LEHI — When Skyridge High School opens its gates for the Orange-Gray scrimmage and community silent auction on Aug. 7, the evening is more than a Friday-night party. It is the public face of a program that has built a decade of 6A contention on a planned coaching succession, parent-funded player fees, and a postseason résumé that still has one stubborn missing piece.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 each or $40 for a family of four or more, with silent-auction proceeds earmarked directly for the Falcon football program and items that have included Kneaders and Les Schwab packages, BYU and Utah gear, and local services. What the published auction materials do not show is a line-item split of how much of those gate and auction dollars will buy helmets versus travel versus field upgrades — a gap that makes older, fully documented fundraisers the clearest window into how the program actually moves money.
How Falcon fundraising actually works
The most transparent recent financial snapshot is the Spring 2024 Skyridge Football Lift-a-Thon, run through SuccessFund for Alpine School District’s Skyridge program. Players completed a multi-rep max in bench press, squat, overhead press and trap bar deadlift, then added broad-jump inches and subtracted 40-yard and shuttle times for a composite score.
Organizers set a $10,000 goal and closed at $10,350 — 103% of target. Critically for parents: “Players will receive 90% of all pledged donations” to offset fees associated with participating in Skyridge football, with an optional checkout tip that could push the player share to 95%. Flat gifts and percentage-of-score pledges both funneled to named athletes, with preset tiers of $1,000 (Player Sponsor), $100 (Gold), $50 (Silver) and $25 (Bronze). Head strength coach Kimble Jensen ran the lifts May 13–17, 2024, with the campaign closing May 24.
That structure is the opposite of a vague “support the program” pitch: the bulk of donor dollars is designed to land on individual participation costs, not a discretionary facilities pot. The Aug. 7 silent auction’s published language is broader — “all proceeds directly supporting the Falcon football program” — without a comparable public ledger for equipment, travel or capital projects. No school or district release reviewed for this story detailed a 2026 stadium renovation or football-specific capital allocation tied to the auction.
The Lehman-to-Hemm handoff, and who runs athletics now
The adult leadership structure behind those fundraisers was designed years in advance. In early 2022, Skyridge Principal John Wallwork announced that head football coach Jon Lehman would become athletic director succeeding Mark Clinton, and that Justin Hemm would join as an assistant with the explicit plan that he would become head coach for the 2023 season so Lehman could focus on the full athletics portfolio.
Hemm arrived from Brighton High School, where his teams posted a 26-7 record over three seasons and won consecutive Region 6 titles in 5A. He served as offensive coordinator on the 2022 staff that delivered Skyridge’s first state championship — a 17-7 win over Corner Canyon — then took the head job when Lehman moved to the AD office.
Wallwork framed Lehman’s six years as head coach as playoff appearances in four seasons, a region title and two state-final trips. School athletics contacts list Lehman as athletic director and Chad Wiet as assistant principal over athletics. Deseret News’ Skyridge coaching ledger has listed Hemm at 30-9 as head coach entering the current cycle.
Hemm’s first season as head coach also produced the program’s most public disciplinary hit: in November 2023, the Utah High School Activities Association suspended him two games for playing an ineligible player and placed the school on probation after a Pleasant Grove appeal. The Falcons advanced in the playoffs without him on the sideline that fortnight.
Records, rivalries, and what 2026 must solve
Since opening in 2016, Skyridge has climbed into Utah’s 6A elite. By the eve of Hemm’s first year as head coach, Deseret News listed the program’s all-time mark at 70-18 in seven seasons, with region titles in 2018 and a 2021 co-title and the 2022 state crown. After the Nov. 14, 2025, season, local coverage tallied four semifinal trips and four championship-game appearances with that single 2022 title.
The 2025 campaign ended 9-3 after a 13-7 loss to Lone Peak in a “repeat” 6A semifinal at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Senior quarterback Kaneal Sweetwyne scored Skyridge’s only touchdown on a five-yard rush; linebacker Griffin Kunz led the defense with 15 tackles. Hemm said afterward the seniors had “been tremendous leaders,” many of them sophomores when he first joined the staff.
That senior class is largely gone. On3’s preseason state ranking package noted Sweetwyne accounted for more than 3,000 passing yards with 32 passing touchdowns and 14 rushing scores, and flagged class of 2028 quarterback Jagger Fountaine — 34-of completions for 485 yards and five touchdowns in 11 games as a sophomore — as the internal successor. The same report said Skyridge added transfer receiver Eli Mortensen, who caught 45 passes for 914 yards and 14 touchdowns at Morgan in 2025.
What happens next
Deseret News’ July 20, 2026, coaches poll placed Skyridge No. 2 in 6A with four first-place votes, just behind Corner Canyon (five first-place votes, 12-2 in 2025) and ahead of Lone Peak (also four first-place votes, 8-5). Davis and Mountain Ridge rounded out the top five. The regular season begins Aug. 13 when Mountain Ridge hosts Skyridge, with a full slate the following night.
Head coach Justin Hemm told the Lehi Free Press the summer “went great” and that the Orange-Gray scrimmage is “an exciting opportunity to compete and evaluate where we are,” adding the program has “strong leadership” and a group “committed to improving every day.” Youth football introductions, cheer and drill performances, new orange-and-gray merchandise and senior autograph sessions fill out the Aug. 7 card.
For Lehi readers, the useful through-line is this: the auction will raise unrestricted program cash, the last fully published fundraiser put roughly nine of every ten donated dollars on player fee relief, the AD and head coach roles were split by design after a state title, and the on-field standard remains a deep playoff run that still requires beating Lone Peak — or Corner Canyon — when the lights are brightest. Updates continue via the program’s Instagram account @Skyridgefb and local coverage at lehifreepress.com.
