JORDAN, JUDGE TO COMPETE FOR STATE TITLE

By Deseret News, Tom Haraldsen, Correspondent, For the second year in a row, Jordan and Judge will meet for the state 3A soccer championship. This year's title will be decided tonight at 6 p.m. at Woods Cross High School., Unlike last year, however, the Beetdiggers and Bulldogs took very different routes to tonight's final. Jordan finished with a season record of 11-3 in tough Region Six but forfeited seven games and entered this year's inter-region playoffs as a sixth-place team. Judge lost a coin toss to Bountiful and was Region Six's third-place entry., Neither were headed during Thursday's semi-finals, as Judge surprised Springville 3-1 and Jordan edged stubborn Skyview 2-1 in a shootout. Judge 3 Springville, Entering this year's tournament, little was known about the Red Devils, who had amassed a 16-1 record. After Springville edged Mountain Crest and Judge topped Woods Cross in a pair of shootouts Wednesday, both teams seemed ready to challenge for a state title., Springville scored early, Jonathon Bailey tallying for the second time in the tournament to give the Devils a 1-0 halftime lead. But the Bulldogs came alive in the second half, making the most of their scoring chances as Dave Morris tied the game early in the period, Jamey Sage added the go-ahead second goal and Mike Stuyvesant iced the win with another Judge score. Matt Woolley had another strong game in goal for Judge. Springville finished a fine season with a record of 17-2. Jordan 2 Skyview 1 (shootout), If there was ever any question about whether the Bobcats belonged in the semifinals, Skyview erased it with a brilliant effort against the Beetdiggers. Both teams had chances to win in regulation, and both squads had a pair of goals taken away from them officials before the issue was settled in a shootout., Skyview scored first, Mike Harris tallying 25 minutes into the first half. Jordan countered three minutes into the second half as Adam Bentley scored. From that point on, defenses dominated, including through two 10-minute overtimes which set up the shootout., Goalies Brandon Sargent of Jordan and Phil Merrill of Skyview both saved opening shots, but Jordan ran off four straight, as Khamp Inthavong, Cory Sargent, Hadden Fraser and Adam Bentley scored, the latter the game winner. Skyview got shootout goals from Craig McLaughlin and Harris, but it wasn't enough., So Jordan and Judge, teams which split regular season Region Six decisions, will meet again as they did last year for the title, which Judge won with a 2-0 victory., For Jordan coach Bill Noble, it will be still another attempt to win the school's first soccer title., ``I'm getting tired of being the perennial bridesmaid, '' he said after Thursday's win. ``This will be our fourth state final, and I hope we can win one.'', Either way, tonight's matchup should be a good one at Woods Cross.