Broncos enjoy success-filled Homecoming week

THE ROUND-UP
by Tad Barton
The origins of Homecoming are a topic that is tightly contested. Harvard and Yale have (informally at first) been inviting alumni back to their respective universities since the 1870’s.
Others will argue that it began in 1911, when Kansas visited Missouri in a rivalry referred to as the Border War.
Still others give the honor to Southwest University in Georgetown, TX whose alumni in 1909 raised funds, provided homes for out of town alumni, and served up a barbeque dinner to celebrate the team’s return home.
Many other schools make the claim that the event celebrated by almost every college and high school in the U.S. originated on their campuses, including Northern Illinois (1903) and Baylor (1909).
Wherever the event began, one thing is for certain, it has been bringing alumni, current students, and faculty past and present together for decades in celebration of their schools.
The Homecoming festivities at San Juan High School this year were highlighted by wins from the football team (13-0 over Enterprise) and the volleyball team (defeated Richfield in five sets).
In addition to those contests, there were many other activities throughout the week, including the Mr. San Juan Pageant, which was won by Randall Flavel; the Powder Puff football game; and the Homecoming parade.
Football
On Friday, September 21, the Broncos welcomed the Enterprise Wolves to town for the annual Homecoming football game. San Juan came out rolling, scoring on the third play of the game on a 41-yard pass and catch from Corbin Palmer to Shaw Nielson.
Levi Ward added the PAT to give the Broncos an early 7-0 lead.
The San Juan defense was solid, forcing multiple three and outs and keeping the Wolves offense at bay, stopping them from scoring the entire first half.
On offense, the Broncos had success, but despite moving the ball almost at will, San Juan didn’t find the end zone again. For the rest of the first half, the score remained 7-0.
Enterprise came out of the intermission and received the opening kickoff of the second half and began marching down the field.
Shortly after crossing midfield though, the Broncos decided Enterprise had gone far enough. On fourth and inches on the San Juan 41-yard line, the Bronco defense made a great stand, driving the Wolves running back backwards to force a turnover on downs.
The San Juan offense took advantage of the good starting field position and momentum their defense had provided and began to drive down the field.
Five plays and 22-yards later, the Broncos found their backs against the wall, facing a fourth and eight when Palmer found Porter Ivins for a ten-yard gain and a new set of downs.
The very next play, Palmer and Nielson connected again, this time from 27-yards out to put San Juan up 13-0. The point-after attempt by Ward was no good, and the score remained 13-0.
While the Broncos were unable to find the end zone the rest of the game, their defense continued its stingy ways. They kept Enterprise scoreless the rest of the night to preserve a shut out and give the Broncos the 13-0 win.
The win improves San Juan’s record to 4-2 on the year (2-0 in 2A South).
The Broncos will be back in action on Friday, September 28 in Monroe, where they will take on the South Sevier Rams at 7 p.m.
Volleyball
The Lady Bronco volleyball team also notched a big Region 15 win by defeating the Richfield Wildcats in five sets. The match was tightly contested with the Broncos jumping out to a 2-0 advantage, winning the first set 26-24, then rolling to a 25-15 win in the second.
Richfield wasn’t ready to roll over just yet and came firing back in the third set, edging San Juan 25-23 before evening things up 2-2 with a 25-19 win in the fourth set.
In the fifth and final set, the Broncos regrouped and won the set 15-6 to secure a 3-2 win and improve to 4-1 in Region 15.
At the net, Ta’ssi Su’esu’e was a force to be reckoned with, recording 25 kills in the match. Delaney Palmer and Jerika Torgersen finished with nine kills apiece and Whitnie Ivins had eight for the Broncos.
Bodell Nielson ended the night with 41 assists. Hope Holliday was strong from the service line, putting 100 percent of her serves into play, while Gracee Bowers finished with two aces and a 95 percent service percentage.
Holliday and Palmer led the way on defense. Holliday had 20 digs and Palmer finished with four blocks. Su’esu’e and Nielson also had major contributions on defense with 17 digs each.
San Juan was in Castle Dale on September 25.
The Broncos return home on Friday, September 28 to play host to the North Sanpete Hawks. The match is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.
Cross country
The San Juan cross country teams competed last week in the Carbon Invitational, hosted by Carbon High School in Price. The Lady Broncos finished sixth in the eight-team field.
San Juan was paced by Ella Lyman, who finished sixth overall with a time of 22:25. Lydia Pugh was the next Bronco to cross the finish line, running the course in 23:59.
Celeste Hillhouse ran the race in 25:20, and Joy Parker did so with a time of 26:19. The fifth and final scoring runner for the Broncos is Tasiah Little who finished in 28:37.
The boys team also ran, finishing ninth of eleven teams. Lymir Benn paced the Broncos with an 18:55. Brandon Walker was the next to complete the race, doing so in 20:54.
Alexander Lott and Spencer Jensen finished with times of 21:38 and 21:44 respectively, and Cameron Jensen wrapped up the scoring with a time of 22:06.