Bingham had just lost 1-0 at Herriman on May 2. 

It was a brutal way to lose again to one of your rivals, at their place, and drop both home and away matches by the same score line to the Mustangs. 

Where would the Miners be seeded in the upcoming 6A state soccer tournament? 

Bingham finished the regular season with a 6-7 record. 

The scheduling gods apparently had a sense of humor though, pairing the Miners that got a first-round bye with … Herriman, at their place. 

Talk about déjà vu all over again. 

How would the Miners respond to this third meeting against Herriman in just six weeks? 

Well, one guy who started his career at Bingham as a freshman in the No. 36 jersey and wound his way down to a single digit by the time he was a senior under new head coach Chad Pierson had plenty to say about Bingham’s pairing. 

Senior forward Sam Knox blasted goals in each half and then fellow senior Riley Whicker was a literal stone wall in front of Bingham’s goal May 13, as the Miners upset Herriman 2-1, at their place. 

Whatever bad juju was tossed into the air like the game ball the Miners were playing with in those two 1-0 losses was gone; Bingham was now on to the 6A quarterfinals at Davis. 

The Darts have been a longtime power in Utah high school soccer but have been under a new head coach in Dillon Richins for two years running. This veteran-laden Miners team that had 11 seniors capitalized on the opportunity laid before them, and Mason Simmons and Will Harris each scored at Davis May 16, giving Bingham a 2-0 victory and Whicker another shutout. 

Next up: a 6A semifinal game at Lone Peak, a team that the Miners got past last year, but only just. In a marathon of a match in May 2024, LP and Bingham went scoreless through two halves and two overtime periods. It was only in the marathon penalty kick shootout that the Miners prevailed 12-11 to move on to America First Field and the 6A final.  

Lone Peak had been no slouch, carrying a 17-2 overall record into this year’s 6A semifinal. And yet the Miners,
who were now on a two-game winning streak, were on a roll. Would the Miners prevail as well in 2025? 

Just like the previous year’s meeting, Bingham and Lone Peak were at a standstill through two halves of action. Neither team got on the scoresheet in the two overtimes, either. 

For Whicker who’s been at Bingham since he was a freshman, this offered him and his Miners teammates the opportunity to do something they hadn’t done as a group and advance to the 6A championship game. 

All of those tough losses at the state tournament provided valuable experience for the Weber State-bound Whicker, who will be a punter and kickoff specialist for the Wildcats football team. The Bingham senior stood on his head and made the game-winning save in the penalty kick shootout to give the Miners a 12-11 win May 20, and propel them into the state championship game. 

In the end though, the Miners were playing an American Fork team loaded with nine college-bound players. The Cavemen got on the board in the first half, and that 1-0 lead stood to hand Bingham a 1-0 loss. 

2025 marked a year that got the Miners one step further than former coach Leo Gonzalez got Bingham, but credit should go to Gonzalez too for developing this Miners squad like he had; his 61-33 record attested to that. 

For Pierson who wrapped up year one at Bingham with a 10-8 record, he’ll lose 11 seniors to graduation, guys that included the afore-mentioned Whicker and Knox, as well as Eli Laroza and Briggs Smith, Grayden Olsen and Ryan Kim, Tyler Powell and Carson Child, Yoshi Tanaka, Riley Meier and Preston Margetts. λ