3A high school football: Juan Diego grinds out semifinal win

As most of its opponents can attest, the Juan Diego football team is skilled in pretty much every aspect of the game.

But, like all good teams, when things aren't going exactly according to plan the Soaring Eagle tend to go back to what works best - rushing the football.

"It's our bread and butter. It's what we work on and what we rep," Juan Diego coach John Colosimo said.

In Thursday's 3A semifinal matchup with the Wasatch Wasps, the strong-favorite Soaring Eagle found itself leading only 21-14 at halftime. But by going back to its "bread-and-butter" in the second half, Juan Diego was able to control the clock and field position, and grind out two second-half touchdowns to pull away for a 35-14 win.

"We wanted to run the clock out and keep the ball on the ground and try to score some points, and we were successful doing that," Colosimo said of his second-half game plan.

In fact, the Soaring Eagle threw the football only twice in the second half, and both were incomplete. On the ground, however, they amassed 187 yards rushing over the final two quarters – with fullback Tana Vea gaining 108 of those yards.

For the game, Juan Diego rushed for 315 yards, and Vea accounted for 187 of that amount with three TDs.

"He did a great job on both sides of the ball," Colosimo said of his bruising running back.

Oddly, Juan Diego's first two scores came via the pass. Still, both of those early TD tosses were set up by the run.

The Soaring Eagle got on the board two minutes into the game when quarterback Cody Stevenson threw to Keegan Andersen down the left sideline, with Andersen making a diving catch at the goal line for a 36-yard TD reception. On Juan Diego's next possession, Stevenson finished an 11-play, 62-yard drive with a 23-yard TD toss over the middle to Trevor McFalls.

But the Wasps, trailing 14-0, didn't head to the hive. With some quick passes from Payton Davis to receivers Cory Nielson and Alex Probst, Wasatch went 80 yards on 12 plays to trim the margin to 14-7. Running back Mike Davis finished the drive with a 4-yard TD run up the gut.

Juan Diego responded with an impressive drive of its own, coming back with a 13-play, 80-yard drive to regain its 14-point lead on a 1-yard TD plunge by Vea.

The Wasps, however, struck once again with an 88-yard scoring march. On this drive, Mike Davis had runs of 18 and 19 yards, then capped the effort with a 4-yard TD sweep around the right side.

Unfortunately for the Wasps, they began the second half from their own 5-yard line, had poor field position the rest of the way and never scored again.