Fifty touchdowns.
That’s what San Juan’s offense needed to replace this season after multiyear starting QB Jace Palmer’s graduation.
Palmer threw for 39 touchdowns and rushed for 11 more in leading San Juan to a 2A title a year ago, but coach Barkley Christensen believed he had the perfect replacement heading into this season — a player he said eats, drinks and breathes football.
Sure enough, junior Parker Snyder fulfilled those lofty expectations, and even surpassed them on his way to leading the Broncos to a repeat state championship. Snyder rushed for three touchdowns and passed for two more as San Juan rolled past Beaver 41-21 in the 2A state championship at Utah Tech University in St. George on Friday.
His final tally for the season — 58 total touchdowns (46 passing and 12 rushing).
“He’s insane,” said Christensen, who said Snyder’s neighbors have periodically sent him videos of Snyder practicing in his backyard all by himself, sometimes even in the snow.
“He’s winning state championships in his backyard all the time and this isn’t the first one he’s won, he’s won many by himself in his backyard. He was ready for this,” said Christensen.
Snyder finished the game with 158 yards passing and 128 rushing as the San Juan racked up 413 yards of total offense compared to just 300 for Beaver.
In addition to a repeat state title and a 25th straight victory — which ranks 10th in state history — San Juan’s win also assured that a crazy 16-year pattern continued in 2A football.
State titles in 2A have been won in pairs dating back to North Summit’s back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008.
San Juan, Manti, South Summit, Beaver, South Summit, Beaver and now San Juan have all followed suit with their own back-to-back titles, but none of the seven repeat winners could ever make it a three-peat. It’s a trend the Broncos have a great shot and changing next year with roughly half of its starters returning next year — way more than it returned last year.
Snyder’s return at QB makes San Juan the instant favorites next season, but before thinking ahead to a three-peat he made sure to soak in Friday’s win while talking to the media with his teammates celebrating nearby.
“I just tried to take it all in, cause stuff like this doesn’t happen every day and I’ve been very fortunate to have been part of a program and some coaches that allows us to do this two years in a row,” said Snyder.
He said he even texted Palmer the night before to thank him for his leadership through the years and grooming him for his big season.
San Juan enjoyed a dream start to Friday’s game, with Beaver coughing the ball up at midfield on its first offensive play of the game. The Broncos turned it into an early 7-0 lead on Snyder’s first touchdown of the game.
For Beaver, it had an eerie feeling to last week’s semifinals. A week ago it was South Summit that fumbled the opening kickoff, with Beaver recovering and scoring quickly on its way to the blowout win.
In an earlier region loss to San Juan this season, Beaver fell behind 14-0 but fought back to tie it at 14-14 late in the second quarter. It wasn’t so fortunate in the rematch.
San Juan extended the lead to 27-0 by the end of the first quarter as Snyder passed for a touchdown and rushed for two more in the quarter.
After spotting the favored Broncos four touchdowns, Beaver cleaned things up on both sides of the ball and started to compete.
Tate Gale cut the deficit to 27-7 midway through the second quarter, and then he hauled in a 17-yard TD pass from Tyten Fails at the 1:03 mark of the quarter as Beaver went into the halftime suddenly only trailing 27-14 after the miserable start.
In the third quarter, Christensen said his team responded how they knew they needed to.
“I think they just realized it was slipping away from us a little bit and we’ve responded all year when things have got tough, so I didn’t have to say anything I think they already knew,” he said.
Zach Conway hauled in a 5-yard TD pass from Snyder late in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 35-14, and then Snyder finished it off with an exclamation point TD run early in the fourth.