This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Tazz Everett remembers the Herriman Mustangs' first team practice in early August.
It wasn't pretty, and Everett wondered if he had made the right choice to leave Riverton.
"Some of the other guys had no idea what they were doing, and I was just hoping that I made the right decision," the senior safety and running back says. "Now I know I did. Best decision of my life."
It's a sentiment echoed by many Herriman seniors, most of whom left Bingham and Riverton for a chance to get on the field. What they found was an opportunity to become pioneers in a first-year program, and surprisingly, an opportunity to win.
The state football playoffs officially start this afternoon, and Herriman (4-6) will be playing undefeated Cottonwood, arguably the biggest threat to Bingham's 5A title repeat. The Mustangs will be a huge underdog, but their odds of winning aren't much worse than their odds of getting to the playoffs in the first place.
Herriman is the first 5A football team to ever make the playoffs in its first year, and players say it's been one heck of a ride.
"It's been the most fun year of my life," says Tanner Rush, a receiver and defensive back who left Bingham. "It means so much. It shows we weren't the rejects from other schools — we just never got a chance. It shows we're playoff caliber."
Larry Wilson — whose 37-year coaching career includes stops at Highland, Murray and a few colleges — had always looked for the chance to create a program from the ground up. Wilson promised the incoming juniors and seniors who chose to come to Herriman that everyone would get a chance to play if they worked for it.
"Those kids came over because they had a dream of being varsity starters, but they weren't going to do it at their old schools," Wilson says. "I wanted to give my kids a reason to trust me and to believe in this program. The results have been great, and it's been extremely gratifying."
Linebacker Travis Johnson didn't know what to make of what Wilson was saying, or of the program with a lot of players who had never been junior varsity starters. It wasn't until the team suited up for its first game against Hillcrest and started chanting together that it started "clicking" for him.
"I didn't understand [Wilson] then, but I do now," Johnson says. "I think I was meant to be here, and we were meant to make the playoffs."
A lot of players have grown in ways they couldn't have imagined. Josh Marshall was in line to be third- or fourth-string receiver at Bingham before he made the difficult decision to leave his friends and teammates to go to Herriman. Today, he's a starter and a captain and his teammates are looking up at him.
"Naturally, I'm pretty shy, but the coaches have taught us what to do and what to say," Marshall says. "The other day, I was getting on one of the other guys because he didn't make a play, then I told him what to do next time. I would never have done that at Bingham."
There have been low valleys to go along with the peaks. A three-game losing streak to Bingham, Brighton and Kearns brought the team back to earth after starting 2-2. And the machine gun fire that tore through Herriman and forced thousands to evacuate coincided with the on-field struggles.
Wilson says he gained a lot of perspective when half his team couldn't show up for practice because they were displaced from their homes. It might have been the thing that truly made the Mustangs huddle closer together.
"I think it showed how much the coaches and players cared about each other," Wilson says. "The community got behind us. I think football was a unifying and inclusive thing for Herriman. People talk to me all the time about how much they appreciate our team."
The Mustangs know they'll have their hands full with the Colts, and Herriman might have to play the perfect game to win.
"We weren't supposed to win any games this year," Everett says. "We have nothing to lose. We're just going to do our best, then look up and see what the scoreboard says." —
A closer look
Class 5A
Favorite • Bingham — Average winning margin is 43 points
Easiest path • Fremont — Won't be tested until semifinal against Lone Peak
Toughest path • Davis — Last year's runners-up could lose to Jordan in first round
Dark horse • Cottonwood — Undefeated Colts held Bingham's Langi to 34 yards rushing last season
Class 4A
Favorite • Timpview — Looking for fifth straight title; on 19-game winning streak
Easiest path • Highland — Should run over Box Elder and Pine View before meeting Timpview in semifinals
Toughest path • East — Will need to beat Westlake and Mountain Crest on the road to extend dream season
Dark horse • Spanish Fork — Mountain View and Bountiful in the first two rounds could allow the Dons to get to the semifinals
Class 3A
Favorite • Juan Diego — Two straight wins over Hurricane in the finals have made it the team to beat
Easiest path • Bear River — If it can take advantage of a well-traveled Desert Hills team, faces the winner of ALA-Delta for semis berth
Toughest path • Hurricane — Faces two legitimate contenders early in Morgan and Park City
Dark horse • Cedar — A win over Hurricane opened some eyes, and the Redmen could meet Juan Diego in the semis
Class 2A
Favorite • San Juan — Already beat South Summit, its biggest competitor, in the regular season
Easiest path • San Juan — Kanab and Enterprise will be lucky to unseat the defending champs
Toughest path • Millard — Reward for downing the Red Devils is a stacked South Summit team
Dark horse • South Summit — If they had won against San Juan, they'd be the favorite
Class 1A
Favorite • Duchesne — They've played and beaten everyone in theplayoffs except 3-7 Milford
Easiest path • Rich — If they get past Monument Valley, they get to play Monticello, who they already beat
Toughest path • Milford — If they aren't upset by Altamont, they'llhave to play Duchesne
Dark horse • Rich — Seem to be a clear second-best, but will have to play in first round anyway —
Schedule
Friday's games
Class 5A
Syracuse at Lone Peak, 3 p.m.
Herriman at Cottonwood, 4 p.m.
Kearns at Skyline, 4 p.m.
Northridge at Alta, 4 p.m.
Jordan at Davis, 4:30 p.m.
West at Riverton, 6 p.m.
Class 4A
Olympus at Springville, 2 p.m.
Logan at Timpview, 3:30 p.m.
Box Elder at Highland, 4 p.m.
Mountain View at Spanish Fork, 4 p.m.
Payson at Mountain Crest, 4 p.m.
East at Westlake, 5:30 p.m.
Class 3A
Richfield at Wasatch, 4 p.m.
Emery at Park City, 5 p.m.
Manti at Juan Diego, 5 p.m.
Union at Juab, 5 p.m.
Morgan at Hurricane, 7 p.m.
Class 2A
Grand at Millard, 1 p.m.
Kanab at San Juan, 1 p.m.
South Sevier at Enterprise, 1 p.m.
Saturday's games
Class 5A
Pleasant Grove at Fremont, 1 p.m.
Hunter at Bingham, 2:30 p.m.
Class 4A
Maple Mountain at Pineview, 1 p.m.
Orem at Bountiful, 1 p.m.
Class 3A
Desert Hills at Bear River, 1 p.m.
Judge at Cedar, 2 p.m.
Class 2A
Beaver at South Summit, 1 p.m.
Class 1A
Altamont at Milford, 1 p.m.
Monument Valley at Rich, 1 p.m.