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Show 1. ) DECEMBER 30, 1982 Four Of States Finest Clustered In View from the trenches Region One for bulwarks anchoring BYU's defensive line, Brandon Flint kept an exculsive diary for the Leader of events and feelings as the Keith Duncan Leader a hero the Layton Lancer state football team, and now one of the First Sports Cougars prepared for the Holiday Don't be surprised if on February 28th you find four of the state's finest prep basket-bul- l teams coming from region one and biting at the bit for a taste of glory in the annual state Bowl. see next page 4-- basketball tournament. Don't be surprised either if on the following Saturday night, you find these same four teams ranking two, three, for and five. Bountiful will likely be the first place team in the state, but region one conies in right behind with some e'ceptional talent themselves. he league is loaded this winter. From top to bottom every squad will be competitve and capable of winning the league. Dunne the every Region One 'quad polled a winning record and had some impress, .e victories under their belts. Weber iiounceo Bountiful in the first half of that contest. hut finally tell to a valiant Brave come back in he second. SECTION I pre-seas- Out And Out Warfare Roy won the Box Elder Tournament with some impressive victories. Bonneville, when in high gear, was unbeatable as Davis High found out. Sky View topped Bonneville in preseason. Layton trounced East, West, Cotton-ood and a number of other ferocious foes and last, but not least, Clearfield went 3 before the Christmas break with distinctive victories over West, Ogden and American Fork. From week to week, these six schools will stage some battles that will probably be classed as warfare. Last season the final state rankings saw Roy in fourth place, Clearfield in fifth and Bonneville in sixth. This season will be even better when the dust finally settles. Falcon Basketball down on the couch, never to get up on my feet again. The adrenalin in my body just went flat," the father reported. IN RECENT months Mr. Jensen's condition has continued to improve in areas such as his mental capacity and his digestive system. Despite his condition he is carefully assisted to Matt's games where his heart becomes full with the success his healthy son enjoys. "The thing 1 appreciate about Matt, the biggest thing of all, is the fact he stuck with athletics. He would come in on several occasions, very disappointed and asking me if he should quit. I told him he didn't want to be a quitter, but always left the decision up to him. 6-- A Mighty Tribute To Him Region One wars begin on January 7th with Weber visiting Clearfield, Sky View invading Layton and Roy and Bonneville squaring off in one of their battles. The next week finds Clearfield traveling to Bonneville, Layton on the road to Weber and Roy getting set for another meeting with Sky View. On January 21st, a game of local interest will put the Clearfield Falcons against the Layton Lancers. This featured contest ought to be a Doug Moon, the veteran coach at has commented, When we play Layton, Clearfield probably don't sleep well for a week and a half before the game. Nearly every coach in the region felt that w inning at home was the key to having a winning record and getting into the playoffs. Without winning at least all your home games, with maybe the exception of one, a team will have a hard time trying to make the playoffs," commented Moon. Layton would appear at this time to have a clear-cu- t edge inexperience coming back. Three of their starters this year were starters most of last season while their other two starting people saw plenty of varsity action last year too. jim-dand- y. 1 Lancers Not There Yet But the Lancers are still no where Coach Moon wants them to be. They fell to both Woods Cross and Brighton in which just happen to be two very good prep teams themsevles. It's the opinion of many that if another couple of teams come ready to play, the Lancers could find themselves in a losing situation. But on the other hand, if Brad Merrill. Keith Williams and Brett Campbell starts producing like they're capable of doing, the Lancers could very well glide through the league without a defeat, maybe one loss to Clearfield at the most. The fine individual talent that stalks Region One is another issue in itself. The state doesn't have any finer than in players like Bonneville's Sie Moore. Clearfield's Mark Wilson, Roy's Reid Newey and Layton's Keith Williams. All of these players will be at or near the top in scoring, rebounding, assists and a area of leadership. And talk about coaching experience. When Con-oilyou put Roy's Ted Smith. Weber's Dick and Layton's Doug Moon together, it would take an aircraft carrier to load all the knowledge they know about the game. All are masters of the game. Conolly is the only one of the three to have won a state championship, but the others have come extremely close. The final conclusion is that there won't be many places on Friday night, that will be more exciting than finding a seat in one of the Region One basketball gymnasiums. Inexperience nearly kept Matt Jensen front the Falcon basketball roster, but exhibiting some of the ambition of his lather Don, Matt has become the leading rebounder. Pursuaded To Coach al Predictions but when DAVIS IS struggling in was the last time the Darts had a winning preseason. Mike Gardner always brings his club along slowly but just in time to battle in league all their games by play. The Darts will stay in coaches always the and can any means they to do it. a with come to way seem up n HE STAYED with things and it's a mighty tribute to him. His greatest problem has been lack of experience and that can discourage anyone," said Mr. Jensen. Matt commented further, When my dad comes to my games 1 know I play better. He's been the one that has kept me going through all of this, hes the bottom line to all my success." MATT IS the second to the youngest of eight boys in the Jensen clan. He also has four sisters, three of which are older than he. Jim and David both played football at Clear-- , field High and both were football guards, Jim having played while his dad coached the Falcons. The other brothers include Daniel, Clifford, Russell, Jense, tnen Matt and Larry who is a sophomore at Clearfield. Sharon, Julie, Susan and Jennifer are his sisters. PERHAPS the reason Matt never suited up in football gear for a couple of years was his size, but the two years between his sophomore and senior years took care of that. As his senior year of football progressed, Matt continually improved until he earned himself a starting role. As his father stated, always an observer from the sideline, Despite a lack of fundamentals, Matt had a lot of desire and natural sense for football. You usually dont go out and play a good defensive tackle position unless you've got a little experience, but I thought Matt did a pretty good job. Having seen most of his games, 1 considered Matt one of the hardest hitters they had." MR. JENSEN said many similarities exist with Matt and the growth structure he experienced as a youth. When Matt returns from his mission (he intends to spend 18 months on an LDS mission), it wouldn't surprise me if he weighed 220 pounds, said the father. Mr. Jensen has always had a love for athletics but admits that his sons have always made their own decisions whether to play or not. Around holiday season time, it's not uncommon to find all the boys huddled around the T.V. basking in a college bowl game. As Mr. Jensen stated, We've had some pretty fun times together. Hes A Pleasant Surprise By KEITH DUNCAN Journal Sports CLEARFIELD - Matt Jensen has visions of becoming a lean, smooth thoroughbred with his athletic skills, but like any young colt, only time and experience will tell the story. -- ONCE A frisky young thing as a sophomore at all. Jensen has with virtually no know-hohas netted some that two race or won a lately valuable confidence. The Clearfield High senior played football for the first time in three years this past fall, making improvements at a tough defensive tackle position that amazed everyone from his father, a former football coach himself, to a few junior college scouts along the way. NOW MATT has shed the pads for a pair of sneakers and some trunks and is doing his thing for Craig Hansen and the Falcon's basketball team. Too inexperienced and perhaps too fris ky are a couple of reasons Jensen almost didn't make the '82-8- 3 roster, but oh how the guy has improved. After nine games, and some tough opposition to boot, Jensen has surprised himself and everyone else and is the leading rebounder on Hansen's rebounding minded club. JENSEN, who as a sophomore stood 7 and weighed in at 150 pounds, now measures 3 and weighs in over 180. His quick growth in two years is one good reason his athletic career continues to march on. Ive always had the knack of getting around people for rebounds, said Jensen as he sat next to his father Don who listened in wheelchair. For too long Ive been behind in fundamentals having never played much. But rebounding has always been something I could do well and I try extra hard at it. n 5-- beginning. 1 didn't know Fd start until just a couple days before the first game. In fact after I read that Jeff Parry might start in the paper, I had serious thoughts of spending some time on the bench, said the Clearfield senior. Matt's escalation of success in athletics has touched more hearts than one. Take for instance Don, the father of Matt and eleven other children. This becomes a story within itself. 6-- JENSEN HAS been a regular from day one, but he had no idea it would be that way in the MR. JENSEN was once an active thoroughbred himself, having played three outstanding seasons of football at East High in Salt Lake City and four more at the University of Utah. He later made a tough decision to enter the coaching ranks and eventually became the head football coach at the same school Matt now performs at. But never knowing how to slow down, Don worked himself into a crippling situation which has confined him to a wheelchair. I felt like a bull, like I could do everything and do it all at once. Then one day I came home and plopped DON LEFT General Motors to come back to the University of Utah to continue his schooling and that's when he was pursuaded by Tiny Grant and others to enter the coaching ranks. At first I had a tough time making the decision, mainly from a financial point of view. I had a large family and money in coaching and teaching isn't much, but I entered it anyway. THE FIRST year I coached basketball at North Davis Junior where we lost only one game. After school I'd go up to the high school to assist Grant with the defensive squad. Soon after that Jensen found himself teaching and coaching fulltime at Clearfield. Before he left coaching, he had been head coach of the Falcons for three years. MR. JENSEN is impressed with the '82-8- 3 Falcon basketball team and would like to see them enter the state tournament. Theyve got the tools, that Mark Wilson kid is one of the finest shooters Ive ever seen, he said. Matt is confident about the team too. All the players are winners. Some of us can score well, others can rebound and others play defense real well, but all of us are capable of putting all aspects together. The juniors coming off the bench also gives us a big boost too. I THINK we can get it done this year, concluded Matt. |