Bronco football team gets second-half offensive spark to distance Summit Acad

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
The San Juan High School football team ran their record to three wins and one loss this past Friday, September 5 with a 50-29 win over Summit Academy in Bluffdale.
It was the Broncos’ most lopsided win of the young season in their first matchup with another 2A team and looked a bit more like what San Juan fans have come to expect over the past four seasons.
The game began tentatively as the cross-region rivals wrestled with each other, trading scoreless possessions for most of the first quarter before San Juan finally drew first blood 11 minutes into the game.
Quarterback Beau Yeomans completed a pass behind the line of scrimmage to Tripp Palmer who cut upfield and streaked past all the Summit Academy defenders 61 yards to the house.
Jagger Nieves then ran the ball into the end zone for a two-point conversion, giving San Juan an 8-0 lead.
The Bears were unable to answer the Broncos’ opening score on their next possession though they drove the ball slowly into San Juan territory, taking over five minutes off the clock.
Starting from their own 20 after a Summit Academy punt resulted in a touchback, the Broncos drove down to the Bears’ ten yard line, taking four more minutes off the clock.
From there Nieves ran the ball into the end zone for San Juan’s second touchdown. Again the Broncos converted a two-point try when Yeomans hit Palmer with a pass, stretching the lead to 16-0.
It took Summit Academy just over three minutes to answer with their first scoring drive of the night. From the San Juan 17, Bears quarterback Preston MacKowiak hit Beau Edmunds with a beautiful pass into the end zone, making the score 16-6.
San Juan’s next possession was cut short when Yeomans threw his second interception of the first half and Talon Hill returned it back to the 32 yard line for Summit Academy.
The Bronco engineered some strong red zone defense, not allowing a touchdown, but as time expired in the first half Noah Cruwys came on and hit a 29-yard field goal to pull the Bears back to within seven points at 16-9.
The Summit Academy defense was obviously well-prepared for the San Juan offense and had done an excellent job keeping the main offensive weapon, Jagger Nieves, in check in the first half.
In need of an adjustment the Broncos unleashed their secret weapon in the second half – backup running back Jayce Raisor.
The junior rattled off 37 yards on three carries before the Bear defense knew what had hit them, putting San Juan in great position in Summit Academy territory.
From there Nieves rumbled the ball 15 yards deeper as the Broncos employed a two-back formation in earnest for the first time this season.
Summit Academy called a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but the damage was done.
Nieves and Raisor combined to carry the ball inside the five where Yeomans took over to take it into the end zone for his fourth rushing touchdown of the season just two minutes into the second half.
With the Broncos up 24-9 Summit Academy got a nice play when MacKowiak connected with Edmunds again on a 49-yard pass to the San Juan 20.
But the Bronco defense got a huge fourth-down stop when they gang-tackled Bear receiver Beckham Meredith a yard shy of a first down at the 11, forcing a turnover on downs.
As the San Juan offense took over, Raisor immediately rattled off a 27-yard run to the 38 yard line and the Broncos were off to the races.
Two plays later Yeomans hit Tripp Palmer with a 52-yard pass to the Summit Academy ten, and two more plays later he hit Palmer again for a touchdown pass, stretching the lead to 30-9.
For the remaining 17 minutes of the game the teams traded scoring possessions, combining for six more touchdowns.
The Broncos ultimately led 50-23 before the Bears concluded the scoring with a late touchdown against San Juan’s junior varsity defense, making the final score 50-29.
San Juan amassed 577 yards of total offense in the win. Yeomans passed for 207 of those yards and two touchdowns. Four running backs combined to carry the ball 370 yards and scored five TDs.
Jagger Nieves led the way with 169 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns, but Jayce Raisor came on in the second half to run for 145 yards on just 11 carries.
He provided a fresh spark to the offense and scored his first rushing touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter, a beautiful 44-yarder up the middle that gave the Broncos a 42-17 lead.
Yeomans carried the ball six times for 31 yards and two touchdowns. And junior Thomas Hardin also got in on the action, running for 25 yards on six carries.
Tripp Palmer caught five of Yeomans’s passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Nache Young had one catch for 28 yards, Brigg Palmer had three catches for 28 yards, and Nieves caught two passes for 13 yards.
Jayce Raisor rounded out a very impressive night co-leading the defense with ten tackles. George McNaughtan also had ten stops on the night, including three sacks and five tackles for loss.
Jonas Jeppesen collected nine tackles in the win, Thomas Hardin had eight, Quincy Singer got six, and Jagger Nieves had five.
Pearce Holliday accounted for San Juan’s only takeaway on the night, a special-teams fumble recovery on a muffed kickoff in the fourth quarter.
This week the Broncos are gearing up for another cross-region test. They’ll travel to Kamas, UT for the first time since 2018 to take on South Summit.
The Wildcats won that matchup handily 56-13, but this will be the first time the teams have met since San Juan beat them 43-28 in the 2023 2A State Championship Game in Cedar City.
Summit Academy is 2-2 coming into the game with close losses to Duchesne and Juab and lopsided wins over North Summit and Ben Lomond.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. this Friday, September 12 in what should be an exciting battle. Join Redrock 92 Radio and StreamUtah.Live for all the action beginning with the pregame at 6:30.