By Sarah Thomas, Deseret News Published: Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010 12:09 a.m. MST
| DRAPER — In each of the past two seasons, the Juan Diego Soaring Eagle and the Hurricane Tigers met up in the final game of the season to determine the 3A state champion.
Twice the Soaring Eagle has ended the game with the higher score, and twice the deciding scoring play has come in the final seconds of the game — a Jaron Bentrude field goal with 3.2 seconds remaining in 2008 and a 31-yard touchdown pass from Cody Stevenson to Bruce Nix as time expired in 2009.
For a third consecutive season, head coach John Colosimo and his team will line up opposite coach Chris Homer and the Tigers at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Friday. And while Hurricane fans may be ready for a change, the Juan Diego faithful says they'd like to see more of the same.
"It's definitely going to be a good game," said senior captain Eric Heinz. "We have a lot of respect for their football program. They've always come out tough, given us really good games, and we're just really excited."
Linebacker Taylor Cassita added that playing the same team over and over has both its advantages and disadvantages, namely that neither team is a surprise to the other any longer.
"We're really good teams going up against each other, and we know each other's team really well. Going up against each other again and again, we know what they're doing, they know what we're doing," he said, adding, "so it (comes down to) who comes to play that day."
Despite having history on their side, though, the Juan Diego players are looking at the upcoming matchup as a single entity rather than the third installment of a series.
And while the Soaring Eagle roster is primarily made up of upperclassmen, many of the team's main contributors this season had much smaller roles a year ago. With that in mind, the idea that this title matchup is the main event for many of Colosimo's players makes sense.
"This isn't the third year, this is just our year. That's all that matters," said starting quarterback Nate Elorreaga, who saw limited time on both offense and defense as a junior a year ago.
Cassita echoed that sentiment, saying the last two years don't affect the upcoming game.
When it comes to the issue of once again coming up with a winning drive in crunch time, the Juan Diego squad just seems to have a flare for dramatic exits.
"You never know (about the deciding play coming late)," said Heinz, who caught the game-winning touchdown pass from fill-in quarterback Brock Garn in overtime against Judge in last week's semifinal game. "It depends on how our offense plays, if we start clicking or not. Hopefully we will, but if it comes down to that final play, I can trust my teammates to make that play."
Senior offensive lineman Trevor Greene agreed, saying that, "In a way you just want to jump out and not let it be up in the air until the end, because the last two games have been down to the wire."
But he trusts his team to stand strong for all 48 minutes no matter the score.
"We want to play our hardest, and all we can ask for is to do our best every single play," Greene said. "Of course we want to win the state championship, but to do our best every single play is all we can ask for."
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