Juan Diego flies out of reach of the Hawks
By James Tilson
Staff writer
Sept. 21, 2017
MT. PLEASANT — After playing a series of close, tough games, the North Sanpete High School Hawks fell to the Juan Diego Soaring Eagle last Friday, Sept. 15 by the score 36-0.
The game started off with a bang for the Hawks. Taking the first possession of the night, the Hawks drove the length of the field to get a first and goal from the 5 yard line.
However, two penalties pushed the Hawks back to the 23, where a pass by quarterback Spencer Steadman was intercepted by the Soaring Eagle, giving Juan Diego the ball on its own 6 yard line.
From there, Juan Diego did not look back. Using a no-huddle, option-based offense, the Soaring Eagle marched down the field in a 17-play drive that stretched over two quarters to take the lead 7-0.
After the Juan Diego score, the Hawks got the ball back on the kick-off, but a Steadman pass was intercepted again, which resulted in a “pick-6” touchdown for Juan Diego and pushed the score to 13-0.
The half ended with Juan Diego taking advantage of a bad punt and resulting good field position to score again, bringing the score to 19-0.
The second half was more of the same, as Juan Diego scored three more times relying on its efficient rushing attack.
For the night, Juan Diego ran the ball 44 times for 251 yards. The Soaring Eagle passed the ball only eight times, and not at all in the second half, for 84 yards.
Almost all of the Hawks offense came on its first drive. On that drive, the Hawks gained 75 yards and five first downs. For the rest of the game, the Hawks got 23 yards and two first downs.
Keegan Eliason led all Hawks runners with 10 rushes for 44 yards. The Hawk passing game, which had been fairly effective, deserted them this night. Spencer Steadman finished the game 2 of 15 for 8 yards, with two interceptions.
This week, the Hawk, who are 0-5 for the season, travel to Bluffdale to face the Summit Academy Bear Friday at 7 p.m. The Bears are 4-1 for the season, including 1-0 in conference play.
