Three Stansbury Ute Conference football teams won state championships in the World Division on Nov. 9. Two of the three teams finished the season undefeated.
The Stansbury Midgets with players ages 12-13 finished the year 12-0, and rolled in the playoffs. The Midgets, coached by Thom Pronk, defeated Herriman 63-7 in the semifinals and Bingham 31-8 in the finals. Pronk said his team runs the same offense as the Stansbury High School Stallions.
The Stansbury Gremlin A team, with players ages 8-9, were also perfect with a 12-0 record. The Gremlins, coached by Brady Nunley, shut out Riverton 20-0 in the semifinals, and then defeated Bingham 14-6 in the championship game.
The Stansbury Mighty Mites, with players ages 10-11, peaked at the right time after losing three games during the regular season. “We came in as the fourth seed and had to start the tournament against the No. 1 seed Bountiful,” said coach Mike Nunley.
The Mighty Mites upset Bountiful 12-6 to advance to the finals against Cyprus. Stansbury’s squad hit on all cylinders in the game against the No. 2-seed Pirates winning 38-6.
“Our success was that we played as a team,” said Midget coach Pronk. “Every week we had someone step up and play big, but the rest of the team would support them like a brotherhood.”
The Midgets blasted opponents by large margins in 11 of their 12 victories. They outscored the opposition 439-104 for the season. The team featured several great players, but nobody shouldered all the burden.
“We had 13 different players get in the end zone,” Pronk said. “These young men played their hearts out all year. They said from the beginning that this was the year. They said it every practice and meant it.”
Their closest game was late in the season when they edged Herriman 34-27.
“In that game we had to make three big defensive stops to close out with victory. We had to overcome three injuries and it made us strong for the playoffs,” Pronk said.
The Gremlin A team moved the ball up and down the field through three quarters and seemed to be in control in the championship game against Bingham. But after three quarters neither team had managed to score a touchdown.
The Stansbury Gremlin team finally put touchdowns on the board in the fourth quarter to go up 14-0. Bingham closed the game with a long touchdown pass to make the final 14-6 for Stansbury.
“We played much better than the score indicated,” said coach Brady Nunley. “We moved the ball well, but had a lot of penalties with two touchdowns called back.”
Quarterback Nate Nate Nunley tossed an 18-yard touchdown pass to Bridger Thomas for the first score. Nate Bushnell scored the extra point on a run play.
The second touchdown was set up by an interception by Adler Hadlock who returned the ball 35 yards. Thomas scored on a five-yard sweep. Stansbury was penalized on the PAT which backed them up to the 5-yard line, but the Stallions scored the extra point via a pass play.
The Mighty Mites were the fourth team to qualify for the playoffs with a 6-3 regular-season record. The squad upset No. 1 seed Bountiful 12-6 in the semifinals.
“We were down 6-0 at halftime after Bountiful scored on their first possession of the game,” said coach Mike Nunley. “The biggest play of the game was on the second-half kickoff. We kicked off and Chase Kenney made a big hit on the return man with his helmet hitting the ball to force a fumble. Creighton Patterson recovered the fumble.”
Payton Didericksen scored the first touchdown on a 12-yard sweep. The play went right, but was bottled up, and Didericksen reversed to the left and picked up a big block from his quarterback Jake Nunley.
Stansbury scored the game-winner on a tight end reverse to by Canyon Christensen.
“We played near perfection in all three phases of the game in the championship game,” coach Mike Nunley said.
The Midgets’ victories included wins over Cyprus twice, Grantsville, Hillcrest, Tooele, Highland, Bingham, Bountiful, Herriman twice, Riverton and Bingham.
The Gremlins’ posted wins over Cyprus twice, Grantsville, Hillcrest, Tooele, Highland, Bingham twice, Bountiful, Cyprus Herriman and Riverton twice.
The Mighty Mites scored victories over Grantsville, Tooele, Highland, Bountiful twice, Herriman, Riverton and Cyprus.