John Renshaw
 The Hurricane Tigers offense gets plenty of publicity and deservedly so after averaging
a 3A best 41.1 points per game.

Yet don't discount the defense, which is only giving up 13.5 points per.

After an early stretch in the season where they surrendered 84 points in four games,
the Tigers have turned the corner. Only one team has been able to muster more than
eight points against the Region 9 champ in the last six games.

Things got even better for undefeated Hurricane after earning its first shutout of
the season with a 41-0 pounding of Grantsville in last week's 3A quarterfinals.

"We've had some close games this season, and some not so close," said lineman Kevin
Mortensen. "The adversity in the beginning of the season helped pull us together and
develop a true brotherhood on the field."

The average margin of victory for Hurricane entering this weekend's 3A semifinal
matchup with Spanish Fork is an impressive 27.6 points per game. The last time the
Tigers had a contest within 10 points was back on Sept. 9 against Cedar.

Mortensen said although Hurricane hasn't been in a close game for a while, he
believes they will respond if tested in this week's semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Against Grantsville, Hurricane's defense received big performances from Cameron
Hatanaka, who intercepted a pass and Jared Edwards' game-high 15 tackles.

Cedar

Led by the running of John Ursua and Hayden Bishop, Cedar has reeled off six
wins in its last seven games. With that, they booked a trip to this Friday's 3A semifinals
for the first time since 2004.

The offense is getting better each week and is averaging 30 points per game. The
defense, however, has had its ups and downs, averaging nearly 25 per.

Yet against Delta in last week's quarterfinals, the Reds' defensive unit put
forth a stellar effort and limited the Rabbits to just six points. Delta had delivered a
43-0 pounding of Ogden the week before.

Desert Hills

After bouncing back from adversity late in the regular season, the Thunder are back
to being the standout defensive unit they once were.

Desert Hills allowed just 86 yards and four first downs in the game's first 44 minutes
in last week's quarterfinal win over Stansbury. The Thunder led 6-0 at
halftime and pushed the lead to 20-0 before allowing Stansbury past midfield
late in the game.

Linebacker and leading tackler Peter Brown was injured on the first play of the game,
but returned and produced headaches for the Stansbury offense.

With the win, the 8-3 Thunder earned a trip to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time
and will play a familiar foe in Cedar, which beat Desert Hills 48-20 in late October. In
that contest, however, Thunder were without several starters.

Key Number: 121

The combined yardage of John Ursua's two touchdown runs during last week's
quarterfinal win over Delta. The Cedar quarterback had scampers of 72 and 49
yards to help lead the Reds' rout of the Rabbits.

Performer of the Week: Mike Needham he Desert Hills rushed for 133 yards on
20 carries with three touchdowns during last week's quarterfinal win over Stansbury.
 The veteran also pulled in two receptions for 21 yards.