2A high school football: Broncos stampede South Sevier

CEDAR CITY — San Juan simply overwhelmed South Sevier from the opening whistle Saturday afternoon in the 2A semifinals.

The Broncos forced six turnovers, scored a pair of defensive touchdowns and added four offensive touchdowns in a lopsided 40-13 victory at Southern Utah University.

"Turnovers in this game were so big. They got us going, everything started clicking afterwards," said San Juan's Jace Holiday, whose team scored 40 straight points before surrendering a couple of late scores.

San Juan advances to next Saturday's 2A championship game at Alta High School at 11 a.m. It will face South Summit in a rematch of a regular-season game won by San Juan 21-17.

"You can bet your life nobody is going to take anybody for granted," said San Juan coach Monty Lee about the championship game.

On Saturday, San Juan's defense forced South Sevier into three straight punts to open the game, which was actually productive considering that the Rams' next five possessions ended in turnovers.

The Broncos made the most of the turnovers in opening up a 27-0 halftime lead. Most of the damage was done in a span of two minutes.

Already leading 8-0 following Holliday's 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter, the Broncos scored again as Holiday hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Cameron Shumway just one play after an interception by Jimmy Tate.

On the first play of South Sevier's ensuing possession, Tate stripped the ball from the ball carrier and marched eight yards into the end zone to increase the lead to 21-0.

Things continued to get worse for South Sevier as it fumbled the kickoff, and Holiday quickly added another score, extending the lead to 27-0.

"We've worked so hard for this moment. We've been dreaming about this ever since we were little kids," said Holiday, who scored again early in the third quarter.

Shumway increased the lead to 40-0 by returning an interception 47 yards just a few minutes later.

Holiday finished the game with 17 carries for 89 yards and two receptions for 41 yards.

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com