Published: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011 11:57 p.m. MST
By James Edward, Deseret News
| With Hurricane coach Chris Homer, you never have to guess what's going through his head. He's not one for a lot of coach speak, he tells it like its.
When Hurricane lost in the 3A title game to Juan Diego on the final play last year — for the third straight year no less — Homer simply said, "It's literally unbelievable that it happened again. But it happened and it's just so hard."
Three months earlier when he was recounting the previous year's loss on a "Hail Mary" to Juan Diego, Homer said, "it hurt and it sucked."
"There's a few things in my head. It's like 'Why, why, why?' Did I do all the right things? There's always things you could've changed and wish you'd done different."
On the eve of a fourth straight championship game appearance at Rice-Eccles Stadium, Homer admits it's weird not to be preparing for Juan Diego. Nonetheless, he's as stressed and anxious as ever.
The prospect of losing a fourth straight championship game is terrifying.
"I don't want to be that coach. Our success is probably as good as anyone in the state the last four years, but at the same time if you go 0-4 in the finals, that can do some weird things in your head," said Homer.
Homer said he visualizes the three previous title game losses all the time.
In 2008, Hurricane tied the game at 18-18 on a touchdown with 50.7 seconds remaining, but a 55-yard pass completion set up Juan Diego with first-and-goal from the 2 with 15 seconds remaining. The Soaring Eagle booted the game-winning field goal with 3.2 left on the clock.
In 2009, Hurricane took a 10-6 lead with 45.7 seconds remaining on an Adam Long 9-yard TD run. Improbably though, Juan Diego drove 80 yards on four completions, including a Cody Stevenson to Bruce Nix 31-yard "Hail Mary" in the corner of the end zone on the final play of the game.
Last year, with the game tied at 7-7 with 7:10 remaining, Juan Diego began its final drive at its own 7-yard line, and 18 plays later Skyler Doran kicked a 20-yard field goal as time expired.
The final score of Juan Diego's three victories was 21-18, 12-10 and 10-7.
"It's definitely something that's talked about on a regular basis," said Homer. "But we try and help the kids with the fact that history is truly history. We try and help these kids with what they can do."
The fact coach Homer has led Hurricane to three straight state championship games despite losing the previous year's title game on the final play each time is almost more impressive than if the Tigers had actually won one of those three games.
Despite a 47-7 record over the past three years, nobody associates the Hurricane program with greatness.
"The success is almost overshadowed by those close, intense, heartbreaking losses," said Homer.
Weston Yardley, who scored Hurricane's only touchdown in last year's loss to Juan Diego, believes there's always been a feeling around the program that this year would be different.
"It's a new team this year. We knew there was something special about our group. All year we've had a good time as seniors and as a team," said Yardley. "We're confident we can put the past behind and get it done this year."
Hurricane beat Desert Hills 35-8 back in Week 9 this year, so odds are good this is the year the Tigers get over the hump. |
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