Prep Beat
St. Louis to
By Pat Bigold
play in Utah
Star-BulletinThe St. Louis football team will play on the mainland again this summer.
Less than a year after the school admitted players damaged rooms, drank and partied with strippers at a Las Vegas hotel on the program's first trip, the team will fly to Utah for a preseason game on Aug. 28.
St. Louis will meet West High School of Salt Lake City at Rice-Eccles Stadium, the home field of the Utah Utes.
Although St. Louis has not responded to numerous inquiries about the trip, West High head varsity coach Sam Aloia confirmed by phone that he and Crusaders head coach Cal Lee have booked the game.
"He's making arrangements for 120 people," said Aloia. "He's taking the whole team, coaches and trainers."
A spokesperson at the Deseret Inn, where the team had originally tried to book, said that the size of the group and the team's conduct history raise concerns.
The hotel spokesperson said she has not heard back from St. Louis after informing them through Aloia that the rates would be higher than expected.
Aloia said West High is located in the inner city, three blocks from the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz.
West High was 4-7 last season in the state's Region 5. It is a 4A school with 2,200 students.
The Panthers have never been nationally ranked, while St. Louis has been nationally ranked for at least part of each season for the last decade.
Aloia said he was surprised that Lee asked to play his little known team instead of a ranked program. But he said he was delighted to have the chance to take on a traditional powerhouse like the Crusaders.
"I know people are going to ask, 'Why you?' " said Aloia.
Last year's trip incident occurred in the wee hours of Sept. 6 at the World Trade Center Hotel in Las Vegas while Lee was out of the hotel. It resulted in the school suspending the football program for one game.
St. Louis had beaten unranked Green Valley High in Henderson, Nev., 55-6, just hours before the incident.
St. Louis has won the last 13 Prep Bowls and Lee holds the state career record for most prep football coaching victories.