PARK CITY — Nothing that Juan Diego quarterback Nathan Elorreaga did during the week prepared him for the situation he faced against Park City.
Elorreaga had practiced exclusively with the Soaring Eagle junior varsity team. But when starting quarterback Cody Stevenson went down with an ankle injury after just a quarter of play, the understudy found himself being thrust into action — even though he didn't feel at all ready for it at that point.
"When I got out there, I was a little nervous because I hadn't got reps this week for varsity," Elorreaga said. "Everyone was encouraging me to step up. They knew I could do it. I knew I could do it."
That missing practice time seemed to matter little in crunch time. With Elorreaga at the helm, the Soaring Eagle mounted an impressive fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Miners 31-14 on Friday evening.
In one quarter, Juan Diego managed to undo three quarters of futility that preceded it. The Soaring Eagle totaled 115 yards and scored on all three of their fourth-quarter drives. To put it in perspective, Juan Diego had totaled just 136 yards before that point.
Helping their cause was the fact that the Soaring Eagle managed to shut Park City down cold on the offensive end. After giving up 220 yards and a pair of touchdowns to the Miners before halftime, Juan Diego allowed just 38 yards in the second half, and all of those came on a meaningless final drive.
Before that drive, Park City accumulated -1 yard of total offense through most of the final two quarters.
"We just knew we had to be better in the second half," Soaring Eagle running back Tana Vea said. "Our defensive players just stepped up and we love them for that. We're a defensive team."
Initially, the Miners had their way with the Soaring Eagle. After Stevenson found Bruce Nix for a 33 yard touchdown pass to give Juan Diego a 7-0 lead, Park City made some big plays to seize momentum. Erik Walker broke through the middle and sprinted down the sideline for a 54 yard touchdown that made it 7-7. The Miners increased their advantage to 14-7 when Dylan Chynoweth punched it from two yards out.
Juan Diego chipped away at the lead a little in the third quarter when Jaron Bentrude hit a 21 yard field goal to make it 14-10. It offered some redemption to Bentrude who had missed a pair from longer distances in the first half.
From there, the floodgates opened. Juan Diego scored on all three of its remaining drives. The Soaring Eagle took the lead for good at 17-14 on Vea's 19 yard run just two minutes into the final quarter.
Preparing for Park City was made easier by the fact that Juan Diego had seen many of the same players in the 3A semifinals last fall when they beat the Miners on the way to capturing their first 3A state title.
"We felt like we knew them very well," Soaring Eagle coach John Colosimo said. "They run a similar offense to what we run, so we felt like we understood what they were going to do. We made a few adjustments from last time and we tried to anticipate some of things they might do against us."
e-mail: jcoon@desnews.com