Judge sends 3A message with victory over Logan

LOGAN — The game had all the makings of a big-time battle between 3A powerhouses.

In fact, the bus ride to Logan was a quiet one without much chatter or the typical rah-rah banter designed to motivate the Judge Bulldogs. Judge running back Tyson Moll said the trip was mostly silent.

"I had butterflies like crazy," Moll, who scored three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 35-7 romp over the No. 1 Grizzlies, said of his pre-game mood. "I knew this was the biggest game of the year and I was pretty nervous."

Turns out he shouldn't have been.

The Bulldogs had little trouble beating their 3A rivals and may have established a new route to the state championship. Before the game, most people figured the road to the title went through Logan. After pounding the Grizzlies, that stretch of pavement will take a new route.

"I still think Logan is the team to beat," Judge coach Marty Cordova said. "But I think this tells people we're right there, too."

The Bulldogs, who entered the game ranked No. 2 and improved to 3-0, needed a series or two to get all those butterflies out of their stomachs and, once they did, promptly established themselves as the team in charge.

"We came out wondering what was going to happen to us," Cordova said. "We knew they were really good and we kind of sat there and didn't know what to do."

What the Bulldogs needed to do was give the ball to Moll. The senior running back carried the ball only 16 times, but racked up 101 yards to go with his three scores.

After DeVaughn Wilkins broke into the end zone on a one-yard dive late in the first quarter, Moll went to work. He pushed the ball across the line himself on Judge's next possession for a 14-0 lead.

The Grizzlies, normally a high-powered offensive machine, struggled to move the ball all game. Quarterback Jeff Manning was never in synch with his receivers and threw a pair of interceptions in the second quarter that stopped potentially game-changing drives.

His first pick, grabbed by Judge's Jordan Benson and returned to the Logan 48, set up a 36-yard touchdown pass from Joe Pond to Keenyn Walker. The resulting 21-0 score sent a stunned Grizzlies team into the locker room at the half trying to figure out how to turn the game around.

Logan (3-1) finally got onto the scoreboard when KC Taylor ran to the right for a 10-yard score to draw the Grizzlies to 21-7 with 5:49 to go in the third.

That was as close as they got, though, as Moll scored twice more — once from two yards out and then again in the fourth quarter to add an insurance touchdown with 6:33 to play.

"The aces fell into our hands," Cordova graciously said. "We had all the lucky breaks go our way. When you get all the breaks, it's easy to win."

It's also easy to send a message to the rest of the state. A message that Logan isn't the only 3A team to pay attention to.

"I think we're going to get a little bit of respect after that," Moll said. "Logan is really good. But we're pretty good, too."

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