Broncos punch ticket to fifth straight 2A state championship game with semifinal victory

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School football team took another step closer to their fifth straight 2A Utah State Championship this past Saturday, November 8 with a 51-27 beatdown of Summit Academy at Southern Utah University in Cedar City.
The Broncos’ state semifinal win was almost a mirror image of their first meeting with the Bears this season, a 50-29 victory in Bluffdale on September 5.
Just like in their first meeting, Summit Academy kept the game close in the first quarter this past Saturday, but San Juan left them in the dust from the second frame on.
The score was legitimately 51-8 before the Bears tacked on three touchdowns against the Broncos’ backup defense in the final four minutes of the game.
San Juan received the opening kick to start the game and began from their own 20 following a touchback. It was evident early on that Summit had prepared for the Bronco running game, as they shut down a couple efforts from Jagger Nieves.
So San Juan took to the air and sophomore quarterback Beau Yeomans hit Tripp Palmer deep down the middle of the field for a 45-yard gain.
A couple plays later San Juan was in the Bear red zone threatening to score, but two incomplete passes, including one at the goal line, led to a turnover on downs as Summit Academy earned a big defensive stop on the first series of the game.
The Bronco defense was up to the task as well, shutting down the Bear offense in just three plays and forcing a punt.
San Juan gained short yardage on their next possession, but when Yeomans couldn’t connect with Cole Duke on a deep pass the Summit defense stymied Jagger Nieves at the line of scrimmage, earning another turnover on downs, this time on the San Juan 45.
San Juan needed their defense to step up again, and they did just that. Though Summit Academy quarterback Preston MacKowiak narrowly missed Beckham Meredith on a pass inside the Bronco ten, the San Juan defense forced their own three-and-out, getting the ball back at their own 40.
They put together a slow-and-steady drive until Yeomans hit Palmer with another deep pass for 30 yards down to the Bear one yard line.
It took the Broncos three tries from there, but finally Jagger Nieves bounced outside the right tackle to go into the end zone untouched for the first touchdown of the game. Following a Nieves two-point conversion San Juan led 8-0 with 3:40 to go in the first quarter.
Summit Academy answered quickly to tie the game when MacKowiak connected on back-to-back deep balls. He hit Brayden Dieters for 23 yards, then star receiver Meredith on a 55-yard touchdown strike just 1:25 after San Juan’s opening score.
Early in the second quarter the Bears attempted a fake punt, but San Juan defended it perfectly, tackling Meredith at his own 37.
The Broncos took advantage quickly when Yeomans hit Cole Duke with a 36-yard pass to the one. It took Nieves two tries, but he finally busted through the line into the end zone for his second touchdown.
He added another conversion also as San Juan regained the lead 16-8 with 9:43 to play in the first half. Then the Bronco defense went back to work, forcing a Summit Academy punt. This time the Bears didn’t fake it and San Juan took over at their own 45.
The Broncos drove steadily down the field again, as Yeomans connected with Brigg Palmer and Nieves on a couple short passes that the receivers turned into good yardage with nice runs.
On first-and-goal from the Bear six yard line Yeomans took the snap, pump-faked to the left, then ran to the right into the end zone for San Juan’s third touchdown of the game. Nieves’s two-point run failed and the Broncos led 22-8 with 6:37 to go in the half.
At that point of the game, midway through the second quarter, the San Juan defense really began to put pressure on MacKowiak.
Their coverage in the secondary was also tight, and the Bear passing game began to struggle. After starting the game 5-for-7 MacKowiak completed only five of his last 18 attempts in the first half.
Max Stearns got into the backfield and earned his sixth sack of the season, dropping the Bear quarterback for a ten-yard loss and forcing a punt.
Then from his own 43 Beau Yeomans connected with Jagger Nieves on a delayed pass out of the backfield. Nieves made three Bears miss and took the ball down the sideline all the way to the Summit 28.
Yeomans then hit a wide open Cole Duke with a 26-yard touchdown pass as the Broncos increased their lead to 30-8 with two minutes left in the half.
On the very next play from scrimmage Nache Young intercepted a MacKowiak pass at midfield and returned it all the way back to the two. Unfortunately an illegal block negated the return, but San Juan was still able to get back into the end zone in quick fashion.
Yeomans hit Tripp Palmer with a 39-yard pass to the Summit Academy two yard line and Nieves scampered in untouched on the next play, making the score 38-8 with 1:27 to go in the half.
MacKowiak threw interceptions on his first two passing attempts of the second half. The first was picked off by Brigg Palmer who returned the ball 24 yards to the Summit 23 yard line.
From there Yeomans hit Palmer with a 14-yard pass to the nine and Nieves walked it in on the next play to increase San Juan’s lead to 44-8 and begin the “mercy rule” running clock.
Cole Duke snagged the next interception just two minutes later and returned it 40 yards to the house. Duke booted the ball through the uprights to add his own extra point and the Broncos were up 51-8 with 7:57 left in the third quarter.
From that point San Juan began to cycle the starters out of the game and Summit Academy was able to get into the end zone three times throughout the final 20 minutes against the backup Bronco defense.
Though the Bear defense did a great job holding the Broncos to short yardage in the run game, Beau Yeomans had another standout game in the passing department.
He was 22-for-36 and threw for 341 yards and one touchdown. It was the passing game that set San Juan up for easy short-yardage touchdown runs all game long.
Tripp Palmer caught nine of those passes for 212 yards, but he didn’t get the touchdown. That was Cole Duke’s honor. The 26-yard tally was also his only catch of the game.
Jagger Nieves caught three passes for 50 yards while Brigg Palmer and Nache Young snagged four each for 25 and 20 yards respectively.
Uncharacteristically, Nieves was held to just 28 yards rushing on 11 carries, but he got into the end zone four times in the win. He also accounted for three two-point conversions.
He set a new Utah all-time record for total touchdowns in a season on Saturday with 44 so far this year. The previous top mark of 42 was set by Alan Mouritsen of Grantsville in 1997.
Nieves also set a new Utah all-time record for points scored in a season, running his tally to 290 with 30 in the win against Summit Academy. The previous record was 284 points by Beaver’s Kelly Smith in 1979.
Nieves’s 37 rushing touchdowns this season is now third on the Utah all-time list, just one behind the current record of 38 held by Mouritsen in ’97 and Jaylen Warren of East in 2016.
Nieves currently leads the state in all three of those categories. He’s fifth in the nation in points scored and tied for fifth nationwide in total touchdowns.
In addition to the strong offensive performances in the semifinal game, the Bronco defense played a huge role in the win against Summit Academy.
Though they didn’t get much pressure on quarterback Preston MacKowiak in the first quarter, they were in his face from the second quarter on.
After allowing the Bears to tie the game 8-8 the starting defense never came close to allowing another score.
Andrew Nielson led with eight tackles. Max Stearns had seven and Jayce Raisor collected six stops. Thomas Hardin, Jagger Nieves, and Miken Keith all had five tackles in the win. Stearns had the only sack on the day.
Cole Duke’s pick-six was his first interception of the season and the fourth defensive touchdown for San Juan this year.
They’ve now scored on two fumble recoveries and two interception returns. Nache Young and Brigg Palmer also had interceptions against Summit Academy.
With the win the San Juan Broncos will return to the 2A Utah State Championship Game for the fifth year in a row.
They of course have won the previous four, and are looking to insert themselves into the elite group of three teams that have won five straight or more.
The #1 Broncos will face the #3 seed in the 2A state tournament, South Summit, who defeated #2 South Sevier 34-0 in their semifinal matchup this past Saturday.
When the Broncos met the Wildcats in Kamas on September 12 the game was billed as a possible state championship matchup, and that is exactly what has resulted.
But on that night San Juan had a breakout game, amassing 617 yards in total offense and crushing the home team 69-21.
Yeomans passed for a season-high 460 yards and six touchdowns as the Bronco aerial attack caught fire after quieter performances in the first four games of the season.
But it will be a refocused South Summit squad this time, one that has seen what the Broncos are capable of and has a better understanding of how to approach the game.
The Wildcats bring a six-game winning streak into the title game and have outscored their opponents 298-77 in those games.
Like San Juan, South Summit’s passing game has heated up as the season has gone along. The Broncos will have to slow down junior quarterback Ian Mair who has thrown for 2,457 yards  and 29 touchdowns.
They’ll also have to stop the running back duo of Bryce Pulver and Brody Larsen who have combined for 1,365 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns.
It will be an exciting matchup when the two teams collide this Saturday, November 15 at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman.
The kickoff is set for 4 p.m. and Redrock 92 will feature the live local broadcast beginning with the pregame at 3:30 p.m.
Audio-only streams of the game will also be available on StreamUtah.Live/YouTube and Redrock92.com.