Beaver rolls into Saturday’s 2A semifinals at Southern Utah University in the midst of a 24-game winning streak and is a massive favorite against underdog Enterprise.
Beaver (11-0) vs. Enterprise (8-3)
2A state tournament semifinal
Saturday, 12 p.m. (At Southern Utah)
Parry’s Power Guide: Beaver by 36
All-time series: Beaver leads 15-6 and has won the last nine, since 2012
Coach vs. coach: Beaver’s Jon Marshall leads Enterprise’s Andy Messersmith, 4-0
Last meeting: Sept. 25 (week 7) – Beaver, 52-3, at Enterprise.
Beaver already beat Enterprise 52-3 back in week 7, and its average margin of victory of this season is 43 points. Beaver’s closest game was a 42-20 win over Grantsville, a team that’s still playing in the 3A semifinals this weekend.
The Beavers have suffered quite a few injuries to skill position players, but because of great depth they haven’t skipped a beat.
“Our senior class, we have about 24 kids and for a school our size that’s a pretty good number of seniors. We have a tremendous amount of depth. Most teams in our classification just don’t have that kind of depth, so even though we’ve had quite a few injuries this year we’ve been able to withstand that while a lot of other teams probably wouldn’t have been able to do it,” said Beaver coach Jon Marshall.
A big reason for Beaver’s dominance has been the steady play of its offensive line, led by Jake Eichorn and Cutler Edwards.
Beaver is averaging 359 rushing yard per game, with four different players over 500 yards on the season.
Despite clear mismatches throughout the season, Marshall said his players have never lost focus and he doesn’t expect anything to change in the semifinals.
“We’re not going to worry about what’s happened in the past we just have to make sure we’re playing our best football and that we’re executing. It’s going to be 0-0 when the game starts and we have to go out and perform and execute if we want to win,” said Marshall.
For Enterprise, ending its nine-game losing streak against Beaver might take a perfect game and then even more magic.
Wolves coach Andy Messersmith said he’s optimistic about that possibility with as well as his defense is playing. Coming off a 24-8 win over North Summit in the quarterfinals, and then a 24-14 win over Kanab and a 21-0 win over Millard to end the regular season, Messersmith believes his defense is playing as well as it has in years.
It will require a Herculean effort to stop Beaver, though.
“Last game I felt like we gave up way too many big plays and it just snowballed from there. I think if we eliminate the big plays and make them earn everything that will help us out,” said Messersmith.
Offensively, Enterprise will need a big game on the ground from Braxton Messersmith and Bryant Jimenez, with the two combining for 174 yards and two scores on the ground in the quarterfinals.
Beaver player to watch
Jake Eichorn, OL
Scoring offense: 50.4 ppg (1st in 2A)
Scoring defense: 7.0 ppg (1st in 2A)
Passing leader: Treyson Hunter (59-98, 60.2%, 955 yards, 18 TDs)
Rushing leaders: EJ Allred (94 carries, 846 yards, 14 TDs), Crayton Hollingshead (64 carries, 589 yards, 9 TDs)
Receiving leaders: Ky Brown (13 rec., 255 yards, 5 TDs)
Tackles leaders: Sheldon Lebaron (71 tackles), Bryton Langston (67 tackles)
Sack leaders: Sheldon Lebaron (11 sacks), Cort Raddon (6 sacks)
Interception leaders: Treyson Hunter (3 INTs)
Enterprise player to watch
Adam Holt
Scoring offense: 19.8 ppg (9th in 2A)
Scoring defense: 14.8 ppg (4th in 2A)
Passing leader: Tyler Hiatt (46-102, 45.1%, 512 yards, 3 TDs)
Rushing leaders: Braxton Messersmith (125 carries, 657 yards, 5 TDs), Bryant Jimenez (102 carries, 635 yards, 6 TDs)
Receiving leaders: Bryant Jimenez (18 rec., 191 yards, 2 TDs)
Tackles leaders: Jed Beckstrand (81 tackles), Adam Holt (69 tackles)
Sack leaders: Adam Holt (14 sacks), Dean Bushar (6 sacks)
Interception leaders: Matthew Ramos (3 INTs)
All-time record: 491-257-11 (81 years)
Region championships: 18 (1962, 1965 co, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1977 co, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1992 co, 1994 co, 2002 co, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Playoff appearances: 54
All-time playoff record: 73-41
State championships: 12 (1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1990, 2015, 2016, 2019)
State championship record: 12-10
All-time record: 141-116 (24 years)
Region championships: 2 (2005, 2009 co)
Playoff appearances: 20
All-time playoff record: 17-18
State championships: 1 (2003)
State championship record: 1-2