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Show Redmen slip, slide way to undefeated campaign "The defense played real well." It'll Jenson. "The pass tleleiihe w.i. cellent, and the pass rush put a ittt til pressure on their quarterback. In the iirst quarter, we weren't doing too well defensing their dive plays, but things were adjusted from the second quarter on," The Redmen left Payson 8-0, and among 3-A schools, the only undefeated squad in the state. The most recent Salt Lake Tribune poll had Cedar gathering four of the seven first place ballots, and barely outpolling traditional powerhouse Judge Memorial. Injury-wise, Jenson said the Payson game left his players with the usual bumps and bruises, but no serious injuries. in-juries. All should be ready to suit up for Saturday's state playoff game. Tailback Gary Alger, suffering all year from a recurring back injury, sat out the game with Payson, and should lie well-rested by Saturday. How they did it is not the issue. The fact is that Cedar is 8-0, and these "Cardiac Kids" have left Cedarites with some of the greatest sporting memories in many years. A state championship would just be icing on the cake. PAYSON - Rain, snow or sleet may not prevent the mailman from making his appointed rounds, but it almost kept Cedar High School from its first undefeated un-defeated regular season in 18 years, and first ever in ;i-A competition. A combination of nasty weather, some nasty calls by officials and a solid, troublesome Payson team almost did Cedar in this time. But fate meant lor the Redmen to have an unblemished slate, and they emerged, as they have all season in the tough games, victorious-this time 7-0. Cedar entered the game rated as the top 3-A team in Utah (Salt Lake Tribune poll), an honor they managed to maintain after their struggle with the Lions. But visions of top-rankings were not dancing in Redmen minds -from the beginning they had their hands full with Payson. The game had originally been scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m., but the home team requested the game be moved to 1 p.m. after noting northern nor-thern Utah weather prospects. The afternoon time did not help much. It was still cold and windy throughout the match, with snow coming off and on. The conditions appeared to bother both offenses, but Cedar still managed to post a first-quarter touchdown, on a 15-yard David Carter to Neil Bladen pass. From there, the Redmen dug in and attempted to hold the fort. That they did extremely well. The Lions did not penetrate the Cedar 30-yard 30-yard line all game, and did not make a significant stab into Redmen territory, except when set up with one of three Cedar turnovers. The Lions chose to try their luck on . the ground, where Cedar has been particularly tough defensively all year. Payson attempted just seven passes, and gained just 18 of their 117 total yards through the air. On the other hand, Cedar's opportunities op-portunities w were frequent, but "the officials didn't seem to want us to score again," felt coach Dave Jenson. Just before halftime, a touchdown was called back. Another interception return to the Lion 2-yard line was called back because of clipping. The block, applied by Kyle Kingsfcrd, "was a good, legal one," insisted Jenson. Not one to usually complain publicly about officiating, Jenson still felt the Redmen got the short end of the stick in this game. "Our score should have been much higher than it was," said Jenson. "It seemed like each big play we had was called back lor something or other. I bet we had as much total offense called back as we ended up with in the whole game. Jenson had wanted to attempt some new things offensively, but the weather, and the nature of the game kept him from doing it. "Every time we did do something different, it seemed like it was called back," he added. Jenson also had a lot of respect for the Lions. "They were really a pretty decent team. You just can't go in and do whatever you want to them." For the second time this year, Cedar's offense was only able to score one touchdown in a game. Jenson still felt the unit performed well "under the circumstances." Defensively, the Redmen chalked up their second shutout of the season. In Cedar's eight games, the Redmen have held their opponents in single figures six times, and even more remarkably, all five divisional opponents. Cedar 7 Payson 0 Cedar 7 0 0 07 Payson 0 0 0 00 Cedar : Bladen 15 pass from Carter, Dave Lopour kick v Cedar Payson First downs 1 1 9 Rushing yards 89 100 Passes 218 1 722 Passing yards 142 18 Total yards 231 118 Fumbles-lnst 2 2 5 3 Penalties 85 20 |