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Draper • Juan Diego has maintained its top spot in The Tribune's Class 3A rankings the entire season. Despite the controversy surrounding the program venturing down into the lower classification, the Soaring Eagle have enjoyed their customary strong start to the year, with their only loss in six games occurring against 4A's Murray.
The Draper-based private school elected to move down in classification from 3AA to 3A for football in the UHSAA recent realignment, which spurred an identical debate created by Judge Memorial's dominance the past two seasons.
The Bulldogs won two consecutive titles in the 3A classification, earning a collective record of 23-3 — with an undefeated mark against opponents within the same class — before making the leap to 3AA this season. During those two seasons, Judge's average margin of victory was 37-15, including beating Juab 63-14 in the state championship game in 2014 — a game in which it led 49-0 at halftime.
But this is where it gets tricky: The Bulldogs are 1-5 this season in the 3AA classification, with their only win against independent and winless Ogden. Juan Diego went 5-5 in 3AA in 2014, illustrating that the two private institutions are obviously caught somewhere in the middle.
"I feel like that might be true," said junior running back Ryan Baker when asked if he felt the 3A classification was rooting against Juan Diego. "I've never really thought about that, actually. I can definitely see some people that think of us as the new Judge."
Regardless of outsiders' perceptions, players at Juan Diego understand they can only play the games scheduled for them, and so far they've handling that pretty well.
"That's always tough, with us being such a small school. I don't really have an opinion on [which classification]. I just play the game, I just do what I'm told, and hopefully we get a win," Baker said. "I, personally, think it's whatever you want to think. It's not a big deal either way."
Baker, who started last season as a sophomore, said he "can honestly say that I haven't noticed much of a difference" about the quality of competition this season, using Juan Diego's 35-21 win against Morgan as an example. That game was tied 14-14 at halftime, and was separated by one touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Alex Hoffman echoed that sentiment.
"We don't have a lot of depth on our team. If one player gets hurt, we're putting in sophomores. We're a couple injuries away from not looking good," Hoffman said. "I think there are a lot of really good teams [in 3A]. I mean, Morgan, we're a couple plays away from losing that game. It's going to be tough the rest of the way through league and in the playoffs."
Wins are never handouts, and, as Baker pointed out, Juan Diego is putting in the work needed to be successful, and the program deserves the recognition and respect, despite opinions on whether it belongs in a higher classification this season.
"Our coaches do a great job of telling us where to go and we have an easy way of doing it," Baker explained. "They stay every Friday night — they don't go home 'cause they watch film for us. They go the extra yard to make sure we're prepared, and I think that's why we're so successful."
Twitter: @trevorphibbs —
Juan Diego's 2015 results
After going 5-5 last season as a member of Class 3AA, Juan Diego moved down to 3A this season and is 5-1 so far, with its only loss to 4A's Murray:
Date Opponent (Class) Result
Aug. 21 West Jordan (5A) W, 43-33
Aug. 28 Manti (3A) W, 28-0
Sept. 4 Snow Canyon (3AA) W, 27-24 (2OT)
Sept. 11 Murray (4A) L, 28-7
Sept. 18 Morgan (3A) W, 35-21
Sept. 25 Union (3A) W, 35-0 —
Friday's schedule
Alta at Spanish Fork
Altamont at Monticello
American Fork at Lone Peak
American Leadership at Gunnison
Bingham at Cottonwood
Bonneville at Stansbury
Brighton at Sky View
Carbon at Morgan
Cedar at Hurricane
Clearfield at Weber
Copper Hills at Taylorsville
Cyprus at Skyline
Davis at Granger
Desert Hills at Pine View
Diamond Ranch at Parowan
East at Bountiful
Emery at Union
Enterprise at South Sevier
Grand at Beaver
Hillcrest at Olympus
Juab at Canyon View
Juan Diego at Grantsville
Kanab at Milford
Kearns at Murray
Layton Christian at Duchesne
Lehi at Viewmont
Logan at Bear River
Manti at Delta
Maple Mountain at Uintah
Millard at North Summit
Mountain Crest at Roy
North Sanpete at Richfield
Northridge at Fremont
Ogden at Box Elder
Park City at Judge
Pleasant Grove at Herriman
San Juan at North Sevier
Springville at Wasatch
Summit Academy at South Summit
Syracuse at Layton
Tooele at Ben Lomond
Wayne at Rich, 4 p.m.
West at Hunter
West Jordan at Jordan
Westlake at Riverton
Woods Cross at Highland
All games 7 p.m. except where noted