If you fly into SAP on the earlier arrival and hope to make it to Utila the same day, I believe you have two options:
-take a taxi from SAP airport directly to the ferry (cost $100-$120). If you want to do this, ask around in the arrivals hall...likely 3/4 of the people with a backpack will be trying to get to La Ceiba for the ferry.
-take a flight directly to Utilla - you're in luck,
CM Airlines appears to have non stop service SAP - Utila on Saturday's only. $135.23. CM is quite reliable. You may want to purchase your ticket on arrival in case AA is late - it won't cost more; however, I don't know how big the risk of them selling out is.
Aerolineas Sosa also sells one stop service for about $120. Both depart at 3 p.m. It is very unlikely that Sosa's flight will arrive in 1 hour as scheduled - it will stop in LCE.
If you take any of the bus services to La Ceiba, you will not arrive in time for the afternoon ferry, and you'd have to overnight either in SAP or LCE.
If you fly to La Ceiba, with the intention of switching to the ferry, you will also likely not make the connection, plus it is quite far from the airport to the ferry, and the taxi fare will cost you quite a bit (they like to charge a premium to get to the ferry).
Flying into Roatan is also an option. I'm not familiar with the boat service between the islands, but you should be able to find something. Unfortunately, AA doesn't seem to offer reasonably priced flights to Roatan like UA does (AA and DL have continued to charge a premium for RTB vs UA which sells them often for nearly the same price as SAP). Have you considered getting your certification in RTB? I believe you can find similar prices for the certification there. Being able to fly directly to RTB vs UTI is also an advantage - the time involved in getting to UTI most economically vs the cost of getting their quickly might make RTB cost neutral overall. AA recently started DFW - RTB service, so I believe their frequency to RTB has overall increased - may drive prices down.