San Juan football team dominates Emery to win fourth straight 2A Utah State Championship

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School football team did to Emery this past Saturday, November 16 what they did to every other 2A team they faced this season. They completely dominated the Spartans 60-14 to win their fourth straight Utah State Championship at Southern Utah University’s Eccles Coliseum.
The Broncos opened a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and increased it to 35-0 in the second quarter, earning a running clock to begin the second half. They punched the ball into the endzone four more times in the second half to close out the very convincing victory.
Keeping the theme they executed all season against 2A foes, the game was never in doubt as San Juan led from start to finish, jumping out to an early lead, then crushing their opponents efforts to remain in the fight.
Senior quarterback Jaiten Knight, playing in his final game as a Bronco, threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns. He ran for an additional 78 yards and a TD, leading his team to the win.
Junior Jagger Nieves ran the ball 14 times for 142 yards and three touchdowns. Senior JD Palmer ended his final game with 34 yards and a TD. And senior Jake Ivins even scored a rushing touchdown even though he’s a wide receiver.
Speaking of wide receivers, Ivins led the team with 68 yards on six catches in the state championship game. Jagger Nieves had 58 yards on two catches. Senior Owen Adams caught four passes for 56 yards.
Senior Branten Bethea had 36 yards on five catches and led the team with two touchdowns. Senior Javin Montella had two catches for 24 yards and a TD. And JD Palmer caught two passes for 20 yards.
The Bronco offense collected 541 total yards – 262 passing and 279 rushing. But it was the defense that was most impressive. They completely smothered the Spartan offense, leading to the large first-half lead.
San Juan allowed just six yards rushing in the first half and 12 in total for the game. They held Emery quarterback Treven Gilbert to 105 passing yards in the first half, though he did finish the game with 268 total passing yards.
Defensive stalwart George McNaughtan sacked Gilbert once and hurried him seven times in the game. Jagger Nieves and senior Brad Skow had two hurries apiece. Bethea, senior Tyrian Lee, senior Derrick White, Knight, and Ivins all had one hurry each.
Tripp Palmer and Cole Duke both pulled down one interception apiece. McNaughtan led the team with 11 tackles (two for loss). Duke had nine tackles, JD Palmer collected seven, and Ivins and senior Rigley LaGiglia had five each.
With the win, San Juan became the eighth team in Utah high school football history to win at least four state championships in a row. West/Salt Lake won eight in a row from 1898-1905. East won six in a row; Skyline won five; and Millard, Timpview, Duchesne, and Orem won four.
The Broncos extended their postseason winning streak to 12 games, the ninth-longest streak in Utah history. Head Coach Barkley Christensen is now 14-4 in the postseason and 74-21 overall following the completion of his eighth season.
With his fourth title Christensen moves ahead of legendary Bronco coaches Art Burtenshaw and Monty Lee who both won three during their time at San Juan High School.
When asked about that following the championship game Christensen said, “I’m the benefactor of what they established. San Juan wasn’t a football school until Coach Burtenshaw took it over in 1987. Coach Lee ran with it, and I’m blessed enough to be the next guy they hired. I hope I’m making those two proud for what we’ve done.”
Christensen attributed the success of the 2024 team to their dedication, hard work, and the fact that they listened to their coaches for their whole career, doing whatever was asked of them.
“That’s what it takes,” he explained. “It’s nothing super special, no trick that we’re doing. It’s just hard work and kind of a lot of boringness and it just stacks up together and it leads to state championships.
“These kids have always been very competitive,” Christensen continued. “They love to win and they just get it figured out. From day one we tell them, ‘Here’s the blueprint to winning a state championship. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be tiresome, this is what it takes,’ and they just buy into it.”
Several players reflected on the win following the game. Senior running back JD Palmer said, “It’s just been so awesome to be part of this family. I couldn’t be more happy with where I’m at and what we’ve accomplished.”
Senior wide receiver Jake Ivins said, “It’s unbelievable. I remember dreaming about this when I was a kid. All the hard work we put in finally paid off.”
And senior quarterback Jaiten Knight said, “[The championship] means the world to me and to all of us. We’ve worked out [butts] off all year long since June. I’m so proud of these guys.”
At the end of the 2024 season San Juan has won 48 of their last 50 games and 69 of 81 going all the way back to the 2018 season. They outscored their opponents this year 669-192 for an average of 51.5-14.7 per game.
At the time the 2A season ended Jaiten Knight’s 4,110 total yards this year led the state of Utah and was 15th in the nation. His 3,547 passing yards was second in the state. He averaged 272.8 passing yards per game and his 39 passing touchdowns was third in the state.
Jagger Nieves led the Broncos’ offensive outpouring in 2024, scoring 210 total points. That was second in the state at the conclusion of the 2A season. His 34 touchdowns was tied for first in the state.
Tripp Palmer finished the season with 58 successful point-after kicks which was tied for third in the state.
Nieves scored 22 of his touchdowns on the ground this season, leading the team in that department. JD Palmer was the team’s second-leading rusher with 752 yards and 13 TDs. Knight ran for 563 yards and eight touchdowns.
After returning from injury early in the season Jake Ivins went on to lead receivers with 971 yards on the year (an average of 81 per game). He scored four touchdowns for the Broncos.
Branten Bethea finished the season with 653 yards and led the team with 11 touchdown catches. Owen Adams had 602 yards and seven TDs. Nieves had 595 yards and eight TDs.
Javin Montella collected 574 yards and eight TDs. And Tripp Palmer had 219 receiving yards on the year with two touchdowns.
JD Palmer led the defense with an impressive 119 tackles this season for an average of 9.2 per game. Nieves was next in line with 101, Ivins had 82, Bethea got 77, and McNaughtan had 66.
McNaughtan led with 16 tackles for loss. JD Palmer had 12, Cash Palmer collected 11, and Bethea and Tripp Palmer both had ten apiece.
McNaughtan sacked the opposition’s quarterback five times this year and had a very impressive 29 quarterback hurries.
Ivins had four sacks while Stetson Black, Brad Skow, and Bethea all got three apiece. Bethea had 15 quarterback hurries, Knight had ten, and Nieves and Cash Palmer got nine apiece.
Tripp Palmer led the team with five interceptions on the season while Nieves had three. Nache Young and Cole Duke had two apiece. Nieves, McNaughtan, and JD Palmer all had two fumble recoveries each.
This week the San Juan Broncos are rightfully celebrating and enjoying their fourth straight 2A Utah State Football Championship.
If you’d like to relive it yourself you can listen to or download the Redrock 92 broadcast of the game. It’s in the Redrock Morning Show podcast list at Redrock92.com.