San Juan football team finally gets complete game they’ve been seeking in 69-21 victory

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
For the first four games of the season the San Juan High School football team was looking for a “coming out” game this season – one in which they put together a complete four-quarter effort and showed just how good they can be.
Indeed, they had moments of greatness in those first four contests, but just were unable to produce the entire, convincing package.
On their trip to Kamas this past Friday, September 12 the Broncos literally “threw” a coming-out party, much to the chagrin of the South Summit Wildcats who were trying to host their own homecoming party.
San Juan sophomore quarterback Beau Yeomans engineered a career game, passing for a ridiculous 460 yards and six touchdowns as the Broncos put up 617 total yards of offense and scored nine touchdowns in a 69-21 rout.
Yeomans completed nearly 80 percent of his passes in the win, connecting with one San Juan receiver or another on all but five of his 24 attempts.
Jagger Nieves continued business as usual in the running game, carrying the ball eight times for 108 yards and three touchdowns. But he was even more potent in the passing game, with four catches for 156 yards and three more TDs.
Brigg Palmer also racked up some serious receiving yards with 154 and caught two touchdown passes from Yeomans.
Tripp Palmer caught six passes for 87 yards, while Nache Young caught his first touchdown pass of the season and ended the night with 44 yards on two receptions. Miken Keith got in on the action with two catches for 19 yards.
The Broncos were unstoppable, scoring on their first eight possessions, which stretched all the way into the waning seconds of the third quarter.
Most importantly, they didn’t turn the ball over for the first time this season. It truly was the complete game they had been looking for.
Early on it looked like it would be another dogfight, however. The San Juan defense stopped South Summit on the first possession of the game, forcing a punt.
Then the Bronco offense took over at their own 20, scoring the opening touchdown in just three plays, when Jagger Nieves ran the ball in from 56 yards out on his first touch of the game.
A successful two-point try made the score 8-0 just 2:30 into the game.
The South Summit offense put their own 73-yard scoring drive together to answer that opening volley though, scoring their first touchdown of the game two minutes later.
The Wildcats elected to kick the ball on their point after try, and the kick was good, making the score 8-7 in favor of San Juan.
From that point the Broncos took complete control, scoring six unanswered touchdowns to balloon their lead to 48-7 midway through the second quarter before South Summit could finally answer again.
San Juan cruised to victory with the second-half mercy rule in effect for the first time this season. Following the lopsided win the relief for Head Coach Barkley Christensen was palpable.
He expressed pride in his players and an excitement that they had finally been able to show more of what they’re capable of on a football field.
With all the impressive offensive stats in the game, let’s not forget the defense. Sophomore Quincy Singer led the team with nine tackles. Nieves and Andrew Nielson had seven stops apiece.
Tripp Palmer, Max Stearns, and Brigg Palmer all collected six tackles each. San Juan sacked Wildcat quarterback Ian Mair four times on the night – one sack each for Tripp Palmer, George McNaughtan, Tyler Jacobsen, and Jayce Raisor.
Nache Young and Brigg Palmer both got their second interceptions of the season while George McNaughtan and Max Stearns scooped up their first fumble recoveries as the Broncos won the turnover battle 4-0.
With the win San Juan improves to 4-1 on the season and with the release of the Utah 2A standings from the Utah High School Activities Association on September 15 they are now officially ranked first in the classification.
That will come under fire this Friday, September 19 as San Juan heads to Delta to take on the Rabbits in the opening game of the 2A South Region schedule.
Delta has struggled in their first four games, suffering lopsided losses in all of them, but there has been more than one exciting contest on that turf between these two teams and you never know what can happen once that opening whistle sounds.
The Broncos will look to build off the momentum they set in Kamas this Friday in a game that’s scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Join Redrock 92 Radio and StreamUtah.Live for all the action starting at 6:30.