Once Juan Diego defensive lineman Jamie Markosian gets his hands on something, he rarely relinquishes his grip. Usually inflicting some sort of damage to boot. So it was no surprise that after the Soaring Eagle's 21-18 victory in Friday's 3A state title game over Hurricane, there was the menacing Markosian clutching the championship trophy as if it were the holy grail. True to form, he'd already broken it, as the name plate had become dislodged.

Not that any of his teammates minded. Juan Diego can largely thank its defense for its first 3A state championship, and first title since winning the 2A title in 2004.

After rolling through their season surrendering double-digit points from an opponent only once (Logan scored 21 points in the quarterfinals), and playing seven games where the mercy rule came into play, the Tigers posed the greatest challenge to Juan Diego's indominable defense.

More specifically, Gordie Dotson threatened the Soaring Eagle championship dreams. He led the state with over 1,700 yards rushing and 25 touchdowns on the season, after all.

"Hurricane is a great team," said Markosian. "They gave us the hardest test we've had in a long time. That's why we struggled."

While Dotson was able to get in the end zone twice, he was held to 54 yards rushing. The Tigers as a team were held to an anemic 1.9 yards rushing.

Juan Diego's defensive coaching staff employed a three-tiered game plan that involved little blitzing, and emphasized holding the line of scrimmage with each player commanding a gap. The idea was to first and foremost keep Dotson from finding cutback lanes, then to shut down his running mates Zach Sorenson and Jacob Pugh, and finally to force Hurricane into obvious passing situations. They were successful on all three fronts.

Markosian attributed the Soaring Eagle being able to react quickly at the snap to pre-snap reads that allowed them to know where the ball was about to be run.

"We had their formations locked in. Then we just came out and hit them. It was a physical game," said Markosian.

"We morphed our defense to counter their offense," said Juan Diego defensive coordinator Joe Colosimo. "We wanted to get a good punch and to hold the line and read. We have some talented and disciplined kids."

Juan Diego held Hurricane to 231 yards total offense, and allowed the Tigers to only convert 3 of12 third downs. The Soaring Eagle were led by five players on their defensive front who were up to the challenge of Hurricane's rushing attack. Linebacker Trever McFalls had nine tackles, defensive back Brian May and linebacker Jacob Doughty each had eight tackles, while Markosian added seven. Two of the biggest defensive plays came from Daniel Jimenez who registered two sacks from his outside linebacker position.

The only thing left for Juan Diego to do now is find some crazy glue for their trophy.