FILLMORE — Losing two straight state championship games has a way of messing with a coach's mind.

"You wonder if you went too hard, you wonder if you didn't push them enough," said Millard coach Marshall Sheriff. "Did we feed them right before the game? Mentally did we not get them in the right position to play?"

In the 2A title game in 2006, Millard was blanked by San Juan. A year later, the Eagles were manhandled from the opening whistle in a humbling 30-6 loss to North Summit.

Sheriff still hasn't watched film of the 2007 loss, and a year later he's aware that his team has a slightly more fragile mentality than most teams.

"It's a little of both. I think our seniors got a feel for what it's like to be in the big show, but whether or not they do what it takes to get there again is going to be based on their leadership once we get playing," said Sheriff.

That's a bizarre notion for a team with a 19-5 combined record the last two years, but a pair of gut-wrenching championship losses will have that effect on a team.

In some small way, this year's Millard team might be more suited to get the job done.

Sheriff doesn't question whether his players the last two years wanted to win, but there was an intangible missing, a sense that they were going to do whatever was necessary to win. He believes that's how North Summit played in last year's championship game, but his players didn't match it.

With the fresh taste of defeat in its mouth, this year's Millard team might possess that missing intangible.

"This team, they're kind of bigger jerks, which can sometimes pay off," said Sheriff. "I had a really good, nice team last year, they did everything we asked. This team tends more to fight in the halls. They're just a little different, more of a high-maintenance team, which when it gets right down and dirty sometimes isn't bad."

He said he doesn't want his players turning into thugs, but it's OK if they get a little salty and mean when push comes to shove on the gridiron. That's the challenge, though.

"If we can convert that over to football, we're definitely a contender," said Sheriff. "Every senior team has a personality; these guys have a lot different personality than my team last year. As coaches, you find out what makes them strong and then build around that."

Millard enters the 2008 season ranked third in Class 2A in the coaches preseason rankings and is the favorite in the 2A South region.

The Eagles are hoping to claim their first football state title since the 2001 season.

2A SOUTH PROJECTIONS