For second straight year, Beetdiggers make it to football semi-finals

It’s a familiar story for the Jordan Beetdiggers: the 2010 and 2011 football seasons had many similarities. In both seasons, Jordan lost a few key regular season games, but had an offensive output that was difficult to beat. In both seasons, the team’s quarterback showed his talents in running and passing the ball for significant yardage. And in both seasons, the team made its way, despite being viewed as the underdogs, all the way to the semi-finals of the state championship.

This year, Jordan entered the playoffs with an 8-2 regular season record. In the two games Jordan lost, against Alta on Sept. 16 and Brighton on Oct. 14, only a touchdown separated Jordan from victory as the Beetdiggers fell in both contests by a score of 21-14.

In the rest of its games, Jordan looked confident playing in a new region and against new rivals. Jordan averaged 39 points per game and held its opponents to only 11 points on average.

A key factor in Jordan’s success came from Austin Kafentzis. The freshman quarterback, a term rarely used in high school varsity football, led the team this season with more than 4,500 total yards and 45 touchdowns.

In the first round of the playoffs, held at home on Oct. 28, Jordan faced Davis, the same team that Jordan faced in the 2010 state tournament. Along with another solid performance from Kafentzis, senior defensive back Hayden Babka had nine tackles and an interception on defense to lead the Beetdiggers to a 42-24 victory over the Darts.

And Jordan didn’t let up there. In the second round, which took place Nov. 4, the Beetdiggers rolled past Viewmont by a score of 43-7. Kafentzis threw for 135 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but he also led the team on the ground with 140 yards rushing on 13 carries. He scored four rushing touchdowns.

Jordan then faced Lone Peak in the semi-finals of the state tournament, held at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Nov. 11. The 2011 Beetdiggers, though seen as underdogs in the contest, were fighting to do what the 2010 Beetdiggers could not do, and no other Beetdigger team had done since 1998—make it to the 5A state championship.

After throwing for 106 yards and a touchdown on only four completions during the first quarter, Kafentzis left the game with a broken collarbone. The injury to the team’s star quarterback did not set the Beetdiggers back, though. Sophomore Baron Gajkowski stepped in behind the snap to bring the team to a 33-24 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Though Gajkowski threw for 261 yards and ran for another 60, the Knights surged in the fourth quarter to take a 45-41 lead with 31 seconds left in the game. Gajkowski led the Beetdiggers to midfield in the last few seconds of the game before throwing an interception, his second, to end the Beetdiggers’ championship hopes.

Jordan will be losing some key seniors from its roster for next year, including Babka, running back Austin Grant and wide receivers and cornerbacks Taylor Loomis and Taylor Dean. But with the potential of returning players, including a young quarterback with a healed collarbone, the 2012 Beetdiggers will be looking for their chance to take their season to the next level.