Bulldogs win first title in 30 years, Wildcats end 25-year drought and Eagles win fourth straight crown.
Judge Memorial running back Max Barnett rushed for two touchdowns in his team's 36-22 win over Manti in the Utah State 3A title game at Weber State University Saturday.
File photo by David Argyle
Returning a kickoff for a touchdown promised to give
Manti (Utah) a much needed momentum swing late in the third quarter. It didn't work out that way.
Scoring so quickly didn't end Judge Memorial's rally. It only made the Bulldogs angry.
"We knew we had to come out and fight on defense," Judge running back
Henry Garcia said. "Defense was going to win this game."
Kaden Eliss, Judge Memorial
File photo by David Argyle
Defense made all the difference for
Judge Memorial (Salt Lake City) down the stretch. The Bulldogs forced a pair of fourth-quarter turnovers and beat Manti 36-22 to claim the Class 3A championship on Saturday at Weber State University.
The Bulldogs rushed for 290 yards – led by 109 yards on 19 carries from
Kaden Elliss. It Judge Memorial's first football state title since 1983.
Manti just managed 202 yards of total offense.
Jared Schiess gained 92 yards on 17 carries to lead the Templars, who came up short in winning a third consecutive state title.
Trailing 14-7 at halftime, Judge rallied to go in front 20-14 late in the third quarter. Garcia ran for 23 yards and then punched it in from 19 yards to set up the first score. Then
Max Barnett punched it in from a yard out to give the Bulldogs the lead.
Manti seemed to turn the tide in its favor with two big plays. First, the Templars blocked the PAT on the go-ahead touchdown. Then
Brad Sego raced down the sideline 87 yards with the kickoff to give Manti a 22-20 lead with 4:05 left in the third quarter.
See all Utah state football bracketsThat's when the Judge defense took over. The Bulldogs went back ahead 28-22 when Michael Kearns took a pitch from Elliss and scampered three yards for the touchdown. Then
Braden Pelly recovered a fumble on Manti's next drive to stop the Templars from answering.
Manti did force a punt, but Judge Memorial simply created another turnover. This time, Mark Burnett picked off a halfback pass and returned it to the Templar 3 yard line. Garcia ran it in on the next play for the insurance touchdown with 5:19 remaining.
"We're a second half team," Judge coach James Cordova said. "We've been a second half team all season. Our message was 'Come out and do what we do.' That's what we did. We came out and we were physical and we attacked."
After a scoreless 1st quarter, Manti struck first.
Kamren Fowles scored on a 8-yard run to give the Templars a 6-0 lead.
Judge used a big fourth down conversion to answer on the following drive. On 4th-and-1 from the Manti 11, Max Barnett scampered four yards to get the first down. Barnett took a pitch from Elliss on the next play and sprinted six yards to give the Bulldogs a 7-6 lead.
Manti did not stay down for long. The Templars marched 80 yards in 14 plays and took a 14-7 lead when Fowles punched it in from two yards out with 4.4 seconds remaining in the half.
Jared Schiess led Manti which was trying to win its third straight state title.
File photo by David Argyle
Manti 0 14 8 0 – 22
Judge Memorial 0 7 13 16 – 36
Second quarter M – Fowles 8 run (run failed), 11:07
J – Max Barnett 6 run (Matthews kick), 4:37
M – Fowles 1 run (Schiess pass from Aste), :04
Third quarter J – Garcia 19 run (Matthews kick), 9:36
J – Mark Barnett 1 run (kick blocked), 4:25
M – Sego 87 kickoff return (Jenkins pass from Pogroszewski), 4:11
Fourth quarter J – Kearns 3 run (Garcia run), 10:06
J – Garcia 2 run (Pelly pass from Elliss), 5:19
Records: Manti 10-3, Judge Memorial 11-2
2A:
South Summit (Kamas) 42, Grand County (Moab) 8
It didn't take long for South Summit to demonstrate why it had Utah's top scoring defense this season.
Colby Averett, South Summit
File photo by David Argyle
The Wildcats forced turnovers to set up their first two scoring drives and defeated Grand 42-8 to win the Class 2A football championship. South Summit claimed its first state title since winning the Class 1A title in 1988.
The Wildcats had gone 0-5 in five previous trips to the Class 2A championship game. South Summit (11-1) finally cleared that hurdle behind a defense that allowed just 84 points in 12 games this season.
Colby Averett had 147 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries to lead South Summit. The Wildcats tallied 404 yards of total offense – accumulating 353 yards on the ground alone. They held Grand to just 203 yards.
South Summit took a quick 14-0 first quarter lead after capitalizing on consecutive turnovers by Grand (10-2).
Steven Flinders picked off Jakob Francis at the Wildcat 47 yard line and returned it 16 yards to set up South Summit's first score – an 18 yard run by
Carson Freestone.
On Grand's next drive, Francis fumbled at the end of an 11-yard run and
Hunter Angell jumped on the loose ball at the Grand 37. It led to a 12 yard scoring run by Averett and a 14-0 Wildcat lead barely five minutes into the game.
"Our defense just lights a fire and our offense just continues when they go out," South Summit coach Jerry Parker said. "It's been great. They've been stellar all year."
South Summit took a 21-0 lead before the quarter's end on a 5-yard run from Freestone. Francis was stopped a yard short on 4th-and-2 at the Wildcat 32 to set up the scoring drive.
Averett and Jones each added second quarter touchdowns to extend it to a 35-0 halftime lead. Freestone added 5-yard run with 3:54 left in the third quarter to cap the scoring for South Summit. The Wildcats scored on their first five possessions and never punted.
Grand avoided the shutout when
Koi Cook punched it in from three yards out with 30.1 seconds left.
Class 2A Championship Game South Summit vs Grand County (at Ogden, Utah) South Summit 21 14 7 0 – 42
Grand County 0 0 0 8 – 8
First quarter S – Freestone 18 run (Santos kick), 9:59
S – Averett 12 run (Santos kick), 6:57
S – Freestone 5 run (Santos kick), 1:53
Second quarter S – Averett 4 run (Santos kick), 8:57
S – Jones 2 run (Santos kick), 2:46
Third quarter S – Freestone 5 run (Santos kick), 3:54
Fourth quarter G – Cook 3 run (Schraft pass from Francis), :31
Records: South Summit 11-1, Grand County 10-2
Matt Dye led Duchesne to a 14-13 win over Rich and with it another state 1A title and a 47th straight victory.
File photo by David Argyle
It took a dramatic stop on a late two-point conversion attempt, but Duchesne kept its winning streak and state championship streak alive going into the 2014 season.
The Eagles edged Rich 14-13 for their fourth consecutive Class 1A title after
Jesse Wickel and
Colin Moon teamed to stop
Mckay Jarman just short of the goal-line after the Rebels scored on a 2 yard run from
Ben Groll with 2:14 remaining.
Duchesne extended its Utah state record winning streak to 47 games. The Eagles notched their latest win without completing a single pass. Duchesne accounted for all 226 yards of total offense on the ground.
Matt Dye led the way with 89 yards on 20 carries and Matt Muir added 85 yards on eight carries.
The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead behind runs from Muir and Dye. Muir raced 85 yards on third down to put Duchesne on the board. Dye's two yard run made it a two touchdown lead with 9:11 left before halftime.
Rich cut it to 14-7 with 38 seconds left before halftime on an 8-yard pass from Jarman to
Skyler Argyle. The Rebels netted 225 yards of total offense, but had trouble holding onto the ball. Rich fumbled seven times and ultimately lost two to the Duchesne defense.
Class 1A Championship Game Rich vs Duchesne (at Ogden, Utah) Rich 0 7 0 6 – 13
Duchesne 7 7 0 0 – 14
First quarter D – Muir 85 run (Spencer kick), 6:59
Second quarter D – Dye 2 run (Spencer kick), 9:11
R – Argyle 8 pass from Jarman (Leifson kick), :38
Fourth quarter R – Groll 2 run (run failed), 2:14
Records: Rich 9-3, Duchesne 13-0
