The grueling regular season is over, and now local high school football teams are preparing for the all-important postseason. 

It’s win or the season is over for Bountiful, Viewmont and Woods Cross. 

Bountiful

The defending Class 5A champions had a lot of firepower to replace this season, and it showed early on. Bountiful started 2-4 but ended the regular season with three wins in its final four games to end with a 5-5 record. In Region 5, the Redhawks went 3-2. 

In the 5A state tournament, Bountiful secured the No. 9 seed and will host Clearfield on Oct. 24. The two schools previously played in Region 5 together before realignments sent the Redhawks to Region 6 this season. The winner of that game will play at West Jordan on Oct. 31 in round 2. 

Bountiful is led by head coach Jason Freckleton, who has a 50-22 record at the school. The Redhawks got 1,250 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns during the regular season from Siaki Fekitoa. Junior quarterback Hudson Malmrose threw for 1,418 yards while completing 67% of his passes. Fekitoa and Max Feller each had 25 catches to pace the team, while Lakepa Satuala led the way with 316 receiving yards on 20 catches. Dawson Allsop has been a solid defender, tallying a team-high 88 tackles through 10 games. 

Viewmont

The Vikings went winless in five region contests after a 4-1 record in non-region games. Viewmont is seeded 22nd in the playoffs and plays at Westfield on Oct. 24. 

Viewmont’s regular-season finale didn’t go so well for the team, as it fell 43-8 to Woods Cross. The Vikings didn’t get on the board until there were fewer than three minutes left in the contest. Jack Savage connected with Brady Clegg on a 65-yard touchdown pass for the Vikings’ lone score of the game. 

If Viewmont upsets Westfield in the first round on Friday, it will take on sixth-seeded Box Elder on Oct. 31. The former Region 5 rivals have a long history together. 

This season, Viewmont’s top rusher is senior Benji Tolman, who trotted the ball 144 times for 840 yards and five scores during the regular season. Savage, a senior quarterback, threw 28 touchdowns and had nearly 2,200 yards passing. Senior Jayson Dunroe was his top target, catching 47 passes for 700 yards and 10 touchdowns. Rayden David paced the defense with 76 tackles. 

Woods Cross

The Wildcats won’t have a first-round playoff game – and that’s a good thing. 

By earning the No. 5 seed, Woods Cross secured a first-round bye and will play a second-round home game on Halloween afternoon against the winner of Olympus and Cyprus. The Wildcats already faced Olympus once this season, prevailing at home 40-7 on Oct. 9. 

The Wildcats have a 7-3 record overall entering the state tournament. Most notably, Woods Cross won Region 6 in its first year in the league, winning four of its five region games. Its only loss was a 28-21 setback to Brighton on Oct. 3. 

Plenty of players have contributed to the Wildcats’ strong season. 

Running back Viliami Tapa’atoutai, a senior, picked right up where he left off after a stellar junior campaign. He led the team in rushing with 1,382 yards and added 16 touchdowns on the ground. Wood Cross features a run-first offense, so the passing game didn’t amass a lot of yardage. Still, Jesse Simmons threw 11 touchdown passes and had 787 yards through the air in the regular season. Hayden Thorne was everywhere on defense, racking up 102 tackles and picking up three sacks. Wyatt Hunter had three interceptions.