Broncos ranked second in preseason football poll

by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
With the opening kickoff of the 2022 football season for local high schools less than a month away, the Deseret News has released its annual preseason rankings for teams in all six classifications across the state.
Locally, the defending 2A state champion San Juan Broncos weigh in at #2, just edged out of the top spot in the classification by 2021 runner-up Beaver. The Broncos received three first-place votes while the Beavers had five.
San Juan was head and shoulders above everyone else in 2A last season as nearly every starter returned from the previous season. This year the Broncos are breaking in an entirely new crew of contributors.
Beaver won state titles in 2019 and 2020 but like San Juan they have a lot of question marks as they will also need to replace a big chunk of starters from last year’s runner-up team. South Summit, Summit Academy, and Emery round out the 2A top five.
Based on the voting for the rankings this season, the chase for state titles is as wide open as it’s been in years. Only two of the six defending state champions begin the year ranked #1 in their respective classification, while at least three teams received first-place votes in four of the six classifications.
But being ranked first in the preseason is no guarantee of success, as only one of the teams ranked #1 in the preseason – Duchesne – ended up winning the state title.
Incidentally, the Broncos will open their season at home August 12 against the team that garnered the top 1A spot in the Des News preseason rankings.
Layton Christian lost to Duchesne in the 2021 1A title game, but with eight returning starters in 2022 the Eagles open as the team to beat in the state’s smallest classification.
Each year, the Deseret News asks every football coach in the state to vote for the top five teams in their classification. They are not permitted to vote for their own team. The votes are tallied and five points are assigned for a first-place vote, four for second place, etc.