High school football 3A preview: North Sanpete at Judge

North Sanpete (3-7) at Judge (5-5)

3A state tournament first round

Saturday, 3 p.m.

Parry's Power Guide: Judge by 27.5 points

All-time series: Judge leads 3-0

Last meeting: Regular season, Aug. 22, 2008 — Judge 41, North Sanpete 6

It's been a strange season — to say the least — for Judge Memorial's football team, but the Bulldogs will nonetheless hope to be a tough bunch to beat in this year's 3A football tournament.

Judge's quest to accomplish that objective will begin at 5 p.m. Friday when it hosts North Sanpete in the opening round.

Fresh off a trip to last year's 3A championship game and armed with a pretty solid cast of returners, expectations were sky high back in the preseason for Judge.

The Bulldogs didn't live up to them, however.

After starting the season with a pair of wins, including a 41-6 victory over North Sanpete,

Judge Memorial dropped five consecutive games, including a 16-0 shutout loss to Park City in its Region 10 opener.

To the credit of the Judge players, however, they've since done what they can to get back on track. Judge closed its regular-season schedule with three wins from three very winnable games, and it'll look to build on that momentum in the playoffs.

Transfer Mitch Wood has helped lead the way for Judge on both sides of the ball. At fullback, he's rushed for a team-high 448 yards and three TDs, while at linebacker, he leads the team with 86 tackles.

Meanwhile, Judge will face an opponent in the first round that also endured several lumps this fall. North Sanpete lost its first six games but managed to win three of its final four contests in Region 8 to build some momentum going into this weekend.

North Sanpete statistical breakdown

Scoring offense: 11.0 ppg

Scoring defense: 33.5 ppg

Passing leader: Taylor Ricks (54-133, 40.6%, 720 yards, 4 TDs)

Rushing leader: Reggie Clawson (44 carries, 300 yards, 2 TDs)

Receiving leader: Justin Stewart (16 catches, 230 yards, 0 TDs)