Copper Hills football: Koehler feature

A few months ago, I interviewed Copper Hills (Utah) offensive lineman Spencer Koehler. He's a senior and had just ended his high school football career. We talked about the season, and all that he accomplished. Here is the article that will appear in this year's Copper Hills football yearbook.

Spencer
Koehler:

Early season success helped Grizz
create camaraderie and a lot of smiles

By Bruce Smith
Matchup

Spencer Koehler will remember the 2011 football season at Copper Hills very well.

As the Grizzlies’ offensive right tackle, he was also right in the middle of it all. He was also “only” 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, meaning he was outweighed by his opponent in almost every game. But he didn’t let that stop him.

“AF (American Fork) and Alta … those guys were a lot bigger than me,” he recalled. “But I was able to keep up with them speed-wise.”

In Koehler’s mind, he felt there were two particular times that made a big difference in the 2011 Copper Hills football season.

Ironically, the first came the day before the season opener. The varsity, of course, took on Taylorsville but the Warriors’ didn’t have enough players to field a junior varsity team. That forced Copper Hills to reschedule and they found 4A power Timpview available.

“We thought there was no way we would win,” Koehler said. “But we scored on a fumble return and stayed right with them. We had never been that good in football until that day.”

Koehler sometimes drew double-duty, and played varsity, too. After beating Taylorsville 27-18 in the opener, however, the Grizz started questioning themselves again after losing to Kearns, 31-0.

Koehler said the offense was anxious to prove the opener was no fluke when they took the field the next time.

“We took the old Copper Hills mentality and threw it out the window,” he said. “We executed better than we ever had before.”

On the game’s second play, quarterback Aaron Khan pitched the ball to Henry Kemp. Koehler and the rest of the offense went to work and, less than one minute into the game, Copper Hills led 7-0.

“I got a perfect cut (block) on my guy,” Koehler said. “I did my job like I was supposed to and Henry did the rest. He got to the corner and he’s really fast.”

That was the start of a memorable night for almost every Grizzly player. Copper Hills rushed for 286 yards, a season high and one of the best totals in years.

“Hillcrest stood in the same defense and we just overpowered them,” Koehler said. “That was my best game. The O-Line’s main goal was to get as many rushing touchdowns as we could.”

The Grizzlies’ early season success inspired the players, Koehler noted that the players seemed to get along all season. There was camaraderie and no fights among the players.

“Winning helped make everyone happy,” he said. “It was good to see coach Kai (Kapele) with a big smile on his face.”

It also fueled optimism throughout the Copper Hills student body. Koehler said while the players may have had some doubts, the students didn’t.

Fan support was high through much of the season. The fans, especially the student body, was hungry to see changes and it started at Taylorsville, where Koehler noted there were more Grizzly fans than the home team could field.

“It was pretty amazing, and there was always lots of school spirit,” he said.

That spirit continued during the winter, when Koehler and many other football players joined the student section at boys basketball games, which they called the “Grizzly Den.”