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Sandy • After losing its first game of the season to Copper Hills on Tuesday, Alta had plenty to prove in the Hawks' Region 3 finale against archrival Brighton.
Top-ranked Alta survived an early scare when the Bengals' Ben Fankhauser nearly scored, and they went on to take a surprisingly lopsided 3-0 win, the league championship and top seed in the upcoming state tournament.
"Tuesday gave us the idea that we have to play every game," said veteran Hawk coach Lee Mitchell, whose boys' team last won the state title in 2011. "Plus, Brighton is Brighton. If you can't get up for this game, you don't deserve to play."
Fankhauser had Brighton's fans on their feet when he missed a shot that was barely deflected by leaping Alta goalie Alex Johnson. In fact, the Bengals were the aggressors early.
But then Bryson Colemere scored Alta's first goal about 25 minutes into the first half and the Hawks seemed to gain confidence.
Colemere, Daniel Tree and Christian Bain — who scored Alta's other two goals — said that losing their first game earlier in the week focused the team as it prepares for what it hopes will be a long run in the Class 5A tournament that starts next week.
Colemere also credited the impressive victory to a pregame speech by Michael Porter from last year's team and the loss earlier in the week.
"It was just a good game," Colemere said. "We came off a depressing loss. We came together and got pumped up and won the game. Everybody worked really hard."
This was Alta's ninth shutout of the season, mostly behind a stout defense and the goalkeeping play of Johnson.
Considering the 0-0 double overtime tie these schools played to earlier in the season, it looked as though this one would be low-scoring as well.
It took the Hawks just under 26 minutes for Colemere to score on a nice toss in from Elliott Smith. But that seemed to open up the gates a bit before a large crowd on the Alta field.
Six minutes later, Tree put the ball into the net from just past the left side, giving Alta a 2-0 lead they took into halftime.
When Bain scored the third goal nearly 35 minutes into the second half, Alta knew it had a win over its rival, a region title and the top seed.
Twitter @tribtomwharton —
Alta 3, Brighton 0
R Goalkeeper Alex Johnson helps top-ranked Alta get its ninth shutout of the season.
• Bryson Colemere, Daniel Tree and Christian Bain score goals for Alta.
• The win gives the Hawks the Region 3 championship.