Like it or not, Uintah High School is moving from 4A to 5A next school year. Every two years, the Utah High School Activities Association goes through a classification process of high schools, a process that Ute head football coach Justin Decol says has more to do with student body enrollment than anything else. While Uintah will likely be the only rural high school in 5A, Uintah High School’s enrollment numbers continue to grow and it now has over 1,600 students. That fact alone places Uintah High School in the 5A classification for at least 2 years starting this fall. “We tell our players wherever we are asked to play we are going to compete but one misconception is we choose to be 5A,” explains Decol. “We don’t choose to be 5A. UHSAA makes that decision…There really isn’t any appeal…So we can either take it and accept the challenge or we can continue to be pushed around by it.” Decol says the players are working hard and will meet the challenge as best as they can just like all the programs will do.
