Saints earn first football playoff win

The Mountain View football team made quite a splash with its first-ever postseason victory Saturday.

The fourth seed in the Class 2A Southern League, the Saints rode a 34-8 halftime lead to a 40-24 upset of top-seeded Lincoln County in a 2A state playoff quarterfinal game in Panaca.

Six weeks ago, Mountain View was 0-5 and all but left for dead in its first season at the 2A level.

Now, the Saints (5-6) are one win away from the state title game. They’ll visit the North’s No. 1 seed, Pershing County, at 1 p.m. Saturday.

“Our kids executed our game plan,” Mountain View coach Ray LeBoeuf said. “They’re very excited.”

The Lynx (7-4), who came in averaging more than 280 rushing yards per game, ran only 15 plays in the first half. Their first three possessions were three-and-outs.

Mountain View quarterback Raymond Velarde threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more. The senior was 9-of-16 passing for 140 yards and carried 18 times for 57 yards.

The Saints also got solid ground games from Alex Watson (51 yards) and Cortland LeBoeuf (42).

LeBoeuf hauled in a 53-yard TD pass from Velarde on the final play of the first half, set up by Nate Swingle’s key interception.

Lincoln County was picked off twice.

Trent Tibbitts carried 13 times for 62 yards to lead the Lynx, who lose only nine seniors to graduation.

“They’re a good enough team that we couldn’t rally in time,” Lincoln County coach Rich Ottley said. “We just buried ourselves too deep at the beginning.”