3A high school football semifinals: Juan Diego defense overwhelms Park City

Juan Diego's defense was too fast.

Too fast when Park City's quarterback tried to hand the ball off to his tailback.

Too fast when Park City's quarterback tried to hand the ball off to one of his wings.

Too fast when Park City's quarterback tried to keep the ball or occasionally throw it.

Too fast, period.

Top-ranked Juan Diego jumped out to a 14-0 lead against Park City in the 3A semifinals midway through the second quarter, and that was more than enough for its defense to handle the rest of the way as the Soaring Eagle emerged with a 27-3 win Friday evening at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

After finding the end zone twice midway through the second quarter via a pair of Tyler Morales TD runs, Juan Diego didn't score again until late in the fourth quarter. But with the Soaring Eagle defense stifling Park City at almost every turn, that wasn't a problem.

"We've been watching film all week, and we figured our D-line could handle their O-line," said senior nose guard Jamie Markosian, who's anchored Juan Diego's entire defense all season. "Those are great kids, but we overpowered them. Technique (against) technique — that's what we preach, and it was great because everyone was doing their job."

That's happened more often than not this fall, and it's helped put Juan Diego one game away from winning a state championship in Class 3A. The Soaring Eagle will get their chance at the title when they square off against No. 2 Hurricane at 10:30 a.m. next Friday at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Juan Diego defensive coordinator Joe Colosimo has watched his defense overwhelm opponents throughout the fall — Juan Diego now averages just 5.31 ppg against in 13 contests — but even he's continually surprised at how solid his guys can be.

"Tonight's a fine example," he said. "Park City's got one heck of a run offense ... and I think we did a pretty good job of shutting them down. We forced them to throw, (and) they don't throw the ball much. My front seven tonight was just unbelievable."

Juan Diego amazingly held Park City star running back Dylan Chynoweth, the third leading rusher in 3A, to negative yardage (minus-2 yards on 11 carries) and limited Park City to just 75 total rushing yards.

And the Soaring Eagle forced Park City into committing turnovers — lots of them.