High school football: Alta completes comeback, prevails over Springville in sloppy opener

It took a year, but Alta got its revenge on Springville for the one-score defeat the Red Devils handed the Hawks in last season’s opener, winning 38-35 Friday night in Sandy in a choppy contest.

“My initial thoughts (are) we got a lot to clean up,” Alta head coach Blake Burdette said following his team’s victory. “We had … things we can control that we need to do, but I’m proud of the fight of the boys.”

Burdette’s boys were down 35-24 entering the fourth quarter before a 9-yard touchdown run from senior running back Lucas Pagel brought the game within one score with 9:36 to play.

Moments later, an interception by Alta junior defensive back Bronson Schriever put the Hawks back on the attack.

“That was awesome,” Burdette said of Schriever’s timely turnover. “Our goal this year is (to) win the turnover margin every game, and we did that today.”

Following the interception, Alta ground away the 37 yards it needed to score a touchdown, running the ball seven times and passing it just once on what became the game-winning drive.

The Hawks found the end zone on a 6-yard rush from senior running back Treven Cooke with just under three-and-a-half minutes to go.

The Red Devils were unable to score in that limited time, turning the ball over on downs before Alta ran the clock out.

The Hawks never trailed in the first half, taking a 17-7 lead to the locker room. Alta held the advantage thanks to a blocked punt that led to a special teams touchdown and a fumble recovery that saw the Sandy squad punch in its first score of the season on a 22-yard pass from senior quarterback Xavier Cocci to senior wideout Breck Warren.

However, reminiscent of the teams’ August 2025 meeting, the Hawks saw things change in a hurry in one quarter.

In last year’s season opener, Springville scored three of its four total touchdowns in the second quarter to pick up the victory. This year, the Red Devils’ big quarter came in the third as Springville exploded for 28 points in the frame, all while keeping Alta’s offense off the field for much of that time.

The visitors secured two interceptions and recovered a live ball on a kickoff, taking over the contest in a blink of an eye.

However, this time around it did not doom the Hawks, who ultimately regained momentum in the fourth quarter for the dramatic comeback victory.

When asked what his message was to his team after things flipped so quickly in the third quarter, Burdette said, “I was just telling them, ‘We just need to settle down.’ … What’s happened in the past is mistakes compound each other and then our body language gets bad, so I was just letting them know we just got to go to the next play.”

Alta will try to compound its positive momentum when it remains home for a meeting with Bingham next Thursday evening. Springville, meanwhile, will look to pick up its first win of the season when it plays on the road again next Friday, this time at Green Canyon.

Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.