Pyramid Sports

MT. PLEASANT– The Juan Diego Soaring Eagle team has gone undefeated through region play this season, after playing a very difficult preseason schedule. The team from Draper who proved to be too much as they visited North Sanpete High School and handed the Hawks a difficult 60-41 loss, Thursday, Feb. 1.

Coach Keisel knew that his team would have their hands full as the Soaring Eagle has seven players who can score and play very solid basketball, but he felt that if they were aggressive and played their best basketball his team would be in the game with a chance to win at the end.

Juan Diego came out of the starting game very strong and immediately put the home team down by seven, and it looked like the game might turn into a runaway freight train.

Mt. Pleasant senior Tyler Johansen stopped the bleeding for the Hawks with a three-point jumper from the left wing at the 5:30 mark in the first quarter, but the basket barely staunched the flow as the Soaring Eagle continued to extend their lead until their opening run took them to an 18-5 lead.

Refusing to hang their heads in their own gym, the Hawks fought back and scored six straight points of their own, playing stellar defense and showing patience on offense. The quarter ended with Juan Diego owning a seven-point lead, 20-13.

Both teams traded blows in the second quarter as the officials seemed to be more concerned with getting back to their homes than they were with calling fouls. The interior play was rough and fans from both sides were upset with the lack of calls. As it became obvious that the referees were going to let the physical action continue, the players upped the intensity of the defense.

Juan Diego upped their lead to 11 before the half ended, but Johansen did a good job of keeping his team in the game as he scored six of his team high nine points in the first two quarters. Junior Carson Jorgenson also had a good half as he matched Johansen’s point total.

North Sanpete came out strong in the third quarter but was unable to get much going offensively as Juan Diego had upped their defensive pressure another notch. The Hawks were only able to marshal six points in those eight minutes while the Soaring Eagle put another 14 onto their total.

Both teams added 10 points in the final stanza, but North Sanpete did it with their bench players while Juan Diego’s coach inexplicably kept his starting players in the game for all but the last two minutes. History has shown that when coaches try to run up the score that way it will inevitably come back to haunt them, and it would be nice to see him eventually get his comeuppance.

North Sanpete has two very important games to play. Feb. 7, they traveled to Delta to take on the second place Rabbits (results not available at press time). North Sanpete played well against the team from the west desert in their first meeting of the season and could sneak away from town with a win.

Friday, Feb. 9, Emery comes to town. The Spartans gave the Hawks their sole region win, and getting a second win could put North Sanpete into the playoffs. A lot could happen, but with good community and student support, North Sanpete will go to the playoffs under Coach Keisel’s first full year as head coach.