During the football season, senior Charger Doty could be found in the Bingham Miners’ secondary, looking for holes his defense could exploit. In a No. 0 jersey, his eyes would dart across the field and back. It was the senior’s job as safety and co-captain to bark out commands and respond if and when the opponents ventured across the line of scrimmage, into the teeth of the Miners defense. 

 Not only Doty but his teammates had to make to get to that point, but in Doty’s eyes it was all worth it. 

“We pushed through early mornings, grueling conditioning sessions and countless hours of film study together, building a bond that was truly unbreakable,” Doty said in an interview with City Journals. 

At 6-feet even and a stout 195 pounds, Doty was rewarded for all the hard work he’s put in not only for himself but for his team. This November, Utah State University extended an offer of an athletic scholarship to Doty to play football and attend school there. The good news is that Doty accepted and has committed, telling City Journals that he’s “excited” about beginning his next chapter in Logan. 

Doty’s first chapter in his book of life wasn’t too shabby either. 

In three years on Bingham’s varsity squad, Doty had 56 tackles and assisted on 40 more. He also had 10 pass deflections for the Miners and snared 10 interceptions, including four in his final year at the school. 

In the waning moments of Bingham’s showdown against rivals Herriman Friday Sept. 28, Doty had a chance to do something most only dream of. 

Doty had a bead on a pass down Bingham’s sideline, read the Herriman QB’s eyes all the way and caught the throw in stride. As Doty gathered himself for the road ahead, the Bingham senior bobbled the ball twice before reversing field and running at least 120 yards for the score. 

It was the first touchdown in three years on the varsity for Doty, capping a 21-0 victory over Herriman. For Doty, who hadn’t scored since he played Little League—in which he said he often scored TDs—he wasn’t even thinking about getting six points for his efforts. 

“All I was thinking is ‘I have to secure the ball and make sure we still get the ball to get our offense back on the field,’” Doty said to City Journals. “When I secured it and looked up, I saw that I had to make one guy miss and then I had a chance at scoring and I made the defender miss and saw all my teammates in front of me and that’s when I knew it was going to be a pick-six.” 

What’s more is that Bingham held an unbeaten record against its rivals in Doty’s senior season, going 3-0 against the likes of Herriman, Mountain Ridge and Riverton. Although the season ended early in the second round of the 6A state playoffs, Doty said he couldn’t help but be inspired by how his team came together under a new head coach in Josh Johnson. 

“Despite the ups and downs of the season and the record we finished with, there’s no other team I would have wanted to go through it with,” Doty said. “I’ve loved every moment of representing Bingham High School, wearing that name on my chest and the “B” on my helmet under the Friday night lights. The results weren’t what I had envisioned for my senior season, but being able to share it with the guys I’ve played with since I was 8 made it unforgettable.” 

To that end, former head coach Eric Jones had nothing but positives to say about Doty, who was also recruited by schools as far and wide as Dartmouth, Air Force, Iowa State and Washington State. 

“Charger is a great kid and D1 talent as well,” Jones said, who is now at West Field High School. “All-around good person and athlete.” 

Sometimes, simply showing good sportsmanship during a game says all we need to know about a student-athlete. 

With the Miners already ahead 15-0 early in the second quarter, Doty made a wise read in which he didn’t even need to tackle the Copper Hills player in order to assert his dominance—he simply bumped into him. 

In the dying moments of the first half, Copper Hills was threatening Bingham inside its own 25-yard line. A quick screen pass moved the ball inside Bingham’s 20. On the next play, Copper Hills’ QB overthrew his intended receiver, landing the ball into the hands of Doty, who returned the ball all the way back to the Copper Hills 4 before the Miners cashed in three plays later. 

Those were only three examples of his leadership; there are countless others, added Jones, that will never make the pages of any newspaper. But, they’re ones he’ll remember about the kid from South Jordan who earned his varsity spot on one of Utah’s top high school football teams as a sophomore in a No. 3 jersey that looked two sizes too big, the season that Bingham made it back to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the first time in several years under Jones and staff. 

As a junior, Doty and his Miner teammates played against the nation’s No. 1 team under those Friday night lights when the Miners in blue played the Mater Dei Monarchs out of Los Angeles in red at a sold-out Ron Thorne Stadium. Doty made the right read, intercepted a pass and returned it 10 yards in that game. It was that game’s only interception. 

In addition to his duties as Bingham’s safety for three years, Doty also played quite a few snaps on offense and on special teams. He had 13 yards rushing, 28 yards receiving and 132 punt return yards, and for his efforts last year, was named to the Deseret News 6A second team as a junior. λ