Of the 36 straight wins that San Juan football now has, a state semifinal playoff game wasn’t supposed to be one of the easiest.
But after seven touchdowns and a safety in just the first half, the No. 1 Broncos were purely untouchable in a 51-0 blowout of No. 5 Summit Academy in the 2A semis at Zions Bank Stadium to win their 36th straight game and secure their bid to play for a third consecutive state championship.
In just the first half, the Broncos racked up 335 yards of total offense and held the Bears to just 93 while building a 44-0 lead.
San Juan senior quarterback Parker Snyder completed 11 of 12 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns before halftime while senior running back Zack Conway rumbled for 41 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries as the Broncos gathered up 123 rushing yards by halftime.
San Juan went almost entirely to its second unit for the second half and still kept Summit Academy off the board as the defense picked up two interceptions and held the Bears to a combined 3 of 22 on third and fourth-down conversion attempts.
San Juan coach Barkley Christensen said that avoiding complacency in the midst of the Broncos’ dominant win streak “is hard,” but he imprinted a motto on the team of “Leave a Legacy.”
“They worked it into existence,” Christensen said. “It feels good to see all their hard work pay off.”
San Juan dominated the game almost from the get-go. After forcing a turnover on downs on Summit’s promising first drive, the Broncos drove down the field in just six plays and scored on a 9-yard run by Conway.
After leading 14-0 in the first quarter, San Juan turned on the afterburners in the second, piling on 30 points as Snyder threw for two touchdowns.
As an early exclamation point, the Broncos’ defense capitalized on a bad snap by the Bears into the end zone, getting to quarterback Kyan Anderson to notch a safety for a 30-0 lead with over six minutes to go in the quarter.
The motivating factor for the Broncos after three seasons worth of dominance?
“Just winning, man,” Snyder said.
Added Christensen: “These kids love to win. They’re the most competitive group I’ve ever seen.”
San Juan delivered a historic defensive benchmark, handing Summit Academy just its second shutout loss in the school’s 11-year football history.
“We knew we had a great offense, but our defense is going to catch up, too,” Christensen said. “The first game, we gave up 44, and that was kind of a fluke.”
San Juan’s championship defense will be against either No. 3 Layton Christian or No. 2 South Summit. The Broncos will also have a shot at completing the season with a 37-game winning streak, which would be the third-longest streak in state history.