Week 5 prep football predictions: Roy, Box Elder set for TV showdown; non-region schedules finish
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- Roy’s Samuel Smith (24) celebrates with Kahekili Eleneke (21) after Eleneke’s kick-return touchdown against Fremont on Friday, Aug. 18, 2023, in Plain City.
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- Box Elder’s Jay Macias lines up with his team for a kickoff against Northridge on Friday, Sept. 1, 2023, at Weber High in Pleasant View.
Football gets going early this week with a televised game Thursday at Roy High. Region play opens for one area team, while Region 1 and 3A North teams play their final non-region games.
Layton, Farmington and Layton Christian have a bye this week.
Last week’s prediction record: 11-4 (.733)
Season prediction record: 47-16 (.746)
Box Elder at Roy, Game of the Week
Thursday broadcast on KJZZ
This is easily the best game on paper so far this year in Northern Utah, and it should feature a lot of old-school running.
Box Elder (4-0, 1-0 Region 5) has the top two rushers in the region with Dax Sumko (529 yards, 11 touchdowns) and Mason Jeppsen (416 yards, three TDs). Damon Rodriguez checks in with 386 yards of offense and four TDs, and quarterback Ryan Griffin has six TDs with no interceptions.
Roy (3-1, 1-0) has the third-leading rusher in the region with Daeqwan Snider (369 yards, three TDs). Junior Robert Young has 170 return yards on special teams with 153 receiving yards.
There are some wildcards for this week. Box Elder lost a critical starting offensive lineman to injury last week and, in the Bees’ run-first offense, that’s potentially a huge development.
Roy hasn’t faced a team that runs as often and as deceptively as Box Elder this year, but conversely, good offenses like the Royals’ have been able to score on the Bees’ defense this year. It should be a close game.
Prediction: Roy
Bonneville at Bountiful
Bonneville (2-2, 1-0 Region 5) and Bountiful (2-2, 1-0) once again play a high-stakes contest and they’re both evenly matched.
Both offenses struggle to move the ball, both defenses have yielded plenty of points and yards, and both special teams units have turned games on their head.
Bountiful leads the all-time series 19-4 and has won the last two by scores of 23-14 and 20-14. This one has toss-up written all over it.
The game is being played at Viewmont High.
Prediction: Bountiful
South Summit at Ogden
Ogden (3-1) is coming off its first loss of the year, a 50-7 drubbing at Richfield last week.
The Tigers have a tough turnaround with 2A South Summit (2-2) in town, which has won both meetings all-time between the two schools.
They’ll have to play about as good of a game as possible to beat South Summit.
Prediction: South Summit
American Leadership at Ben Lomond
Manase Tuatagaloa leads the state with 1,474 passing yards through four games, and Davian Muñoz is fourth in receiving with 585. Ben Lomond’s (2-2) pass game alone gives the Scots a big edge.
ALA (1-3) has been gashed on the ground, so teams haven’t needed to throw against the Eagles yet. It’s both a good chance for Ben Lomond to have some success running the ball and further fine-tune the passing game.
Prediction: Ben Lomond
Cyprus at Fremont
Fremont’s (0-4) defense will have to stop the run since Cyprus (1-3) leans toward the ground game. Conversely, the Silverwolves’ offense needs a better day than the last two games, which have seen Fremont score 10 points combined.
As far as the teams’ records go, Fremont’s four games have been against teams with a combined 13-3 record. Cyprus’ four have been against teams that are a combined 8-8.
Prediction: Fremont
Granger at Weber
The sails are raised once again at Weber (1-3), which exploded for 62 points and 688 yards of offense in last week’s win over Wasatch.
This week’s contest against Granger (2-2) and BYU commit quarterback Carson Su’esu’e figures to be high-scoring.
A not-full-strength Weber team fared better against Pleasant Grove in Week 2 than Granger did against PG in Week 3, for whatever that’s worth.
Prediction: Weber
St. Joseph at Grace (ID)
St. Joseph (0-3) hits the road against Idaho’s defending state runner-up.
Prediction: Grace
Corner Canyon at Syracuse
If the Syracuse (4-0) defense has the game of its life, the Titans could stay somewhat close. It’s what helped Farmington stay close to Corner Canyon in last year’s state semifinal.
The Chargers (3-1) just have too much talent to handle on both sides of the ball, so it’s a tall order for Syracuse.
Prediction: Corner Canyon
Viewmont at Northridge
Viewmont (2-2, 0-1 Region 5) came close to an upset win over Bountiful last week, close enough that the Vikings have some juice this week. If they can run well and get to the quarterback, things will look good against Northridge (2-2, 0-1).
The Knights ostensibly have some linemen back this week but have to figure out their offense after scoring 23 combined points in the last two games.
Prediction: Viewmont
Clearfield at Woods Cross
Clearfield (0-4, 0-1 Region 5) has another big task as it tries to slow the Woods Cross (2-2, 0-1) potent triple-option running attack that averages more than 300 yards per game.
Prediction: Woods Cross
Davis at Taylorsville
Through three games, Tyson Baggett leads Davis (3-1) with 24 catches, followed by Kash Gates’ 20 catches and Bode Sparrow’s 20 catches. This is the Darts’ final non-region tuneup and the script is like Syracuse’s last week: get out healthy.
Prediction: Davis
Logan at Bear River
Bear River (2-2) opens Region 11 play against a fellow 2-2 team. The Bears remain somewhere in the middle, with big wins against bad teams and big losses against good teams.
But this is a big chance for Bear River to get out in front of a tough region schedule.
Prediction: Bear River
Morgan at Kearns
Morgan (1-3) takes its first trip ever to Kearns (1-3) in the Trojans’ final game of a brutal non-region schedule.
They’ve faced exclusively upper-classification opposition, but likewise, they’ll face a team that’s been steeled against upper-echelon teams from Region 1 and Region 5.
Prediction: Kearns