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East High's vaunted triple-option offense has the Leopards among top teams in the nation in rushing yards per game. But, heading into Friday's Class 4A championship game vs. Springville, a key component of East's offense is up in the air.

Starting quarterback Ben Ford went down early in the second half of last Friday's 64-13 semifinal win against Maple Mountain with a dislocated elbow. It remains to be seen whether Ford can go against the Red Devils, or if Nic Harris (who replaced him vs. the Eagles) or Ian Selin (who started the season's first two games) will get the call instead.

Shouldn't matter, right? The Leopards barely bother to throw anyway. Except that Ford's best attribute is not his arm, but his brain, as the East's offense really took off this season with him making the option reads.

So, two days from the title game, coach Brandon Matich has an important decision to make before the Leopards take the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium in an attempt to repeat as 4A champions.

"Regardless of who is there, we expect them to do a job and not have any drop-off," Matich said. "Will there be jitters? Absolutely. But there's going to be jitters on all 10 other guys that are on the field with him; that's just natural for a state championship game."

While Matich remained mum on who has the inside track for the starting job, he did make a case for all three.

The best-case scenario for East would be for Ford to return to his role as the engineer of the Leopards' offense. After revealing that he dislocated his elbow in the 4A semifinal, Ford was unable to take to the practice field Monday. While his chances of playing Friday remain slim, Matich refused to rule out an appearance from his junior leader.

"A lot of our decision is predicated on how Ben feels," Matich said. "There's no structural damage — he went and got it checked out and there is no surgery needed. If he feels good in a brace, then he's going."

Selin, a senior, started at quarterback for East's first game against Syracuse and for the first half of their next game against Orem, but was replaced by Ford in the second half after struggling to move the offense. But, thanks to continued reps, Matich said that Selin has gained a better understanding of the complex triple-option and that his speed "adds another element" to the offense.

After Selin suffered some injuries during the heart of the season, Harris became Ford's primary backup.

"Nic has been with us for three years and he understands the offense and the reads," Matich said. "He runs the option very well. He's bigger than Ben, but to me there are a lot of similarities between the two. Either guy is very ready, so we're going to have to make a big decision Thursday."

While the cog in the machine might change, Matich doesn't expect to see much difference in the way his offense operates.

"Nic or Ian can come in and have 100 yards rushing and they can both throw the football very well," he said. "We may gain some ground in the passing game, but at the end of the day, the offense is going to run the same way it has all year. I'm not going to adjust who we are. We're going to run our stuff and the expectation is that the quarterbacks are skilled enough and practiced enough to go in and get the job done." —

East's QB quandary

• Starter Ben Ford suffered a dislocated elbow in the third quarter of last Friday's semifinal win vs. Maple Mountain and is a long shot to play in the title game.

• Nic Harris, who became Ford's primary backup during the season, replaced him to finish off the win vs. the Golden Eagles.

• Senior Ian Selin, who started the first two games of the season, has been splitting first-team reps with Harris this week.

East vs. Springville

P Class 4A Championship, at Rice-Eccles Stadium

• Friday, 6:30 p.m.