Prep soccer: Lone Peak’s Berry chases third ring of year
Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune Lone Peak DB Brody Berry, #14, runs out all but :02 of the clock after his interception of a desperation throw by Jordan. Lone Peak scored a TD with just 0:31 left to beat Jordan 45-41 in a 5A semifinal game at Rice-Eccles Stadium in 2011.
When the latest addition to his collection arrived two weeks ago, Brody Berry wore it around Lone Peak for a day. Then, he went home and put it in the special case his family installed close to the front door.
The guy has a thing for rings.
Winning them, that is.
Berry won consecutive championships the past two years as the point guard on the Knights basketball team, a football championship last fall and, as a striker on the Region 4 champion soccer team, is chasing an unheard-of third team championship in his senior year.
“It never crossed my mind winning all three,” Berry said. “I always thought of winning football and basketball.”
The Knights have been a surprise in Class 5A, playing in perhaps its toughest region against teams such as Lehi and Bingham, which were state favorites in the preseason.
Lone Peak, which entered the week 13-2-0, has beaten them both twice, thanks in large part to Berry, who will play basketball next year at BYU-Hawaii.
“He’s not afraid to grab a guy by the jersey and say, you better do this,” Lone Peak basketball coach Quincy Lewis said. “Any coach who coaches for 20, 25 years is lucky to coach one guy like him.”
So it’s no accident that Berry may be positioned for his third championship of this academic year. And the soccer team doesn’t much mind him chasing the distinction.
“His personal goals align with our team goals,” first-year soccer coach Blaine Hale said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to make that happen. I think that will be a neat experience for him.”
Hale played football, basketball and soccer at Lone Peak, too, winning a soccer championship as a senior in 2005.
Berry said soccer, as sports go, was his first love. In football he was a secondary option as a receiver for Tribune MVP quarterback Chase Hansen and, in basketball, he ran the Knights’ offense, but got little attention compared with BYU-committed stars Nick Emery and T.J. Haws.
As a forward for the soccer team this spring, he’s scored three goals, well off the team lead.
But Berry’s role on each team, Lewis said, can’t be overstated.
“In my book, guys who lead by example are way overrated,” he said. “I want a guy who leads vocally and that’s who he is. He’s not afraid to tell guys exactly what needs to happen, no matter who they are.”
And college coaches put a premium on winning. Berry said BYU-Hawaii coaches were sold on him, in part, because he had been a leader on so many successful teams.
“That’s the No. 1 thing they kept saying was how much they liked me,” he said, “and I knew how to win.”
He’s been doing it for years, dating back to U-12 club soccer when he and his team, Utah Rangers, won the state championship and advanced to the western regionals in Colorado.
And now, with the playoffs starting next week, most likely against Hunter, Berry has one more chance at a state championship.
“We just have to work harder than any other team in the state,” he said.
Talk about a familiar ring.
boram@sltrib.com
Twitter: @oramb
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Brody Berry
Lone Peak senior has won state championships this year in football and basketball now chases another in soccer.
Berry has committed to play basketball at BYU-Hawaii.
He won his first state title as an 11-year-old in club soccer with Utah Rangers.
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