By Brian Shaw | [email protected]

If you asked anyone who was involved with the Cottonwood High School football program what was the most difficult obstacle to overcome, the unanimous answer would have been their schedule. 

In 2019, however, the Colts will see a number of changes to what was a brutal slate by anyone's account. Heading up the effort will be new head football coach Casey Miller, the team's offensive coordinator who was named to the position in April when Bart Bowen left for the same job at Logan High. 

What was once a region schedule riddled with teams like Alta, Brighton, Corner Canyon, Timpview and Jordan is now slightly less formidable as Cottonwood moves into Region 6 in Class 5A. The only holdover in the new region will be Brighton. 

"We're high on Casey and we think he'll do well here," Greg Southwick, Cottonwood's athletic director, said of the Colts' new head coach who enters uncharted territory. 

Aside from Brighton—who stays in the new reclassified Region 6—all the league members the Colts will welcome are new. 

Joining Cottonwood in this new region will be Highland and Hillcrest, Murray and Olympus and Skyline—a Salt Lake Valley lineup filled with schools located east of Interstate 15. 

Before the Colts embark on their new region journey, however, they'll entertain 3A state champion Summit Academy at home to open the preseason on Aug. 16. 

They'll follow that up with a trip to West—their first Class 5A opponent of 2019—on Aug. 23. Cottonwood will then travel to Copper Hills to wrap up its preseason slate on Aug. 31. 

After that it all starts to count for the Colts as they host Skyline on Sept. 6 to begin play in this new and exciting region.