Alta's football season ended Friday, Nov. 6, when No. 14 seed Woods Cross beat the Hawks 31-24 in a 5A quarterfinal at Alta.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead. Alta scored 17 fourth-quarter points but ran out of time, finishing the year after reaching the quarterfinals for the first time since 2023 under third-year head coach Blake Burdette.

Woods Cross capitalized on an Alta fumble on the Hawks' opening drive. Kicker Archer Gale converted a 26-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Quarterback Tage Ita then hit Graham MacLennan on an 8-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter to make it 10-0.

Ita rushed in from seven yards out early in the second quarter to push the lead to 17-0.

Alta's Treven Cooke answered with a 7-yard rushing touchdown, and Madden McCallister added the extra point to cut it to 17-7 with 6:17 left in the half. But a costly encroachment penalty on the next drive turned a fourth-and-long into fourth-and-inches. Ita converted, then scored from close range to send Woods Cross into halftime up 24-7.

The Wildcats added a third-quarter touchdown to lead 31-7, as first reported by the Deseret News. The source did not identify who scored.

That's when Alta woke up.

Xavier Cocci, who transferred to Alta from Skyline before this season, found Lucas Pagel for a 4-yard touchdown pass. The two-point conversion failed, leaving it 31-13. The Hawks forced a fumble on the next Woods Cross drive, and Cocci ran one yard for a score. This time Alta converted the two-point try, cutting the deficit to 31-21 with 8:38 left.

Alta recovered an onside kick but came up two yards short on a fourth-and-22 pass. McCallister drilled a 25-yard field goal with 3:12 remaining to make it 31-24. The Hawks couldn't recover a second onside kick, and Woods Cross sealed the win with two first downs.

"I think that we got a little bit complacent there in the second half being up as much as we were, but credit to them," Woods Cross head coach Brody Benson told the Deseret News. "That's a great football team."

Woods Cross entered the playoffs with a losing record after a difficult regular season. The two teams had met Sept. 25 in Region 6 play, with Alta winning 27-21.

Burdette's Hawks entered the game on a three-game winning streak, including a 37-7 rout of Hillcrest in the first round. Alta's defense had allowed 17.8 points per game during the regular season, seventh in 5A, according to the Deseret News quarterfinal preview.

Woods Cross advances to face No. 2 seed Orem at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday, Nov. 13, at 2:30 p.m., according to KSL.