The Bulldogs had worked on Logan's pooch kicks all week. They knew the Grizzles would want to steer clear of Judge's numerous weapons that could put a touchdown on the board faster than you could say "prohibitive 3-A championship game favorite." It was all in the gameplan.

And none of it mattered.

Logan indeed went with the high sky kick to start the game, but instead of using what they had seen on film, the Bulldogs were slow getting to the ball and Logan recovered on the 32-yard line. From there Logan got a quick touchdown, and thus began a miserable first half for Judge that would lead to a 28-12 loss.

"It was like staring at a great big diamond," said Judge coach James Cordova of his team's dismal start. "It was overwhelming. You just can't do that in a state championship game."

After the opening touchdown it looked like Judge had moved past the blip, as they rolled down the field. But a fumble by star running back Lewis Walker gave the ball right back to the Grizzles, and what at first was thought to be one early game mistake quickly turned into a trend.

In all, the Bulldogs committed five turnovers in the first half and had several other mental gaffes that were just as costly.

The second fumble gave the Grizzlies the ball on Judge's 37-yard line as Bulldog quarterback Joe Pond was stripped of the ball on a designed run off tackle. Pond was a chief culprit in Judge's early woes, losing two fumbles and throwing a pick in the first half.

The Grizzlies capitalized on the good field position and found themselves up 14-0 after the first quarter. Soon after that, thanks to a missed tackle on a long pass play, it was 21-0.

It was too much for even the gamebreaker-laden Bulldogs to recover from.

"It kind of shocked us," Cordova said. "We were overconfident. We were a little cocky coming in and we shouldn't have been."

As a fitting end to the half Logan again went for the pooch kick up 28-6. And once again, Judge let it get away, this time ricocheting off a Bulldog before being corralled by Logan. It was that kind of night for the Bulldogs.

beatty@sltrib.com