Gunnison Valley seniors Skip Jackson and Brogan Christensen rejoice after making a play final Friday night time when the Bulldogs took on the North Sevier Wolves. Gunnison Valley rallied to win, 20-19. Photographs courtesy of Tiffany Jackson
Residents within the Gunnison space had been used to seeing their crew shedding by quite a bit, so a 19-0 rating within the second quarter of a homecoming recreation at Gunnison Valley Excessive Faculty wasn’t a brand new feeling.
That feeling didn’t final too lengthy. The Bulldogs had been crushed too many occasions for too lengthy; they'd misplaced to their rival, the North Sevier Wolves, seven years in a row.
Regardless of being down by three touchdowns halfway via the primary half, for the remainder of the Bulldogs’ recreation towards the Wolves, they proved what they’ve been proving since Week 1 —that after 32 years, it’s lastly Gunnison Valley’s flip.
The Bulldogs scored two fast touchdowns late within the second quarter and pulled forward by one within the second half, then held sturdy on protection to the tip to finish a 20-point comeback and beat the Wolves, 20-19, final Friday night time. The win made the Bulldogs 2-0 within the 1A North and moved them to an general report of 5-1, a mark not met since 2005.
“It feels nice if you’re placing within the onerous work and also you’re right here all summer time, which I'm and the youngsters are,” Gunnison Valley coach Patrick King stated. “Once you’re working that means as a crew and issues begin to click on, and also you’re getting that optimistic end result, after all it feels nice.”
In Gunnison Valley’s 32-year soccer historical past, this system amassed a report of 84-224 main as much as the 2022 season. The Bulldogs have by no means gained a state title or perhaps a area title, and a 7-4 season in 2005 was their solely profitable season at school historical past to date.
On that Friday recreation, in a packed stadium, even North Sevier may see the distinction within the Bulldogs this 12 months.
“They at present have a crew that believes in one another and have purchased into Coach King’s program,” Wolves coach Wyatt Mason stated. “King has performed a very good job being affected person and permitting for it to develop over the previous few years.”
What’s occurring at Gunnison Valley is particular to not solely the gamers, however to the neighborhood at giant. The city of roughly 3,500 residents could also be extra invested in its baseball, as its 9 state championships would attest, however as athletic director Rhett Jackson, who's a former coach of the soccer crew, stated, seeing the boys on the gridiron succeed often units the tone of a fantastic college 12 months, and the entire neighborhood can really feel the positivity.
“It’s wonderful what a very good soccer season can do to begin your college 12 months off,” Jackson stated. “It simply actually has had a optimistic influence on our faculty and the neighborhood at giant. The boys on our soccer crew come from all of the communities in our valley, and it truly is a synergistic sport that permeates all the program.”
The timing with which Gunnison Valley lastly began to see success oddly got here after the division’s choice in early August to commit because the seventh crew of Utah’s first 8-player soccer playoff bracket on the finish of this season. Satirically, if the playoffs began subsequent Friday, the Bulldogs could be taking part in within the 8-player bracket once they may have occupied the No. 2 spot within the 1A playoffs.
The Bulldogs certified to play 8-player soccer as a result of they'd been within the backside three of the RPI for 3 years straight, however Jackson’s impetus to go for 8-player ball wasn’t nearly competing. Somewhat, Gunnison Valley’s roster dimension of roughly 25 created a priority about depth, particularly after final 12 months’s crew with roughly 35-40 gamers handled so many accidents that many freshmen had been taking part in varsity by the ultimate recreation of the season.
“The chances of our key gamers, who all play each methods and on particular groups, having the ability to make it via a full season wholesome, it simply appeared on the time the proper choice to make,” Jackson stated.
The one 8-player recreation the Bulldogs have performed to this point this season turned out to be one in all their hardest video games, as they struggled early in Week 3 towards the Wealthy Rebels who had already performed a number of 8-player video games previous to the matchup. However, Gunnison Valley pulled it collectively within the second half with an unimaginable five-touchdown recreation by senior Bryson Sorensen, who ran within the fifth in extra time for the walk-off. Bryson is a three-year starter, one in all a small senior class that has performed its complete varsity expertise beneath King.
Brian Sorensen, Bryson’s dad, stated the crew has come collectively greater than they ever have, and for fogeys of these youngsters, dad and mom who've seen their youngsters lose over and over, the happiness is palpable.
“I don’t know tips on how to describe it, to be sincere,” Brian stated. “It’s a proud second…As a father or mother, you get behind them and caught up in the identical feelings with them. It’s simply an honor, greater than something, to have the ability to share that with a child.”
Key gamers for Gunnison Valley have fueled an exceptionally good offense this 12 months. After fielding the lowest-scoring offense in 1A final season, the Bulldogs are averaging 34.5 factors per recreation, second-best in 1A and top-20 within the state. Sorensen and fellow senior Tyrek Hopkins have mixed for 11 speeding touchdowns, and junior quarterback Tyson Tucker already has 10 passing touchdowns to solely two interceptions, extra scoring throws in a season than some other quarterback in King’s tenure.
The Bulldogs have lots extra soccer to play, significantly with a troublesome highway matchup towards Duchesne this coming Friday. For the reason that crew has opted to not play its recreation towards Layton Christian, Jackson stated, the Bulldogs will wrap up their area slate with North Summit. Then, they basically have a costume rehearsal towards Water Canyon within the ultimate week, taking part in their second 8-player recreation of the 12 months earlier than moving into the playoffs, the place they’ll be a heavy favourite to win all of it,
Gunnison Valley’s capacity to contend is in no small half due to what King identified as the most recent ingredient in Gunnison Valley’s recipe for achievement.
“Greater than something, you’re seeing the facility of hope.”