four years of college football and now the NFL, Dart still considers his former high school football coach Kjar as a “schematic mastermind.” It’s tough to argue with a 112-9 record in nine seasons, and a 181-38 overall record including his eight years prior to that at Jordan High School.
“You want to be a part of a culture, a part of an environment where everybody’s going to push each other to be the best that they can be,” he said. “And I think that Coach Kjar does an amazing job at bringing that mindset each and every day to his players and to his coaching staff.”
Corner Canyon traveled on a red eye flight to Baltimore through Atlanta on Monday night as it prepares for Wednesday night’s game at Under Armour Stadium in Baltimore. It’s where St. Frances plays its home games.