Copyright Salt Lake Tribune
From the metal bleachers at West High School’s Gean Plaga Stadium, you can look left and see the Utah State Capitol building perched high on a hill and the yellow and red leaves covering some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. Look to the right of the 103-year-old brick school, and you can see the buildings that make up the city’s downtown skyline. And for years, if you looked down at the field, you would’ve seen one of the state’s worst football teams. “People thought that we were the doormat,” said Justin Thompson, former West football coach and current athletic director. “And to an extent, that was the mentality of our kids. I think they saw themselves that way.” Not anymore. Led by head coach Olosaa “Junior” Solovi, the Panthers have transformed into the No. 1 team in Utah’s Class 5A. This week, they will play in the semifinals at Rice-Eccles Stadium, just two wins away from the school’s first football championship in 33 years. “We’ve been told, ‘You can’t do it here. You can’t do it at a school like West. You can’t do it at a west-side school,’” Solovi said. “Once we do it, it’s going to instill something in our kids, in our community. We can do great things here.” Panther born, Panther raised The West High roster is full of players whose brothers, fathers, and even grandfathers have worn a Panther football uniform. But few had connections to a winning tradition. “The program was in a really tough spot. It was generations of losing,” Solovi said. “We were walking into a scenario where a kid hadn’t really had success, his brother never had success, his dad never had success.” Solovi also went to West, but was never on the team. “I wish I could say I had some West playing days, but I was a knucklehead in high school,” Solovi said. “Every year, I wanted to play, but I was just one of those kids that was making bad decisions … just a kid that was always causing trouble.” That “knucklehead” lifestyle eventually brought Solovi to a low point in his life. He was arrested and sentenced to 21 days in jail. That’s when he decided he needed to make a drastic change. “I had to make a decision. Which way am I going to go?” Solovi said, reflecting on the turning point in his life. “I made a commitment that I want to take care of my family and my young kids. I want to dive into the community and help out.” “They were terrible. Couldn’t win one game,” Solovi recalled. “We were like, ‘Well, we can win one game?’ And I just dove into it. I kind of fell in love with coaching.” Solovi quickly found that not only did he love to coach, but he had a knack for it. Solovi was brought on at East High as an offensive coordinator for one of the top teams in the state. He helped lead the Leopards to back-to-back state titles in 2015 and 2016. Solovi even coached the girls’ basketball team to state titles in 2018 and 2019. While Solovi was winning state titles at East, the Panthers weren’t winning at all. The Panthers went winless in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016. At that time, Solovi was attracting some of the best athletes in West’s boundaries to East to play for the Leopards, an obstacle that the Panthers’ AD and former coach Thompson said he was never quite able to overcome. “Coach Solovi is such an amazingly important part of the Rose Park neighborhood that kids wanted to play for him,” Thompson said. After nine years coaching at East, Solovi was faced with an opportunity to become the head coach for his alma mater. It was not an easy decision. “West was kind of always one of those places that we were like, ‘Maybe,’” Solovi said, “but I was scared to death. West was in a terrible place at the time. We had built East into a power … [and] the easy decision would have been to just stay at East.” Solovi faced an uphill battle, but decided it was worth the risk. So he brought some of his East coaching companions over with him, and flooded the program with former West football players and alumni. An emphasis was placed on hard work in the classrooms. Players met with coaches and teachers regularly to discuss attendance and grades, and parents were heavily involved with Solovi and his vision for West football on and off the field. Fewer and fewer players transferred to East and other programs around the Salt Lake Valley. In fact, the opposite now happens, he said. Slowly, but surely, West turned into the most dominant team in Salt Lake City. He has also taken over as head coach of the girls’ basketball team. Last year, he led the Panthers to their first state championship appearance in school history. West on my chest When West runs onto the field at home games, a remix of The Game and 50 Cent’s “How We Do” plays over the speakers. “WEST SIIIIIIIIIDE. … I got West on my back, West on my chest.” Solovi proudly wears a black hat with a white, cursive script that reads, “Rose Park,” paying homage to the west side Salt Lake City neighborhood. “Rose Park is, in my opinion, what West High represents,” Solovi said. “ Blue-Collar, hard working, family based.” Rose Park, which is historically one of Salt Lake City’s lowest-income communities, makes up a large portion of the Panthers’ football roster. “We know that we are one of Utah’s most economically disadvantaged high schools,” Thompson said. “We are one of Utah’s most racially diverse schools as well. … There’s a lot of schools that are seeing success, and none of them really look like us.” The teams they need to beat to win state, those in Utah County that have won multiple state championships in recent years, have an advantage, both in numbers and resources. That has created a sense of community pride for the Panthers. “We know that we’re not just playing for West, we’re playing for community and for the teams before us,” said running back Louie Hamilton. Hamilton’s two older brothers played at West, and his parents also attended the school years ago. He grew up watching a sparsely filled stadium as his cousins went 0-18 over a two-year span. Now Hamilton, the 5A leader in rushing yards (1,658) and touchdowns (28), is the first name that came to mind when coaches, teachers and community members were asked which player exemplifies West football. “He’s a kid from Rose Park, number one, and he wasn’t given anything,” Solovi said. “He’s not blessed with being the tallest guy or the fastest guy, but he has the biggest heart … and when he gets the ball, it’s scary.” Throughout the roster, there are players who have faced hardships, Thompson said. Some students have experienced homelessness and work difficult jobs to provide financial stability for their families, the athletic director said. But the West community has come together to give the football team the best chance at success. “Our parents don’t have money,” Solovi said, “but everybody’s finding a way to create an experience where we can do this. … Everybody here is giving up something.” “Half of [our coaches] are doing this for free. Some of them take vacation days just to coach on gameday,” Solovi added. “We all lose money being here, but everybody knows what’s on the line. We all know the possibility.” Long overdue On Halloween night, Stephanie Hunt sits down on the metal bleachers at West High School’s Gean Plaga Stadium. She is wearing a black and red hat with a white “W” on the face, and has a lanyard hanging from her neck, displaying her title as a language arts teacher at the school. “The game will be over by the third quarter, Mrs. Hunt,” one of the players told their teacher. “We’ll make sure you can go home early so you can pass out Halloween candy.” Perhaps the players were being too humble, because by the end of the first quarter, West held a 28-0 lead. The Panthers won the game 56-13, advancing to the quarterfinals. A week later, West won a 14-3 defensive battle with Bountiful to reach the semifinals. The Panthers’ one loss this season was a six-point defeat versus American Fork, a 6A school that has a legitimate shot to win its higher classification’s title. Outside of that one blemish on its record, West has absolutely dominated the competition. In nine regular-season wins, the Panthers averaged a margin of victory of 54.67 points per game. They have scored over 60 points five times, and have only allowed 7.4 points per game. They are home to the arguably best quarterback-running back duo in the state, with Illinois commit Kamden Lopati handing it off to Hamilton in the backfield. In the playoff win against Northridge, Lopati casually threw for 227 yards on 9-of-10 passing. Hamilton rushed for a staggering six touchdowns. Now the Panthers are dreaming of winning it all. “It’s been long overdue,” said Lopati, the Panthers’ three-star quarterback. When asked what would happen if West were to take home this year’s title, Solovi didn’t hold back. “There would be a parade from Rice-Eccles Stadium to the school, and we would be here all night,” he said.
