South Summit enjoyed its most impressive defensive performance of the season during Saturday’s 2A semifinal, and now it gets a chance to avenge its most disappointing defensive performance.
The third-seeded Wildcats forced four turnovers and bottled up No. 2 South Sevier’s offense all game for the emphatic 34-0 win at Southern Utah University.
Next up is a date with four-time state champ San Juan in the 2A state championship next Saturday, a team it was humbled by 69-21 in a regular season matchup back in September.
“I’m glad we get another chance against them, because I don’t think our outing last time was what we are,” said South Summit first-year coach Levi Thompson.
“I was hoping we’d get another chance, me and the team. Just kind of one of those nights we were missing a few guys, and we just let them get on us early and it was just hard for us to get turned around. They’re a good team, there’s no question about it.”
Duplicating Saturday’s defensive effort will go a long way to giving South Summit a fighting chance.
It held South Sevier to 260 yards of total offense and only allowed 5 of 16 third-down conversions. Offensively, even though the Wildcats had some struggles, they were opportunistic in turning three of South Summit’s giveaways into 17 points.
South Summit’s defense then got in on the scoring on a 76-yard pick six in the final minute by Bryce Pulver.
“Our defense through the year, we’ve been getting better, and we knew this game we needed to focus on our defense,” Thompson said.
“We know our offense can score. They had a few mishaps today, but at the end of day we know we got to have defense, especially going into next week.”
South Summit’s offense turned the ball over three times as well, but they weren’t nearly as damaging. Two came in the fourth quarter with the outcome well in hand, and the third came just before halftime and South Sevier didn’t have enough time to truly capitalize.
Ball security was a narrative for both teams after the game. For South Sevier it will wonder what could’ve been had it not gifted South Summit so many extra possessions. Conversely, the Wildcats know they can’t turn the ball over three times in the championship game next week and expect to win for the seventh game in a row.
South Summit got on the board first late in the first quarter as William Neff booted a 28-yard field goal to cap an impressive 15-play drive by the Wildcats that stalled inside the red zone.
A pair of second-quarter turnovers by South Sevier in close succession helped the Wildcats extend that lead. Neff recovered the Rams’ first fumble at the 10:25 mark of the second quarter, and even though South Summit only gained six yards it was already in field goal range as Neff also kicked a 23-yarder for the 6-0 lead.
South Sevier fumbled again just two plays into its next drive, with Iann Andruschenko recovering at the 30 yard line. South Summit capitalized quickly, with quarterback Ian Mair connecting with Neff on a 23-yard touchdown pass into the corner of the end zone for the 13-0 lead with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
“It was big for us to get up 13-0 there. We knew we had to get on them early, and we did,” said Thompson.
South Sevier’s offense seemed to sense the urgency after falling behind 13-0. It finally picked up a first down, and then another, and four more later it had driven the ball to the Wildcats’ 17 yard line.
The drive stalled though with under three minutes remaining as the score stayed 13-0 heading into the half.
South Sevier’s ball security didn’t get better after halftime. It fumbled near midfield on its opening drive, with South Summit’s Blake Osguthorpe recovering.
South Summit turned that takeaway into points nine plays later on a two-yard TD run by Theus Reed for the 20-0 lead with 5:18 left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats finished the game with 350 yards offense, with 244 coming on the ground led by Brody Larsen who finished with 94 yards on 17 carries.
Pulver added 64 yards on 13 carries.