Bulldogs pounce on Cedar early, then hang on

CEDAR CITY — As it turned out, the game was decided in about a 40-second span. And that's about how long it took Judge Memorial's Lewis Walker to return a punt 79 yards for a touchdown and then, two plays later, to pick up a fumbled pitch on the bounce and dash 26 yards for his second score in three plays.

Before most of the Cedar fans could settle into their seats Friday evening, Judge was ahead 21-0, then the Bulldogs held on to beat Cedar 28-10, setting up 3A semifinal showdown against Union in Salt Lake City next week.

Cedar must have felt like it spotted Judge a three-touchdown advantage. The Bulldogs promptly took the opening kickoff down the field in eight plays, scoring on a 14-yard pass from Joe Pond to tight end AJ Carman. Sean Sellwood, who was a perfect 4-for-4 on the night, added the extra point to put Judge ahead 7-0. The Bulldogs then held Cedar on three plays, forcing a punt from Cedar's 28.

That's when Lewis went to work on his own 21 yard line. After fielding the punt, he stepped back a yard, faked left, then reversed his direction and darted down the right sideline for the score.

"I credit our blockers on that play," said Lewis. "We set up to the left, then I cut to the right. No one touched me except the punter."

On Cedar's second play after the ensuing kickoff, Lewis grabbed an errant Logan Obering pitch as it bounced high into his chest and was in the end zone again before the Redmen could blink.

Cedar's Obering consistently ran into a wall, as Judge keyed on him the entire night.

"We knew we had to stop Obering," said Judge coach James Cardova. "And Lewis is an amazing guy."

Less than seven minutes into the game, the Redmen had run only a half dozen plays and were down 21-0. Just like that, it appeared the game was over before it had started.

But the Redmen weren't going anywhere quietly, and the remainder of the first half gave the home-town crowd some hope. After trading punts, Cedar moved the ball from its own 25 to the Bulldogs' 10 on nice pickups by Obering, Dillon Jolley and Taylor Sams. But just when it appeared Cedar would score, Judge responded with four big defensive stops and took over on downs at their own 15 yard line. Three first downs later, Judge missed a field-goal attempt with about a minute left in the half, and it looked like the clock would just run out to halftime.