By Greg James | [email protected] 

The summer is almost over, and high school football season is set to begin. West Jordan and Copper Hills are prepared and ready to go.

The Grizzlies and Jaguars now find themselves in the same region as rivals and competitors.

The realignment takes effect this fall. Region 3 was reorganized to include West Jordan and Copper Hills, along with Herriman, Binghan, Riverton and Mountain Ridge. The Jordan School District teams will face off as neighboring schools. 

Head-to-head, West Jordan has beaten Copper Hills 24 times with only one loss (in 2013).

The Grizzlies have a young team with several positions to fill. 

Last season, they split time at quarterback between senior Brady Wardle and now-graduated Tommy Peake. The summer battle for playing time could help them improve offensively, they only scored 11.5 points per game while allowing 24.6. 

Senior Rylan Reed returns this season with the most experience in the backfield. He ran for two touchdowns and over 220 yards last year.

Copper Hills finished with a 4-6 overall season record. They did advance to the second round of the state tournament because of a COVID-19 outbreak at Fremont.

West Jordan enters the season with a new head coach. Ron Halbert took over earlier this spring. He had been an assistant at the school for the past two seasons and had been a part of the staff beginning in 1989.

This will be Halbert's 34th season coaching high school football. 

The Jaguars finished last season with a 3-7 record and lost in the first round of the state tournament to Herriman 29-15.

Senior Boston Farmer returns at quarterback for the Jaguars. As a two-year starter he has thrown for 23 career touchdowns and almost 3,000 yards. He also ran for another nine scores.

“[Farmer] will be an important part of this team,” new offensive coordinator Mike Simpkins said. “We have a lot of kids returning and are very fortunate to be in this situation. We want to build a dynasty.”

Halbert pointed out the strength of the team even before summer workouts began.

“We are going to be strong in the offensive and defensive line,” Halbert said. “Most of all, I want them to work hard in the classroom, prepare hard for the game and become good husbands, fathers, mothers and wives.”

This will be the Jaguars 40th football season. They advanced to the state semifinals in 2005 and lost to Skyline 33-3. Their first game this season will be the school's 400th. They have won 166 games.