On Halloween afternoon, the Emery Spartans traveled to Bluffdale for their quarterfinal contest in the 2A State Football Championships. The Spartans couldn’t have written a better script for the first half, but the Summit Academy Bears shut things down in the second, outscoring Emery 48-7 to take a 48-14 win, ending the Spartans’ season.
Emery ended the season with a 3-7 overall record, going 2-2 in region play, earning them the No. 5 spot in the final RPI. On the flip side, Summit Academy sits at 6-5 with a 3-1 region mark, landing at No. 4. These two teams have a history in the playoffs. In 2023, the Bears edged the Spartans 45-44 in the quarterfinals, and just last year Emery handed them a 31-20 loss in the semifinals, sending them to the State Championship game.
The first half was about the two teams becoming reacquainted, as each team had opportunities but couldn’t capitalize on them. Toward the end of the first quarter, Emery had something brewing as they made their way inside the red zone. Then, early in the second quarter, Beau Stilson found Garrett Conover with a five-yard pass, and Conover would find the pylon to put the Spartans on the board. AJjay Thomas’ extra point gave them the 7-0 lead.
The Spartans’ defense would hold the Bears off the board as Summit Academy marched its way down the field using the legs of running back Liam Larson. Just when it looked like he would punch a 13-yard run into the end zone for a touchdown, he fumbled the ball on the one, and the Spartans recovered it. After Emery went three and out, a Jadin Atwood punt out of his own end zone, and a penalty that wiped away a great return from Summit Academy, placed the Bears on the Spartan 46-yard line. Summit Academy quarterback Preston Mackowiak tried to test the waters deep with a pass that came up just short and was picked off by Emery’s Krae Leroy. Emery would move the ball, but came up short, and with time running out in the first half, Mackowiak would once again throw up a desperation heave that Emery’s Gideon Mecham picked off as time expired, and Emery took a 7-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
If the first half belonged to the Spartans, the second half belonged to Summit Academy, and running back Larson and wide receiver Beckham Mereidtih were front and center. The Bears had the ball first in the second half and marched down the field once again, only this time Larson punched it in on a 16-yard run to get Summit Academy on the board and tie the game at 7-7. Emery would get the ball to midfield, but the Bears’ defense rose to the occasion to stop the drive. The Spartans attempted a fake punt, but Summit Academy shut it down, taking over around midfield. Six plays later, Larson would cross the goal line once again to give the Bears the lead for the first time in the contest at the 5:33 mark in the third quarter.
On the next Emery possession, the Spartans moved the ball down the field, taking their time and using what the defense gave them, until Stilson found Conover once again, this time across the middle for the 30-yard touchdown pass. The Thomas extra point tied it at 14-14. It would be short-lived as the Bears would score 14 seconds later on an 80-yard run by Larson to put the Bears up 21-14. The Bears would add another score before the end of the third on a 40-yard pass to Brayden Dieters.
Summit Academy took to the air in the fourth with Meredith grabbing a pair of touchdown passes and adding a punt return for a touchdown as well, closing out the Spartans 48-14, to advance and take on the San Juan Broncos in Cedar City on Saturday.
Check back with Castle Country Radio for the end-of-season wrap-up and interview with Emery head coach Jon Faimalo on KOAL’s Drive Time Sports.