This article recaps a segment from The Rush's Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 episode. Watch the full show.
The Rush still celebrates region champions. "It's still a big deal to us," Andy said, even though the RPI-based seeding has diminished titles a bit. So he went through every region and compared the results with the coaches' preseason predictions. The coaches got the champion right in 12 of 18 regions. "Pretty dang good," Andy said.
Where the coaches nailed it
Region 1 was perfect. The coaches picked Davis, Syracuse, Farmington, Weber and Layton in that order, "and that's exactly how it went," Andy said. They also had it right with West in Region 4 (6-0), Box Elder in Region 5, Orem in Region 7, Provo in Region 8, Skyline in Region 10, Ridgeline in Region 11, Summit Academy in 2A North, San Juan in 2A South, Kanab in 1A South and Rich in 8-man. The 8-man top three of Rich, Milford and Monticello came in exactly as predicted.
Hurricane, the unanimous pick in Region 9, ended up as a tri-champion with Crimson Cliffs and Snow Canyon. Snow Canyon was picked to finish tied for third.
Where they missed
Mountain Ridge went undefeated to win Region 2 after the coaches picked Herriman. In Region 3, everyone had Corner Canyon first, but Skyridge went 4-0 and Corner Canyon finished 3-1. Duchesne went unbeaten in 1A North after North Summit was the preseason pick.
The biggest miss was Region 6. Olympus was picked to win it and Bountiful was picked to tie for fourth. The Redhawks went 5-0 instead. "This was the biggest whiff, I think, of any of the region predictions," Andy said. "A lot of close games they won." That includes a two-point conversion win over Alta, which Judd Thompson broke down last week.
In 3A North, Morgan was the pick, but Logan finished 5-0 and Morgan finished second. "Everybody in the state missed it," Andy said. "Morgan was the team in 3A this year until something wild happens in Logan." In 3A South, Cedar was picked first, but Juab went 6-0. "Defense wins championships. Run games win championships," Andy said.
Other surprises
Hillcrest was picked sixth in Region 4 and finished second. West Field, picked third in Region 5, finished second after its upset of Fremont. Wasatch, picked third in Region 8, finished seventh. In 2A South, Delta finished second after the coaches picked Emery.