SALT LAKE CITY — The 2025 UHSAA Football Championships brought some of Utah's best student-athletes to Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Six different teams all chasing one goal: to be crowned champions on this final day of the high school football season. It made for a high school takeover of Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Tickets sold and seats filled - first for a Cache County clash between the undefeated Ridgeline Riverhawks and the Green Canyon Wolves.
Ridgeline Head Coach Travis Cox says he knew the Wolves were coming in with momentum after making a stunning run to the finals as a 14-seed. “The unique thing about Green Canyon that a lot of people don't know is in Cache Valley…a lot of these kids actually went to the same middle school or junior high,” said Cox. “We know that team a lot better than some of the others in the valley.”
Cox said they needed to stop that momentum early, and they did, rolling to a 56-0 win for their school’s second 4A state title. Quarterback Nate Dahle dazzled for the Riverhawks, notching four passing and three rushing touchdowns.
Then, the anticipation built further towards the 6A title game between Corner Canyon and Lone Peak. “They appreciate the fact that they made it this far, they worked this hard - here they are!” said Liane Young, whose grandson plays for Corner Canyon.
But some of their biggest fans, like Gladys Hamilton, realized this was the beginning of a bittersweet end for her grandson, Mason. “He’s graduating!” said Hamilton. “We want him to win the 6A championship for the last time in his high school career.”
Two similarly close-knit communities, the schools separated by a short drive around Point of the Mountain, so the connections are close. “They’ve come up knowing each other through the youth leagues - all of them,” said Elaine Angilau, whose son plays for Corner Canyon. “There’s a lot of love off the field. But on the field - it’s war.”
The stakes were high too - Chargers fans still felt the sting of a regular-season loss to the Knights. “We’re coming for revenge, and we’re coming to win,” Angilau added.
But while they were once again separated on the football field, fans on both sides said their student-athletes should take some life lessons from an opportunity like this one.
“If you lose - well, that’s kind of life,” Hamilton said. “If you win, yay! You keep working harder and harder to achieve your goals.”
“It’s a character-building experience to be on a team, and may the best team win,” said Clyn L. Young, whose grandson plays for Lone Peak.
They traded blows from the beginning - Corner Canyon struck first with one of four touchdown runs from senior running back Weston Briggs. Lone Peak scored the next ten points and took a 20-14 lead deep into the third quarter.
But the Chargers reeled off 21 unanswered points and made a goal-line stand late, allowing history to “three-peat” itself for Corner Canyon in a 35-20 win.
As they ride an emotional high, they also say tearful goodbyes to the end of a season, and in some cases, a career. “It was emotional preparing for this game,” said Corner Canyon’s senior quarterback Helaman Casuga. “Win or lose, this is the last game, so I soaked in everything. I’m just grateful that we won.”
The day’s final matchup featured an all-Utah County affair in the 5A Championship between the Orem Tigers and the Springville Red Devils. The two teams played each other closely in the regular season, with Orem edging out a 17-14 win back in September.
But Thursday night’s rematch got away from Springville in a hurry, as the Tigers raced to a 42-7 win.
Utah commit Aisa Galea’i was firing on all cylinders for Orem - scoring a 60-yard touchdown run on their first offensive play, intercepting a Springville pass and running it back for a pick-six, and returning the opening kick-off of the second half for a touchdown.
“He’s crazy,” said Orem quarterback Tayden Ka’awa. “He put on a show for us tonight. He carried us - touchdown on offense, touchdown on defense, touchdown on special teams. He had everyone’s back tonight.”
“It means a lot with a team full of transfers and just getting to know everyone,” Galea’i added. “It was really sweet.”
The win marks Orem’s tenth state title.
