San Juan football team takes second in 7-on-7

by Barkley Christensen
San Juan High School Football Head Coach
The San Juan High School football team took their annual trip to Manti High School for their yearly 7-on-7 passing tournament and lineman challenge Friday and Saturday, June 21-22.
Teams representing all six Utah classifications were in attendance this year. The Broncos took 70 players to compete in the varsity, junior varsity, and C-team levels.
San Juan got a good start in the varsity passing tournament, beating a very familiar Emery Spartans team 22-12. It was an interesting matchup because both Emery and San Juan have replaced a number of players from their 2023 rosters.
After beating Emery the Broncos took on the 2023 3A State Runners-up and tournament host Manti. In a very defensive matchup San Juan ultimately fell short, losing to the Templars 17-9.
In the bright spots of that game the San Juan defense made three interceptions against one of the best quarterbacks in the state in Mason Starkweather.
The Broncos learned a lot in the loss and went into their next game against a very strong up-and-coming North Summit team from the 1A. The Bronco offense found their stride again and toppled the Braves 28-20.
To close out pool play San Juan faced the top-ranked 3A team heading into the 2024 season, Morgan in another tough battle. The Bronco offense drove inside the Trojan five yard line three times, but the drives stalled and San Juan ultimately lost the game 19-14.
San Juan finished pool play with a 2-2 record but took on some of the top teams in the tournament and learned a number of lessons from their losses.
The team entered the 16-team single-elimination tournament seeded eighth. They opened against #9-seed North Summit and beat the Braves a second time The win brought the Broncos to their toughest matchup of the day against #1-seeded Richfield who were 4-0 on the day and are the defending 3A State Champions.
The Wildcats have one of the best receivers in the state in Gage Yardley. He has multiple scholarship offers from teams like Utah State and Utah Tech universities.
The game was a back-and-forth battle but San Juan was able to put the lessons they learned from their two losses to good use, beating a very good team 23-15 and punching their ticket to the semifinal round and a chance at redemption against Manti.
In the second meeting with the Templars the Bronco offense was fantastic and slot receiver and running back Jagger Nieves was brilliant. San Juan took an impressive win 22-13, earning a championship game matchup with the Morgan Trojans.
Not surprisingly it was a was a back-and-forth physical affair and the Broncos found themselves in a little bit of a hole early in the game. Morgan scored to increase their lead to 20-12 with two minutes left in the game.
On their final possession San Juan marched the ball down to the five yard line with 20 seconds remaining. Unfortunately two dropped passes thwarted their effort to tie the game but the Broncos hustled back to the line and snapped the ball with just one second left.
Quarterback Jaiten Knight threw a 50/50 jump ball to receiver Owen Adams who was dragged to the ground by a Trojan defender before the ball arrived. The referee kept his flag in his pocket and the Broncos lost a heartbreaker to a very good Morgan team.
The San Juan junior varsity team went 5-2 at the 7-on-7 tourney, losing in the semifinals. The C-team was 5-1 and also lost in the semifinal round.
The lineman Challenge teams also performed amazingly. The varsity team took second place and the JV team won their competition.
All in all, a relatively inexperienced San Juan team showed Head Coach Barkley Christensen a lot during the weekend. They battled very good teams and showed they can play with anyone in the state.
Everyone played exceptionally and the future is very bright at San Juan High School. Christensen is very pleased with their effort and sees every indication that the team is highly capable of winning a fourth-straight state championship this season.
He couldn’t be prouder of his players and how they competed. The lessons the team learned on their trip to Manti are without a doubt going to help the team prepare for the upcoming season.