High school football: San Juan outlasts South Summit in epic 107-point 2A semifinal

San Juan found itself in very, very unfamiliar territory during Friday’s 2A semifinal against South Summit. During its 16-game playoff winning streak spanning six seasons, San Juan never once trailed in the fourth quarter of any of those games. Running clocks were the norm in the fourth quarters, not tense third and fourth downs. In Friday’s semifinal though, San Juan trailed upset-minded South Summit for nearly nine minutes during the fourth quarter as its bid for a sixth straight title was in jeopardy. The Broncos, however, showed tremendous grit to battle through that rare adversity to prevail in the instant classic. In a game that featured 920 yards of total offense, two kick return touchdowns and the most points ever scored by a losing team in a regulation playoff game in state history, No. 1 seed San Juan rallied for the 57-50 win over No. 4 seed South Summit at Zions Bank Stadium. “I don’t know if I’ve been in a game like that in in my 10-year coaching career,” said San Juan coach Barkley Christensen. “The Emery game in the semifinals a couple years ago was somewhat similar, but I felt like we got a little more stops that game. “I’ve never seen two kick returns. It was wild, but we’re very fortunate to be on the winning side of this one.” San Juan quarterback Beau Yeomans, who accounted for three TDs in the win, said playing in such a high-scoring game was a blast, but admitted the Broncos were fortunate to escape with the win after perhaps overlooking a South Summit team it beat by 30 points in the regular season two months ago. “We knew they were going to give everything they had, and I think we took it a little bit for granted at some points in time and just thought that we were going to win cause we’re San Juan, so next week we’ve got to come out and take care of business out of the gate,” said Yeomans. San Juan seemed to be in good shape with 11:02 remaining in the fourth quarter when Yeomans’ 1-yard TD run and the ensuing two-point conversion by Randall Black gave the Broncos the 43-42 lead. On the ensuring kick return though, Jesse Clegg raced 97 yards into the end zone, giving his team the 50-43 lead after QB Ian Mair’s two-point conversion run. Desperately in need of a response, San Juan’s offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs. The defense came through though, forcing a fumble as the Broncos regained position in great field position. San Juan punched it into the end zone seven plays later on the third of Brigg Palmer’s four rushing touchdowns, but Yeomans was stuffed on his two-point conversion attempt as South Summit retained the 50-49 lead. Once again, San Juan’s defense got a stop, putting the ball back in the offense’s hand with five minutes remaining. “They came up big when our defense absolutely needed a stop. They haven’t been tested like that for a couple weeks now, and for them to gut that thing out shows a lot,” said Christensen. Yeomans methodically marched San Juan 68 yards in 14 plays, with Palmer punching in the go-ahead score on a four-yard burst with 1:29 remaining in the game. Despite the pressure packed moment and rare circumstances, Yeomans said the offense was prepared for that situation. “Every day at practice we practice two-minute drills, driving the field, scoring, so I’m going to have to give that one to our coaches for having us prepared for this game,” said Yeomans. After San Juan went ahead 57-50, South Summit’s offense still had 90 seconds for a response, but it ended with Kooper Laws’ interception near midfield with 30 seconds remaining. “These guys have been on state championship teams, but they’ve never earned it themselves and I think today they got a taste of what actually having to earn a state championship is,” said Christensen. San Juan finished the game with 515 yards of total offense, compared to 405 for South Summit. Yeomans passed for 301 yards, while Palmer rushed for 146 yards to go along with his four TDs. It became clear pretty early in Friday’s game the offenses had the upper hand after the first six offensive possessions all ended in touchdowns as the teams traded big play after big play. Tied 21-21 three minutes into the second quarter, the defenses finally put their stamp on the game with back-to-back forced fumbles, the latter of which gave San Juan the ball back. Three plays later, Palmer marched into the end zone for his second rushing TD of the game, putting the Broncos back in front 27-21. Late in the half after both defenses forced punts, South Summit found itself facing a fourth and 4 at San Juan’s 20 yard line. Mair threw a laser straight up the seam to Clegg, who caught it in traffic for the duo’s second TD connection of the first half and the 28-27 lead. The fireworks weren’t over in the epic first half. Randall scooped up the squib kick off and raced 85 yards virtually untouched up the left sideline for his first kick return TD of the season, giving the Broncos the 35-28 halftime lead. That first half was a great wakeup call for Christensen’s team. “They just played so hard,” he said of the Wildcats. “They were physical. I told our kids at halftime it seems like one team thinks they’re going to be in the championship, one team’s fighting for the championship and they showed they wanted that game a hell of a lot more than we did.” San Juan, however, made the plays necessary in the second half to move within one win of another state title.