Grizzlies hope to avenge their early loss to Bulldogs

Ever since No. 1 Logan and fourth-ranked Judge beat their respective semifinal opponents last weekend, debates have ranged over how important a Week 4 meeting between the two schools will be when they play for the 3A state championship tonight.

In one corner, many prep football fans have suggested that Judge's emphatic 35-7 win at Logan showed that the Grizzlies match up very poorly with Judge, something they say will manifest itself in the rematch.

In the other corner, many have countered that both teams have changed significantly since that now long-ago preseason contest, and that it won't have much bearing on today's proceedings.

Still others have stated opinions somewhere in between.

The beautiful thing, however, is that — no matter what you think — those debates will be answered definitely when Judge and Logan meet tonight inside Rice-Eccles Stadium to decide the 3A tournament, beginning at 6 p.m.

Heading into today, the rematch factor has been the talk of Class 3A. However, while Logan has a chance to exorcise many of the demons from that humiliating 35-7 defeat, most of the Grizzlies say they'd be just as happy to be playing anyone else.

"It's just another step to the state championship — it's the final step," said Logan strong safety Jordan Ballam. "I didn't have any preference at all who we would play. Whoever we have to play, we have to play our best."

"We lost to them earlier in the season, but the only thing I can take from that is to take it as a learning experience. We need to prepare. And we know they're good, so we need to do the best we can."

Judge jumped out to a 21-0 lead at halftime the first time they met and controlled Logan's high-powered offense throughout en route to a 28-point win.

Some Logan players suggested they didn't prepare well for that Week 4 contest, while others outside the program have argued that the Grizzlies had a letdown after beating cross-county rival Sky View the previous week.

Coach Mike Favero said neither explanation has any validity.

"The fact of the matter is we got whipped by Judge, " he said, "and we'll get whipped again if we don't play better."

Perhaps the biggest matchup in tonight's game will be between Judge's secondary and Logan's receivers.