4A Championship Preview

<!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Overview</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#4 seed Mica Mountain takes on the #2 seeded AZ College Prep in the 4A State Championship at Mountain America Stadium on Friday night. On paper, this is about the most even matchup you'll ever see at the 4A level, as both teams have steamrolled through the majority of their opponents, clearly establishing themselves in a different tier than everyone else here in 2024. Mica Mountain finished 10-0, while AZ College Prep finished 9-1, with their only loss coming against an out of state team. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mica Mountain </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Mica Mountain has been unbelievably impressive throughout this 2024 season, and what stands out to me is that defense. In the regular season, they omly allowed 33 total points, and no, that is not a typo. The most points scored against them in the regular season was week 1 vs Poston Butte where they surrendered just 8. The kid that brings the juice and makes that defense roll through everyone is DE [player_tooltip player_id='954323' first='Jimmy' last='Leon'], who has recorded 16 sacks, 62 total tackles, 22.5 TFL's, and 2 INT's. Offensively, the ball security and decision making from Sr. QB [player_tooltip player_id='704786' first='Jayden' last='Thoreson'] has been extremely impressive, throwing for 26 TD's and just 2 INT's, as I had him projected to be a breakout player in the preseason- needless to say he answered the bell. Again, this matchup is not by coincidence as two of the best coached, most talented teams in 4A meet in the Championship. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Mica Mountain players to watch:</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='954323' first='Jimmy' last='Leon'], DE '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='704786' first='Jayden' last='Thoreson'], QB '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Josiah Thornwell, RB '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Broden Schmidt, LB '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Riley Carson, ATH '26<img class="wp-image-1531761" style="width: 300px" src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/06/PRZGeneric-4-crop-823x540-1708307905-crop-640x421-1713141527-crop-639x420-1718062327-crop-574x377-1728221890-crop-570x374-1729129293.jpg" alt=""></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">AZ College Prep </h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As mentioned before, ACP and Mica Mountain are clearly the most well rounded, talented, and best coached teams in 4A throughout this 2024 season, as ACP posted a 9-1 regular season. That only loss came against Indiana based Crown Point. This Knights offense is super explosive and has frequently shown that ability to core on command, as they're not a team you'd want to get into a shootout with. Last week, they hung up 59 points on a stout Snowflake defense who's been excellent all year, as the most points an opponent scored on Snowflake prior to ACP was 27. As I continue to mention the similarities, ACP QB [player_tooltip player_id='1587252' first='Evan' last='Heinrich'] has played lights out all year and has impressed with his decision making and ball security as well, throwing for over 2,300 yards, 30 TD's and just 1 pick. That WR core runs deep at ACP as well, as they have numerous kids that can beat you down the field vertically or in space. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>ACP players to watch: </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1587252' first='Evan' last='Heinrich'], QB '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cole Perham, OL '25</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cam Mitchell, LB '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Max Sasso, RB '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1682322' first='Ashton' last='Sanchez'], WR '26</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->