Alta erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit on Friday, Aug. 14, scoring 14 unanswered points to beat Springville 38-35 in the season opener at Alta High School in Sandy.

The Hawks, picked as 5.4-point underdogs by Noland Parry's Power Guide, trailed 35-24 entering the final period after Springville erupted for 28 points in the third quarter. What followed was the kind of finish that had Alta's student section singing goodbye to the visiting Red Devils as the clock hit zero.

Senior running back Lucas Pagel cut the lead to 35-31 with a 9-yard touchdown run at the 9:36 mark. Moments later, junior defensive back Bronson Schriever picked off a Springville pass and gave the offense the ball back with momentum fully flipped.

Alta's game-winning drive covered 37 yards on eight plays: seven runs, one pass. Senior running back Treven Cooke punched it in from 6 yards out with just under 3½ minutes remaining. Springville turned the ball over on downs in the final minutes, and the Hawks ran out the clock.

"I was just telling them, 'We just need to settle down,'" third-year head coach Blake Burdette said of his message after the disastrous third quarter, according to the Deseret News. "What's happened in the past is mistakes compound each other and then our body language gets bad, so I was just letting them know we just got to go to the next play."

The first half belonged to Alta. The Hawks blocked a Springville punt and recovered it for a touchdown, and senior quarterback Xavier Cocci connected with senior wide receiver Breck Warren on a 22-yard scoring strike to build a 17-7 halftime lead.

Cocci, a 2025 Deseret News 4A First Team All-State selection who transferred from Skyline this offseason, made his Alta debut after throwing for 3,846 yards and 52 total touchdowns at his former school last fall.

Springville's third-quarter explosion mirrored last year's opener, when the Red Devils scored three of their four touchdowns in a single quarter to beat Alta. This time, the Hawks had an answer.

Burdette acknowledged the win was messy. He told reporters his initial thoughts were that the team has "a lot to clean up" but added he was "proud of the fight of the boys."

The victory is a statement for a program that went 4-8 in 2025 and finished fifth in Region 6. Alta was picked as an underdog heading into the season, but the fourth-quarter rally showed a resilience the roster lacked a year ago.

Alta hosts Bingham on Thursday, Aug. 20, at 7 p.m. Bingham enters at 0-1 after falling to Farmington 14-11 in its opener Friday, Aug. 14.