3 and Out: Jarret Elmer, Salem Hills 'family' off to unprecedented 6-0 start

SALEM — The Skyhawks are in uncharted territory.

Junior quarterback Jarret Elmer threw for three touchdowns and scored another on a one-yard dive to lift Salem Hills to a 52-7 win over rival Spanish Fork on Friday night, giving the Skyhawks their first-ever 6-0 start in program history.

But Salem Hills (6-0, 2-0 Region 8) is only focused on one thing: being 1-0 this week.

And for six straight weeks, they've done just that.

"One of our things every week is going 1-0. We don't focus on anything in the future," said Elmer, a 14-touchdown passer overcame his second interception of the season to lead the Skyhawks to a rout Friday. "We only focus on being 1-0 this week. We only focus on the team this week. We don't focus on anything else. It feels great to be 6-0."

Behind a junior quarterback who also moonlights at catcher on the Salem Hills baseball team, the Skyhawks are off to the best start in school history. Since the campus opened in 2008, no football team been able to string together six wins to start a season.

It's not for a lack of talent, athletes, or community investment; the Skyhawks have been contenders for state titles in basketball, baseball and a host of other sports.

But in football? It just hasn’t clicked.

Until now.

"We're trying to turn this whole program around," said starting tackle John Nelson, whose older brother James led the Skyhawks to a 4A basketball title and currently plays at Dixie State. "It just feels like you're part of history when we're playing — and winning — every single game.

"We never had this before. We're trying to turn our school into a football school, into a blue-blood football school. We're trying to turn South Utah County into a football power in the state again."

Nelson, who has scholarship offers from BYU and Idaho State, also has a family legacy to live up to. His oldest brother won a state basketball title before the family moved to Utah from Idaho several years ago.

John Nelson gave up basketball after his sophomore season, claiming he wasn’t tall enough, or maybe quick enough, or maybe he didn't have a good enough jump shot. Whatever the case, he elected to focus on football.

So now he has to keep his family's run of titles in check, right?

Family is what the Skyhawks' football program is all about. That's why the team regularly attracts crowds of 4,000-plus on Friday nights, why the students stick around for up to an hour after every game to be with the players, and why the players all have the word "family" inscribed on the right leg of their uniforms.

For a football program that has never made it past the state quarterfinals — and the Skyhawks haven't been there since 2014 — Friday night's win over Spanish Fork was special. Not just for Elmer's three touchdown passes to glue-handed receivers like Reed Johnson and Austin Hallows or the two touchdown runs by senior Jordan Ware.

Friday night was another chapter in a historic season for Salem Hills — a journey the Skyhawks hope doesn't end until Rice-Eccles Stadium.

"I absolutely love these guys," said Elmer, a self-proclaimed mama's boy who moved to Salem from Payson before his freshman year. "These guys are some of my best friends, not only on the field but in school but off the field, no matter where we're at. These people are great."

Here are the other games that caught our attention in Week 6 of the Utah high school football season.

Second down:

Peterson helps Davis dart past Roy, take control of Region 1 race

Peter Stevenson caught two touchdown passes from Chance Trujillo and booted field goals of 19 and 43 yards to help the Darts past Roy, 34-20, for a 4-0 start to region play.

The win, combined with Syracuse’s 38-26 loss to rival Fremont, gave the Darts (4-2) a one-game lead over the Titans, Silverwolves and Weber with three games remaining.

Third down:

Call, Skyridge hold off American Fork in pivotal Region 4 contest

Emmett Call threw for two touchdowns and ran for another pair as the Falcons blitzed the Cavemen in the second quarter and held on for a 45-34 win in Region 4 play.

BYU commit Devin Downing caught two of his three touchdown passes from Maddux Madsen in the fourth quarter to help American Fork rally from a 38-14 deficit after three quarters before Skyridge held on.

Fourth down:

Pine View takes down Snow Canyon to remain unbeaten in Region 9

Izaiah Moten caught two of Macloud Crowton’s three touchdown passes to lift the Panthers to a 42-24 win over Snow Canyon and improve to 4-0 in region play.

Moten finished with 94 yards on five catches, including TD grabs of 17 and 10 yards, while adding a 99-yard kick return for a touchdown for Pine View, which hosts fellow unbeaten Dixie next Friday in what may be a de facto Region 9 championship game.

Overtime (literally):

A double-dose of free football down south

First some props for Parowan and Cedar City. The Rams and the Reds faced similar scenarios on Friday night: double overtime and a two-point conversion away from a victory. They could have played it safe and kicked the extra point — but they both went for it.

And now a salute to the Millard and Desert Hills defenses. Millard (6-0) stopped Parowan (2-3) on its two-point try to secure a 34-33 home win, while the Thunder (3-3) weren't fooled by a Cedar City (2-4) trick play and stopped the Reds for a 56-55 win in Cedar.

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