Not many coaches would be pleased with a No. 3 seed to the playoffs and a first-round road game against the state's top-ranked team.

Mike Gurney called it the "perfect scenario."

In seven years at Mountain Crest, Gurney had coached good teams and even made it to the semifinals in 2009. But this year, Gurney, The Tribune's coach of the year, thought the Mustangs might be ready.

They very nearly beat defending champion Lehi in a preseason game, and entered the playoffs 9-5-2. Then came the tournament pairings and there it was on paper and soon on the field — a rematch with the Pioneers.

So Gurney's message to his team was what exactly?

"We're going to go down there and play with them," he recalled. "It happened. It turned out to be a great game on our part, and from there on we didn't feel like the pressure was on us."

The Mustangs shut out Lehi 2-0 and moved on, winning another road game at Springville before upsetting Dixie in the semifinals and, finally, Mountain View in overtime for the championship.

Mountain Crest midfielder Jaycson Yeates, the 4A MVP, said much of the credit for the title belonged to the coaches.

"They kept things pretty simple," he said. "We kept our heads in the game the whole time."

Gurney said he learned from previous seasons of "almosts" to lead Mountain Crest to its first soccer championship and just the third by a Cache Valley high school (Sky View won in 2004 and 1994).

Soccer is a sport often dominated by schools from the Salt Lake and Utah valleys, which are rich with club teams and one-sport stars who are groomed from an early age.

It's a tall order for an outside school in the state's second-largest classification.

"I'm a little overwhelmed that it happened as soon as it did, quite honestly," Gurney said. "But there's really good talent in the valley, and there's very good coaches that brought these kids up."

As it turns out, he's one of the best.

boram@sltrib.com

Twitter: @oramb