The South Summit football team’s undefeated season and quest for a ninth state title came to an end on Saturday at Southern Utah University with a 21-14 loss to Beaver.
The Wildcats led 14-7 at halftime after a touchdown pass from senior quarterback Kyler Sudweeks in the first quarter and a Treyton Sargent rushing touchdown in the second. But Beaver took over in the second half and stifled South Summit’s high-octane offense. The Wildcats had scored over 45 points per game in their last six games, but they were shut out in the second half.
“A little bit of a bummer because I really think that we had a team and had the kids that can compete with Beaver,” South Summit coach Mike Grajek said. “Beaver’s a great program, but we (showed up) in the first half. We’re up 14-7 and we had opportunities that we could have even been up 21 with a couple of scores. They came out and changed a few things up offensively. We had three possessions offensively in the second half.”
Two rushing touchdowns in the second half put the Beavers on top 21-14, and South Summit’s offense didn’t find the end zone again. The Wildcats’ three possessions in the second half ended in a punt, an interception and a turnover on downs.
“Defensively, we knew going in Beaver was the only team left that had held their opponents for less points all season than us,” Grajek said. “We knew that they’re really stingy at giving up points, but we feel like we had a good game plan and executed that great in the first half.”
Grajek and his team are obviously disappointed that they couldn’t make it any further in the postseason, but they want to remember the positives. The Wildcats won their region, played 11 straight games without losing and nearly made it to another state championship game.
“I was really proud of them, proud of the boys, really came together as a team, and I’ll never forget the 2021 Wildcats,” Grajek said. “They’re numbered with some of the great teams of South Summit that have been 11-1, and so I’m really proud of them.”
Even without a state championship, Grajek won’t forget about how strong his team was both on and off the field.
“I would think the strongest attribute from this team was how much they cared about each other and how they wanted to be numbered with the great teams of South Summit,” Grajek said. “They really cared about the younger kids in the program, they really cared about the past Wildcats that had success and they wanted to be remembered with those guys.”