San Juan football team wins seventh straight

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School football team won their seventh game in a row on Friday, October 4 in dominant fashion over Grand County 59-6 in Moab.
The heavily-favored Broncos have had their way over their rivals to the north for some time. They now own a 49-31 edge in the all-time series between the teams going back to 1956.
San Juan has won the last six meetings in a row, nine of the last ten, and 17 of the last 20. They left little to the imagination this past Friday after Jagger Nieves returned the game’s opening kickoff 81 yards to the house.
The Bronco defense smothered the Red Devil offense and San Juan scored at will, increasing their lead to 34-0 after one quarter and 53-0 at halftime. The clock was allowed to run for a portion of the second quarter in an effort to stop the bleeding.
When the San Juan junior varsity and, eventually, C-team came into the game they continued to assert their will on both sides of the ball. Still, the Red Devils were able to punch in one touchdown late in the game against the C-team defense.
The Broncos forced three Grand County turnovers and returned two for defensive touchdowns. Jagger Nieves was outrageous, scoring five touchdowns in the lopsided win.
In addition to the kickoff return, he scored on a run, a reception, a fumble return, and an interception return. He literally was running out of ways to score a touchdown in a football game.
Jaiten Knight threw for 213 yards and four touchdowns. Along with Nieves, Branten Bethea, Owen Adams, and Javin Montella all made a TD catch each. And JD Palmer gashed the Red Devils for another rushing touchdown.
Palmer also led the team with 11 tackles in Moab. Jake Ivins and Jagger Nieves collected seven apiece and George McNaughtan had six.
The Broncos sacked Grand quarterback Austin Paris seven times and hurried him another seven times. He was visibly frustrated throughout the game.
Not surprisingly, Nieves advanced in a couple statistical categories due to his impressive performance agains the Red Devils.
He is now second in the state with his 20 total touchdowns on the year and second in scoring with 120 points. He trails Roy’s Robert Young in both of those categories.
The Broncos are returning to Blanding this week for the final home game of the regular season. It’s Senior Night when they host the Delta Rabbits looking to win their fourth region title in a row.
San Juan is also looking for their 26th win in a row on their home turf, and regarding that bit of information a correction is needed.
In the October 2 issue of the San Juan Record I reported that the Broncos’ last home loss was to Grantsville on September 13, 2019.
But they lost two games at home that season, and the last time was actually in the 3A state first round to Richfield on October 25, 2019.
Delta has a 4-4 overall record, but they’re 2-0 in region play. Their wins came over Parowan, Summit Academy, South Sevier, and Grand County. The losses are to Millard, North Sanpete, Richfield, and last week to Milford.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. this Friday, October 11. Join Redrock 92 and StreamUtah.Live for all the action starting at 6:30 p.m.