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Ogden • Senior running back Liam Grover says that when he joins his Ogden High Tigers teammates in the venerable school's locker room, he feels the tradition of playing on a team whose history dates back to 1898, the first season of high school football in Utah.
"You go into that locker room at halftime and see that we have won seven state championships, but the last one was like 1966," he said. "It's been awhile. We need to rebuild that culture."
Ogden won't be playing for a state football championship this season.
After repeated failed appeals to the Utah High School Activities Association board of trustees to place the Tigers in 3A or 3AA for football in the new alignment that goes into effect this fall, Ogden ultimately elected to go independent in the sport.
The Tigers finished 0-10 last season, were outscored 311-35 in Region 5 games and ended the year with 37 players to man their sophomore, junior varsity and varsity squads.
Head coach Kent Taylor, athletic director Shawn MacQueen and Principal Stacey Briggs did not believe the team could compete in a new Class 4A league that includes traditional 4A powers such as East, Highland, Woods Cross and Bountiful.
There were concerns about injuries and about discouraged athletes quitting. So Taylor, a likable and intense coach who teaches Japanese as part of Ogden's International Baccalaureate program, cobbled together a 10-game schedule that includes four home games for next season. There are no guaranteed easy wins against 1A or 2A teams on that schedule, but the coach and athletic director think the Tigers will at least be able to compete.
Longtime Ogden fan and alumnus Greg Hyde was among those who lobbied the UHSAA to move the Tigers down a classification in football.
"The UHSAA says that it promotes leveling the playing field and helping kids develop life skills," said Hyde, who helped raise $2,400 last year for the Tigers' struggling football program. "I believe, for the most part, that they do that and strive to ensure a competitive atmosphere among the schools involved. But I believe they kind of live in this bubble that if they keep the big schools happy, they have accomplished their mission. They look at Ogden and see how they are getting pounded, but have a large enrollment so the kids there must suck at sports, so let's move to the next topic."
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Factors at play • Briggs said the 3AA football classification should be used to give struggling teams a chance to be competitive. And some in UHSAA were actually on Ogden's side of the argument. Then-assistant director Bart Thompson proposed a success-based realignment formula that took into account a program's state tournament success over a span of several years and that might have helped a school such as Ogden move down a classification.
The proposal gained initial support from UHSAA's executive committee.
"Some say this proposal penalizes success," UHSAA executive director Rob Cuff said during those initial realignment meetings last fall. "A 1A team that has won four state championships finds itself on the edge of leaving 1A and moving into 2A. Some coaches would welcome that. Others would like to continue to be the big dog. On the flip side, this could help level the playing field. … The only place where we can try it is football. We won't know whether it will work unless we try it."
Ultimately, some of those "big dogs" helped scuttle the plan. Several schools spoke out against it, most notably a couple traditional powerhouses (4A's Timpview and 1A's Duchesne) who stood to be moved up to a bigger classification. So in the end, UHSAA's board of directors rejected the plan.
Still, all the realignment politicking aside, why is Ogden, an urban school of about 1,300 students residing in one of the state's most beautiful buildings, struggling so much in football to begin with?
Economics are a big reason — about 65 percent of its students qualifying for free or reduced lunches.
"Poverty certainly seems to be a common factor in schools struggling to be competitive in football," said Briggs, who is in her fourth year as principal.
She is all about keeping kids engaged in school and giving them a chance at success.
"What we want most for our students is to be successful," Briggs said. "In order for our students to be successful, they need to be in a venue where they can actually compete. We are working really hard to make sure students stay in school and have as many advanced opportunities as possible. We are having some success in many of the areas of our school. In spite of how hard we were working, students are not experiencing that success in football."
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Rebuilding the program • Taylor said another major factor in the school's lack of success is that Ogden City does not run a little league football program as part of its recreation program. Where powers such as Bingham and Timpview have kids who have played the game since they were 8 or 9 years old, many Ogden players have never participated in the sport before. Six seniors who make up part of the 83 kids who are out for summer football workouts are playing for the first time.
"One of the issues we've worked hard to improve on is the retention of young men," MacQueen said. "If they play the sport at junior high, they will continue to play in high school. [Ogden High has sophomores, juniors and seniors.] We are making great strides with our ninth-grade group from feeder junior highs."
Sophomore Ashton Loosli came out to play football for the first time this summer. He needed help from team manager Faith Bushmen to put on pads, something he had never done.
"I thought it was a cool sport," said Loosli. "I always liked watching the Super Bowl, but I never played it before, so I thought it would be a good experience. It is very hard. It's been an interesting experience."
Like most coaches, Taylor is competitive. It is easy to see that last year's struggles gnaw at him.
"I get to look at the kids' faces every day and go in at halftime and try to motivate kids who are beat down," said Taylor, who is in his third year as head coach. "To me, it's my fault. They are looking to me for answers. Ask my wife. I spend eight hours on a Sunday and eight hours on a Saturday looking at film, trying to figure out where we can move kids and who we can use to change things and make things better. I am a competitive person who has won a lot. It's hard. I own it and need to try to figure out how to fix it."
There is also the matter of increasing community support. Like many schools, Ogden sells coupon books to local businesses to raise money. Taylor said that in the past, most of the coupons have come from national chains. This year, he is approaching only Ogden-based businesses in the hopes that if the school supports them, they will support his program.
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Drastic but necessary • The idea of independence seems to be helping get new players out at Ogden, whose modern weight room is as good as any in Utah and whose beautiful football stadium oozes tradition. Taylor spent $18,000 this spring on new equipment because more boys came out to play.
Returning seniors such as Grover, defensive end Paul Rodriguez and receiver Johnny Alcaraz are fine with the idea of independence, even though their team now will not play for a region or state title. They seem to understand that Ogden needed to do something radical to rebuild its program. They would also like to win some games.
"It is a good thing to build the program for the future," Alcaraz said. "We have more players out now, and we will face newer teams. We did all right last year, but we could have done better. We need to put in more work."
Rodriguez said he didn't think last year's winless team prepared well enough. He thinks the summer program is going much better and is encouraged by the number of new players on the roster.
"It's a lot better than last year," he said. "More kids want to come out now. It's good. You have got to prepare to win. It's worth it if you win games. We are preparing a lot better this year."
Grover said that while it doesn't help knowing that his team won't play in a region or go to state, thinking about that doesn't matter when the team is not competing.
"As long as we can compete and be strong ourselves, I feel like we are winners. We are playing a few of the same teams. We competed with those teams last year. It's just a matter of competing in games and getting past the first half."
Mostly, though, Grover looks at Ogden's football history and dreams about being part of rebuilding that winning culture.
Now, as Ogden competes as an independent for probably the next two years before the next realignment, the goal is building a program for the future.
Twitter: @tribtomwharton —
Ogden's recent struggles
2014
• 0-10 overall
• 0-6 in Region 5
• Outscored 311-35 in region play
2013
• 2-8 overall (beat 3AA programs Ben Lomond and Uintah)
• 0-6 in Region 5
• Outscored 294-72 in region play
Inside
O Bingham will begin the 2015 campaign ranked No. 13 nationally by MaxPreps. > C8 —
Demoralized early
"I get to look at the kids' faces every day and go in at halftime and try to motivate kids who are beat down," coach Kent Taylor said of the team's struggles. Indeed, the Tigers were often hopelessly out of games by halftime during last year's Region 5 slate:
Opponent Halftime Final score
Logan 48-0 48-12
Box Elder 56-0 63-6
Roy 50-0 70-0
Bonneville 28-0 49-14
Sky View 36-0 38-0
Mountain Crest 36-3 43-3
Totals 254-3 311-35 —
Size matters
In addition to — and partly because of — low participation numbers (just 37 total players by the 2014 season's end), Ogden was physically overmatched against its region competition.
Lineman size comparisons of new Region 5 football teams from 2014 rosters:
Linemen over 6 feet tall • Bonneville 17; Box Elder 16; Logan 12; Roy 21; East 10; Highland 11; Woods Cross 21; Bountiful 16; Ogden 8
Linemen weighing more than 220 pounds • Bonneville 9; Box Elder 14; Logan 14; Roy 20; East 14; Highland 12; Woods Cross 20; Bountiful 15; Ogden 4 —
Ogden's 2015 schedule
The Tigers' 10-game schedule features two opponents they would have been paired with if they remained in the realigned Region 5:
Date Opponent Class/Region
Aug. 21 Wasatch 4A/Region 8
Aug. 29 Minico (Idaho) N/A
Sept. 4 Payson 4A/Region 8
Sept. 11 at Snow Canyon 3AA/South
Sept. 18 at Bonneville 4A/Region 5
Sept. 25 at Judge 3AA/North
Oct. 2 at Box Elder 4A/Region 5
Oct. 9 Park City 3AA/North
Oct. 14 Uintah 4A/Region 8
Oct. 23 at Ben Lomond 3AA/North