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OGDEN — After Saturday’s 3A State Championship, one could hardly blame Judge Memorial for partying like it's 1983.
Why? Because the Bulldogs were able to claim themselves as their classification’s best for the first time since Ronald Reagan lived in the White House, and Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was blasting out of radios all across the country.
On a snowy Saturday afternoon in Ogden, Judge Memorial claimed its football state championship, beating Manti 36-22 at Weber State’s Stewart Stadium.
“It’s the dream of everybody to win a state championship, and only one team every season gets to go home happy, and I’m glad it’s us,” Judge Memorial coach James Cordova said about his team, which rushed for 290 yards. “Manti came out and battled us … but then our offensive line and our two fullbacks just did the job. They kept the ball moving all game long.”
The Templars opened the game’s scoring as Kamren Fowles scored on an eight-yard run to give Manti a 6-0 lead. Judge Memorial came right back, scoring on a 6-yard run by Mark Barnett to gain a temporary lead at 7-6. However, Manti scored a touchdown seconds before the end of the first half, scoring on a 1-yard run by Fowles to take a 14-7 lead going into the halftime.
Cordova said the team wasn’t intimidated by trailing at the break.
"We believed that we could do it, and we believed we should have done it, and now to have actually done it is the best feeling," said Judge quarterback Kaden Elliss. "I haven't had a feeling like this before. This is awesome."
“We’re a second-half team; we’ve been a second-half team all season,” he said. “Our message was to come out and do what we do, and that’s what we did; we came and we were physical.”
Judge Memorial owned the second half, opening the third quarter by scoring 13 unanswered points. Senior fullback Henry Garcia scored on a 19-yard run as the Bulldogs went 80 yards in six plays to tie the game at 14-14. Then Max Barnett scored again on a 1-yard run to give the Bulldogs a 20-14 lead.
The Templars returned the barrage with a scoring salvo of their own as Bradly Sego went 87 yards on a kickoff return to reclaim the lead for Manti, 22-20.
However, that would be the last time the Templars would score, as Judge Memorial scored 14 unanswered points. First, Michael Kearns scored on a 3-yard run, and then Henry Garcia scored on a 2-yard run. Mixed in with the offensive plays was a Manti fumble that was recovered by Braden Pelly, and a Mark Barnett interception.
Judge quarterback Kaden Elliss rushed for 109 yards and said winning a state title was an almost unbelievable feeling.
“We believed that we could do it, and we believed we should have done it, and now to have actually done it is the best feeling,” said Elliss. “I haven’t had a feeling like this before. This is awesome.”
In the postgame celebration, Cordova related a story of how waiting 30 years for another football championship made the victory that much sweeter.
“I don’t want to wait another 30 (years), but yes, it was absolutely worth the wait,” he said. “I got to be on the sidelines last time; my brother was the quarterback of that team. I have very fond memories of that, and I hope we did them proud.”
