Alta's football program landed the biggest offseason upgrade in Region 6.
Senior quarterback Xavier Cocci, a 2025 Deseret News 4A First Team All-State selection at Skyline, has transferred to the Hawks for his final season. He brings 3,846 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns and 22 rushing touchdowns from last year, when he led Skyline to a 9-4 record and a 5-1 mark in Region 10 before a quarterfinal loss to Green Canyon.
That's 52 total touchdowns.
Third-year head coach Blake Burdette now has a proven dual-threat signal-caller to plug into a spread offense that returns five starters, including senior linemen Justin Hopkins and Colter Fullwood, tight end Evan Eyink and running backs Treven Cooke and Lucas Pagel. Cocci's brother, Maximus Cocci, a Second Team All-State tight end at Skyline in 2025, transferred with him and adds another receiving target.
"We have a tough schedule ahead of us and will certainly be tested each week," Burdette told the Deseret News in the paper's Region 6 preview published Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Alta went 1-4 in region play in 2025 and finished fifth in the six-team league. The defense, which allowed 27.17 points per game (No. 17 in 5A), returns seven starters under coordinator Joe Tuha's 3-4 scheme. Senior linebackers Steven Tuha, Mason Clark and Eyink anchor that unit alongside defensive backs Ryland Clayton and Breck Warren and linemen David Thomason and Lisiate Fevaelaki. Those seven returning defenders are the most in Region 6.
Region 6 wide open
The preseason coaches poll slots Alta third behind Olympus and Woods Cross, but three different teams received first-place votes. Region 6 was one of only two regions statewide in 2025 where every team lost at least one game.
Olympus, the poll favorite, installed new head coach Casey Evans (a Titan alum and former defensive coordinator) after fielding the No. 4 scoring defense in 5A in 2025 at 15.83 points per game allowed. Woods Cross, ranked second, returns six starters on each side of the ball under sixth-year coach Brody Benson, whose program climbed from 0-10 in 2021 to 8-4 in 2025. Bountiful, the 2024 state champion that went 7-6 in 2025, brings back eight offensive starters.
Schedule ahead
Alta opens at home against Springville on Friday, Aug. 14, at 7 p.m., then hosts Bingham on Thursday, Aug. 20, before traveling to Granger on Friday, Aug. 28. A home date with Davis follows on Friday, Sept. 4. Region 6 play begins with a road trip to Woods Cross on Friday, Sept. 25.
