It also took Soaring Eagle coach John Colosimo laying down the gauntlet in the locker room at intermission, challenging his team to put an end to the turnover and the penalties. The sigh of relief, however, came in the third quarter when Zach Kinniger took a handoff up the middle, broke about a hundred tackles and raced to the endzone for a 71-yard touchdown. The score allowed Juan Diego to erase a touchdown deficit. It also catapulted the Soaring Eagle to a 21-7 win, a Region 8 championship and an undefeated regular season.
With the victory over the previously unbeaten Rabbits, Juan Diego enters the Class 3A playoffs with a top seed. If form holds true, the Soaring Eagle would meet defending state champion Logan in a quarterfinal showdown.
"Zach's play was huge," Colosimo said. "You could see the kids take a deep breathe. That play allowed the kids to do what they did best."
On this Friday night, before seemingly the entire town of Delta, the best of Juan Diego rested on its huge offensive line. Time and again the line opened up huge holes for the Soaring Eagle backs to run through. Juan Diego runs an offensive that includes a few option looks. But truthfully, old school smashmouth football was the key against a Delta defensive line that wore down steadily as the game matured.
That running game opened up the play action fake, which led to tight ends Tyler Bauman and Jacob Doughty running loose in the secondary, which led to a pair of important plays down the stretch.
The first belonged to Doughty, who caught a 24 yard pass down to Delta's eight yardline. That led to Tana Vea's six yard touchdown run that supplied Juan Diego with a 14-7 lead and proved to be the winning score.
The second was Bauman's eight yard touchdown catch from Brian May. That was the dagger as the Soaring Eagle went up two touchdowns. Bauman also provided Juan Diego with an interception late in the fourth quarter. It allowed the Soaring Eagle to take a knee and end the game.
"It felt great to go out there and contribute," Bauman said. "I didn't have a very good first half, and I was kind of down on myself. But my teammates never let me get too down, and it was great to go out there and make some big plays."
Delta's defense, which shut out five opponents this season, was stout in the first half, never letting a potent Juan Diego offense off the snide. The Rabbits defense let Dayton DeLoach score the first touchdown of the game, a one-yard plunge up the middle."
