High school boys lacrosse: Early offense propels Judge Memorial past Sky View for 4A championship

Judge Memorial has one of the most storied boys lacrosse programs in the Beehive State, dating back to 1985. The Bulldogs were a part of the first Utah Lacrosse Association season in 1994 and had teams every year until 2022 when they were unable to field one.

Within two years Judge Memorial has bounced back, and the Bulldogs program came full circle on Friday as it defeated Sky View 13-8 to claim the 4A championship.

“Judge is back. It’s one of the most historic programs in the state and one of the oldest,” said Bulldogs head coach Jeff Brzoska. “I can’t do it without (the coaching staff). This coaching staff are some of my best friends out there and some of the best coaches, and I just couldn’t do it without them.

“We put together a game plan, put them out there and let them execute. It’s been a heck of a ride, and we didn’t have a program two years ago.”

Judge Memorial wasted no time putting its mark on the championship match as it dominated the Bobcats in the opening quarter and built a 6-1 lead.

The Bulldogs forced Sky View to take low quality shots while they took their time to work the ball around and find good shots, which led to them leading 9-2 at the end of the first half.

“The boys just came out and hammered it,” Brzoska said. “We wanted to come out fast. We want to get the first goal of the game and just let them go. These guys don’t know what slow means so for them to come out here today to do what they did so early was incredible.”

Sophomore Sean Jerome was a dominant offensive force for Judge and ended Friday’s game with six goals on 10 shots. Jerome tallied 84 total goals on the season.

“I think it’s just showing up to practice every day,” Jerome said. “It’s just easy to get going in big games like these when you have the whole sideline behind you.

“It’s very exciting because our team is so closely knitted that our future is just endless. When everyone loves each other it’s easy to get stuff done.”

Sky View put up more of a fight in the second half with senior Easton Ballard tallying three goals. The Bobcats outscored the Bulldogs 6-4 in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the lead that Judge Memorial built in the first half.

Judge Memorial also got strong performances from Rome Swanwick and Gus Wood, who had three and two goals respectively.

“These kids mean everything to me. Just a young group of kids that have just worked so hard,” said Brzoska. “They’re just a fantastic bunch of young men.

“They never seemed to stop amazing us. They put in so much work during the offseason and they deserved it. They worked hard for this and showed maturity well beyond their years.”