1A high school football: Despite 4 turnovers, Eagles beat Buckaroos

EPHRAIM — Things did not exactly go smoothly for Duchesne at times in its playoff rematch with Monticello.

The Eagles turned the ball over four times. One of those miscues led to a Monticello touchdown and two others halted drives deep into Buckaroo territory.

But Duchesne limited Monticello to 102 yards of total offense and Duchesne junior Shad Thomas intercepted the ball on consecutive fourth-quarter drives to help the Eagles grind out a 22-12 victory over the Buckaroos in the 1A semifinals at Snow College on Saturday afternoon.

Besides snagging two interceptions, Thomas threw for 81 yards and a TD. He rushed for another score.

"He's a great leader on both offense and defense," Duchesne coach Billy Hoopes said.

For Thomas, those two late picks helped him make up for a pair of interceptions he tossed earlier in the game. And they thwarted Monticello's comeback attempt.

After Braiden Despain punched the ball in from three yards out to put the Eagles ahead 22-12 with 47.9 seconds left in the third quarter, the Buckaroos drove to the Duchesne 35-yard line.

But Thomas intercepted a pass from Devin Wright at the Eagle 10. The Buckaroos forced a punt and got the ball back with 6:09 left in the game. But Thomas intercepted another pass to ice the game for the Eagles.

"It was crucial," Hoopes said. "We're on the short end of the field, giving up field position, and they're looking to score. He (came) up and made two huge plays."

Duchesne had a chance to break the game open early, only to see scoring opportunities evaporate on back-to-back turnovers.

The Eagles coughed up a fumble on the Buckaroo 36 to kill the opening drive. They drove down to the Monticello 19 on their next possession, but Wright picked off a pass from Thomas at the 3-yard line.

Duchesne finally got on the board through a special teams gaffe by Monticello. The center snapped the ball over the punter's head and the ball sailed out of the end zone to make it 2-0 with 8:51 remaining before halftime.

Thomas found Devan Jones for a 36-yard TD pass to make it 8-0 less than a minute later. The Eagles scored again on their next drive — this time on a 1-yard keeper by Thomas — to stake out a 15-0 lead.

Wright kept the game from getting out of hand with some big third-quarter plays. He returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards to set up his own 1-yard TD run that cut Duchesne's lead to 15-6.

What made his performance all the more impressive is that Wright periodically had to come out just to vomit.

"He is one heck of a player," Hoopes said. "The kid is what 1A football is all about."

e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com