HURRICANE - 1. Find pistol  2. Insert bullet  3. Cock lever 4. Aim at metatarsal 5. Pull trigger 6. End up missing metatarsal and hit hallux.

That is the way things went for the Judge Bulldogs Friday night after a five hour bus ride, they did all they could to shoot themselves in the foot, but ended up missing and hit their big toe against a powerful Hurricane Tiger team that prevailed 28-17 to advance to the 3A semi-finals next Thursday.

Judge turned the ball over seven times in the game, often at crucial times and in even in more crucial places on the field. Twice inside the Tiger 10 yard line, the Hurricane defense rose to the occasion and stripped the ball away and ended a Bulldog scoring opportunity.

Gary Bracken added two interceptions and Tyler Ewell also got a pick for Hurricane. The Tigers, now 11-1 and facing Morgan next week, took advantage of some other Bulldog miscues. Dimonte Hubbard stripped the ball away on a punt, recovering the ball at the Judge 5-yard line. Junior Ian Gates picked up a ball forced by a terrific hit by Zach Sorenson and ran the ball again to the Judge 5-yard line.

Perhaps the most successful result of the Tiger victory was how they kept star player Keenyn Walker in chains to the Bulldog house. Walker had two excellent catches for 35 yards each in the game, but Hurricane kept him out of the endzone until late in the game. They also did an excellent job keeping the ball out of his hands in special team plays. Punter Justin Edwards had his busiest game of the season, kicking seven times for a 44.3 per kick average, including two inside the Bulldog 15 yard line. Edwards had to kick three times our of his own endzone, but Judge could not capitalize on the game of field possession.

Hurricane got on the scoreboard first as Jase Langston connected on a 26-yard strike to Ryan Smith. Judge quickly countered ten seconds later as Paul Clark ran the kickoff back 97-yards to knot the score at 7-7.

Hurricane took score the first of the 21 point on the night from Judge’s turnovers, with Gordie Dotson (22 carries 117 yards) scoring his 23 rushing TD on the year following a Bulldog fumble deep in their own territory.

Judge fumbled the ball on the first play of the second half and Sorenson sored from 5-yards out to give the Tigers a 21-10 lead and momentum for the remainder of the game with his burst.

For more information on the Tigers win,

Salt Lake Tribune article

The Spectrum article

Hurricane 28, Judge Memorial 17
A good defensive effort by the Tigers in combination with six Judge turnovers was the difference in the game.

 SCORING PLAYS
 HURRICANE - Smith 27 pass from Langston (Edwards kick)
 JUDGE MEMORIAL - Clark 99 kick return (Harper kick)
 HURRICANE - Dotson 1 run (Edwards kick)
 JUDGE MEMORIAL - Harper 34 FG
 HURRICANE - Sorenson 5 run (Edwards kick)
 HURRICANE - Pugh 5 run (Edwards kick)
 JUDGE MEMORIAL - Walker 18 pass from Pell (Harper kick)