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Home > Archive > Aug 16, 2007

Football Season Kicks off in Panther Stadium
By Stephen Vincent
The 2007 high school football season begins in Utah's Dixie on Aug. 17 when Pine View hosts the Mountain View Bruins at 7 p.m.
Snow Canyon starts its season 30 minutes later when the Uintah Utes come to St. George.
Dixie starts its 2007 campaign by visiting the Springville Red Devils that night.
Each school's game will be a landmark one, as it will be the first time each school has taken the field as a 4A team.
The first kickoff in Utah's Dixie this season will take place at Panther Stadium. For football fans, that first whistle on a Friday night is one of the sweetest sounds of the year. Soon, football fans’ weekends will be comprised of high school games on Fridays, college showdowns on Saturdays and NFL contests on Sundays.
But for the players, the memories of a football season are something that will linger with them.
“I'm excited for the kids,” said Pine View coach Ray Hosner. “After all that hard work they have done over the summer, they get to buckle up the helmets and see how good they are. That competition is what makes America great.”
The game will mark the return of former Dixie State College coach Greg Croshaw, who is the Panthers' defensive coordinator this season. Croshaw built the Rebels' team into one of the top junior college football programs in the country, winning over 200 games in his time at Dixie.
After being dismissed by the Rebels last year, Croshaw took a job at Wells Fargo Bank, where he ran into Hosner on Aug. 6, and the Pine View coach convinced Croshaw to join his staff.
After a rebuilding year last season, the Panthers return plenty of players this season, including a premier offensive line: Kevin Moss, James Litle, Tayler Warhurst, Jake Petterson and Austin Fackrell.
They will try to create time for quarterback Nick Marinko to throw the ball, as well as create holes for tailback Travis Tait to run through.
Pine View will be trying to utilize Riley Dias in whatever they can. Dias will be the Panthers' slot back, and he will be used in Pine View's passing and running attacks.
The Panthers also return most of their starters from last year's defensive unit, including Jake Garrisau, Jordan Gary and Taylor Harris along the defensive line, and Justin Ence and Bo Heaton as the safeties.
Pine View's preparation for the game has been focused more on themselves than the Bruins.
“We've just been trying to prepare to run what we run,” Hosner said.
The Bruins are coming off a tough season from a year ago, where they went 1-10. The game will be the first for Mountain View's new coach Teko Johnson.
With the new coaching change at Mountain View, Hosner was not yet sure what to expect from the Bruins. He said he expects the Bruins’ defense will contain some sort of scheme with just three down linemen, but other than that, Hosner didn't know much about the Mountain View squad.
Moutain View's key players are Greg May and Jordan Smith.
Snow Canyon returns a good number of players from last year's team that made it to the 3A state championship game, including running back Adam Timo and wide receiver Dalton Groskreutz.
Kurt Henderson and Chris Oviatt were contending for the quarterback spot, so it will be interesting to see who first-year head coach Rick Secrist sends out as his starting signal caller against the Utes.
For the Flyers, Nate Carter, who ran for over 2,000 yards last season en route to first-team All-State honors, returns. He will share the backfield with fullback Corbin Sharp. Chunner Nyberg and MacRae Heppler were battling to be the Dixie quarterback this season.
Flyer coach Jake Nelson has 45 seniors on this year's team.

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