Beaver’s offense was in a brutal hole, down four points near midfield and facing a third down and 21 after taking a bad sack on first down.
With less than two minutes remaining Saturday in the 1A state championship game at Southern Utah University, top-ranked Duchesne was two defensive plays away from hoisting its first state championship since in 2021.
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As Beaver head coach Jon Marshall mulled what play he could possible call on third and long, on his headset he heard assistant coach Ron Echols chime in from the press box, “The waggle screen’s there.”
Beaver hadn’t run the play in over two months, and probably because of that Duchesne seemed to caught off by the call. Davis Carter rolled left and then turned around threw it back across the field to Leonardo De Leon, who got two huge blocks to spring him 40 yards down to the 11-yard line.
Three plays later, Carter darted into the end zone for the 5-yard go-ahead touchdown with 59 seconds remaining.
When teammate Drew Sorensen intercepted a pass on the final play of the game, Beaver players stormed the field to celebrate their 1A state championship win over Duchesne, 22-19.
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It is the 18th state championship in school history, and third in the past four seasons for the Beavers.
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“We earned that one,” Marshall said. “That’s a very good football team. Our kids just hung on. We just hung around, hung around, made some plays there at the end of the game.
“The whole journey that this team’s been on from the beginning of the year where we weren’t very good, and we got better as the year went on. I’ve had a chance to be involved in a few of these over the years, and it’s hard to say that I’ve been any more proud of any team than this one.”
Top-ranked Duchesne beat No. 3 seed Beaver 24-15 back in Week 4 this season, part of the Eagles’ 11-game win streak that it rode into Saturday night.
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Carter threw for 199 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for a score, none bigger than the game winner.
“His left hand’s broken. He broke it against Kanab, and that kind of limited what he could do,” Marshall said. “He’s made those plays all year long for us. Davis, he’s just a tough kid, and that’s what our players are.
“We’re not the biggest team out there and we’re probably not the fastest, but kids in Beaver, we don’t give up. They just keep playing, and I’m just super proud to be involved with them.”
Duchesne had been the best team in 1A all season, and when it went ahead 13-3 early in the third quarter on one of Brex Robinson’s three rushing touchdowns, the Beavers were certainly facing a tough climb back into the game.
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Despite the urgency of needing points after going down 10, the Beaver offense stalled again as it was forced to punt to Duchesne late in the third quarter.
Beaver’s defense got a huge stop to get the ball quickly, setting the offense up in great field position. Trey Bradshaw scored a few plays later on a 24-yard TD run with 1:24 left in the third to cut the lead to 13-9.
On the ensuing kickoff, Zack Benson stripped the ball right out of the hands of Duchesne’s returner. Taking advantage of great field position again, the Beavers scored four plays later as Davis connected with Emmet Lurth on a 24-yard TD reception for the 15-13 lead after another missed extra point.
Davis said the adversity the team has faced throughout the season helped it not dwell on the double-digit deficit in the second half.
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“We started the year off 2-4. No one believed in us. Before the season we were ranked the fifth or sixth seed. No one’s fought through more adversity than this team, and I’m just so proud of them,” Carter said.
The Eagles, after falling behind for the first time all game, responded with their most impressive drive of the night. Robinson led his team on the 11 play, 59-yard drive that he capped with a 1-yard score as Duchesne regained the lead, 19-15.
Beaver’s offense went back to work as Davis completed three passes to move his team down to the Eagles’ 10 yard line, but a fourth down incompletion gave the ball back to Duchesne with under three minutes remaining.
Beaver had all three timeouts remaining, and forced the Eagles to punt.
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“Our defense won the game for us right there, ’cause they get a first down, the game’s over, and our defense came with a big play,” Marshall said.
It set the stage for Davis’ heroics with his arm and legs over that final game-winning drive. Duchesne still had a minute left to drive down into field goal range perhaps, but Beaver’s defense avoid the big play and sealed the win with the interception on the final play.
Asked what the difference was from a Week 4 loss to Duchesne to the championship win, Marshall simply said, “We grew up.”
“It took us the first four or five games of the season to where we weren’t very tough, our defense was struggling and then the last half of the year our defense has just been unbelievable,” Marshall said.
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“Our kids getting confidence, and then I will say this, our kids stuck with what we do when things weren’t going well, and I don’t know if people really realize how important that is, because a lot of teams when they get to be 2-4 in the season, they’re done. The kids are going to check out. This group never was that way. Never was that way.”
Duchesne scored the only touchdown of the first half early in the second quarter as Robinson raced 70 yards up left sideline for the 6-0 lead at the 10:24 mark.
Beaver scored late in the second quarter on a Lurth 29-yard field goal and trailed 6-3 at the half.
