Defense leads The Meadows into Class 2A final

Battle Mountain traveled 411 miles for Saturday’s Class 2A state semifinal football game at The Meadows, and the Longhorns rushed 50 yards on the first drive of the game to seize a lead.

From there, however, Battle Mountain’s travel plans ground to a halt thanks to the host Mustangs’ stingy defense.

The Meadows held the Longhorns to 78 yards after the initial drive and forced three turnovers on the way to a 23-14 victory.

The Mustangs (10-2) advance to the 2A state championship game against Pershing County at 3 p.m. Saturday at Arbor View.

Battle Mountain (9-3) was averaging 242 rushing yards per game coming in, and its large offensive line looked like it would dominate The Meadows after William Wolf’s 1-yard touchdown run capped the seven-play, 50 yard opening drive.

But the Mustangs’ defense controlled things from there, limiting Battle Mountain to 111 rushing yards for the game.

“We have a lot of athletes on our team, so we utilized what we have, and that seemed to overpower their size,” The Meadows defensive back David Liu said. “That’s what our defense is about. We react and fly to the ball.”

Liu flew to the ball on two occasions in the second quarter to set up Mustangs touchdowns.

Liu blocked a Longhorn punt, deflecting it out of bounds at The Meadows 25-yard line. Four plays later, Pat Kenny scored on a 1-yard run to increase the Mustangs’ lead to 17-8.

On the following Battle Mountain possession, Kenny’s sack helped put the Longhorns in a passing situation on third down, and Liu said he saw something familiar as the Longhorns lined up to face third-and-13.

“I was practicing that play all week,” Liu said. “I knew as soon as they lined up in that formation. I saw it coming. I stepped up and just took it all the way.”

Liu picked off Matt Newgard’s pass at the 42 and raced to the end zone to make it 23-8 with 7:01 left in the second quarter, capping a run of 23 straight points for The Meadows.

“What hurt (Battle Mountain) was they weren’t balanced,” Mustangs coach Frank DeSantis said. “They could run the ball pretty well, but once you stopped that, that put them into a bind.”

When Battle Mountain did pass, it usually did not go well for the Longhorns. Liu, Garrett Gosse and Austin Brown had interceptions for The Meadows, while Longhorns receivers had only two receptions for 17 yards in the game.

The Meadows, meanwhile, had a balanced attack on offense. Gerard Martinez threw for 202 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-32 passing, and Kenny rushed for 72 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries.

Battle Mountain cut its deficit to 23-14 on Mike Lake’s 25-yard touchdown run on the Longhorns’ first offensive play of the second half. That was set up by a 10-yard punt after The Meadows’ opening possession of the second half.

“They had a good plan against us, and their kids didn’t quit,” DeSantis said. “They could have, but they didn’t, and that’s a tribute to them.”

And while the Longhorns kept The Meadows off the scoreboard in the second half, The Mustangs kept Battle Mountain from advancing past the 48 of The Meadows, and the Mustangs will advance to play for their first state championship in seven years.