Broncos suffer tough loss to Grantsville in 2026 football season opener at Snow College

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School football team began the 2026 season this past Friday, August 14 eager to see where they stood against a tough 3A Grantsville team at the Rural Utah Preview at Snow College in Ephraim.
Early in the game it was business as usual for the Broncos as they showed strong indications of the style of play fans have come to expect from their team for the past five seasons.
Starting with the ball on their own 20 it took the hurry-up San Juan offense just eight plays and 91 seconds to score the first touchdown of the game.
Junior quarterback Beau Yeomans hit fellow junior Brigg Palmer with a 32-yard pass that set the Broncos up inside the Cowboy five yard line.
Yeomans scampered into the end zone untouched a couple plays later to draw first blood. The ensuing two-point conversion failed, leaving the score 6-0.
Grantsville was slowly driving on their first possession of the game until sophomore quarterback Crew Allred took a shot to the end zone to try to tie the game.
From the San Juan 30 Allred launched a pass toward star receiver Ty Holm, but Quincy Singer climbed the ladder and snatched the ball out of the air for the Broncos’ first interception of the season.
San Juan was unable to take advantage of the turnover when they lost the ball themselves near midfield on a Thomas Hardin fumble.
But the defense responded again. With the Cowboys at the Bronco 15 yard line Allred took another shot, but he threw behind his intended receiver and Liam Lacy snagged San Juan’s second redzone interception of the quarter.
This time the Broncos did take advantage of the turnover when Yeomans found Brigg Palmer uncovered in the Cowboys secondary and hit him with a 47-yard touchdown pass to make the score 12-0.
With 1:08 left in the first quarter the game looked very familiar to the San Juan players and fans, as they owned a two-touchdown lead.
Unfortunately however, those were the last points the Bronco offense would put on the board until there was only 5:25 left in the game.
In the meantime, the Cowboys got their offense in gear and began to slowly take control of the game. They scored their first touchdown less than a minute into the second quarter on a nine-yard run by senior running back Carter Bell.
The San Juan defense got a big stop midway through the quarter when Grantsville had the ball deep in Bronco territory.
The Cowboys got the ball back when they intercepted a Beau Yeomans pass at their own seven yard line with 3:42 left in the first half, but failed to score again when junior Cache Hammond missed a 36-yard field goal attempt.
Grantsville got their second interception of the game when a Yeomans pass went through the fingertips of Brigg Palmer right to Mack Hammond.
After several tries, the Cowboys finally scored to take the lead when Allred hit Holm with a 24-yard touchdown pass in the front corner of the end zone with just two seconds left in the half.
The Grantsville PAT failed and they took a 13-12 lead into halftime. In the second half the Broncos began to struggle with untimely penalties and turnovers.
Just under four minutes into the second half the Cowboys took the ball at the San Juan 30 after stripping the ball from Brigg Palmer.
Grantsville took three minutes to punch in their next touchdown on a one-yard run from junior Beck Mondragon, increasing their lead to 21-12 after a two-point conversion.
As the Broncos continued to struggle to maintain possession and move the ball downfield, the Cowboys’ defensive and offensive lines began to really dictate the play.
They opened a big hole for Carter Bell who rumbled into the end zone for Grantsville’s second touchdown in the third quarter with 1:46 to go, stretching their lead to 27-12.
San Juan punted late in the quarter and Grantsville took over at their own 44. Though they ultimately failed to get the ball into the end zone, Cache Hammond hit a 37-yard field goal to increase the Cowboys’ lead to 30-12 with 9:45 left in the game.
The Broncos put together their first decent drive of the second half on their next possession, but it came to an end when Grantsville defensive back Graeson Warren flew from the middle of the field to the sideline to intercept a Beau Yeomans pass that initially looked like it was headed for a wide open Randall Black.
San Juan got a nice defensive stop, forcing a punt and getting the ball back at midfield with 6:12 left in the game. Four plays later Yeomans hit Brigg Palmer on a beautiful 39-yard touchdown pass.
It was the Broncos’ first touchdown since the first quarter and, following a successful two-point conversion, made the score 30-20 with 5:25 to go.
San Juan forced another punt but the Cowboys beautifully downed it inside the Broncos’ one yard line. San Juan drove over 90 yards and were knocking on the door, but their hopes were dashed by their fourth fumble of the game inside the Grantsville five.
The Cowboys regained possession with 2:11 to go in the game and, after one final 64-yard run by Carter Bell, they were able to run out the remainder of the clock for a 30-20 win over San Juan.
San Juan has much to be proud of after the first game of the season, and also much to work on going forward.
They turned the ball over seven times in the loss and struggled in the penalty department, specifically in key moments that killed their momentum while trying to rally from behind in the second half.
Still, if you were to look at some of the statistics apart from the final score, you might think it was a traditional win for the Broncos.
Beau Yeomans completed 61 percent of his passes, going 23-for-38 on the night with 389 yards and two touchdowns. Brigg Palmer racked up 231 receiving yards on 13 catches and collected both TDs.
The running game did struggle to find its identity in the absence of a graduated Jagger Nieves and an injured Jayce Raisor. Brigg Palmer led the way in that department also with 65 yards on eight carries.
Thomas Hardin had 13 carries for 51 yards and Yeomans carried the ball seven times for 17 yards and the lone rushing touchdown.
Randall Black had six receptions for 70 yards, Quincy Singer had one catch for 44 yards, Miken Keith caught a couple passes for 37 yards, and Thomas Hardin had one catch for seven yards.
Defensively Hardin led the team with 12 tackles. Liam Lacy, Brigg Palmer, and Quincy Singer all had eight apiece.
Though they weren’t able to sack Crew Allred, Hardin and Palmer had two quarterback hurries apiece while Kreed Herring and Cam Adair got one each. Lacy and Singer also had one interception apiece in the game.
Reflecting on the loss, San Juan Head Coach Barkley Christensen said, “We have a lot to learn from. This team still has to find its own identity.
“We could have played most other teams in 1A to 3A, been 1-0, and would not have known the problems we need to fix.
“Grantsville was a good team. We will thank them at the end of the year for making us a better team, but you won’t win many games with seven turnovers.
“The good news is that it’s all fixable things for us, but we have to apply the lessons learned and get better.
“This is one of the hardest schedules we have had. We have to grow up fast because it doesn’t get any easier coming up.”
Indeed, there is no rest for the weary or time to lick any wounds for the Broncos. They’re heading right back into the gauntlet this weekend when they travel to face another tough opponent.
They’ll meet the 2025 1A runners-up when they hit the road for Beaver on Friday, August 21.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and you can watch all the action live on StreamUtah.Live with the radio broadcast on Redrock 92 starting at 6:30 p.m.