Shadow Ridge motors past Sierra Vista in playoff opener — PHOTOS
Shadow Ridge’s first drive of the second half Friday night summed up the team’s philosophy in a nutshell: Pound the ball, run the clock and and grind your opponent into submission.
The Mustangs took 10 plays to drive 55 yards and ate up more than five minutes on that possession, helping them secure a 42-20 home victory over Sierra Vista in the Class 5A Division II Southern League quarterfinals.
“It just kind of encapsulates how we play,” Shadow Ridge coach Travis Foster said. “Sometimes it’s not pretty, but we’re moving forward, we’re picking up yards.”
The Mustangs (8-3) will travel to face No. 2 seed Legacy (7-4) at 6 p.m. next Friday in the league semifinals.
Shadow Ridge only completed one pass Friday, but the running game was more than enough. The Mustangs finished with 344 rushing yards.
“Momentum there, that’s what the O-line and all five of us stands for,” senior lineman Jackson King said. “We really just want to bring as much momentum as we can being the big five up front, and that’s really what it means to us.”
Shadow Ridge defeated Sierra Vista 42-0 on the final night of the regular season, and the Mustangs looked ready to blow out the Mountain Lions (2-8) again early on Friday.
Shadow Ridge scored on a six-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 1-yard run by Tyrell Craven to go up 7-0 with 8:49 to go in the first quarter.
The next drive was more of the same, as the Mustangs marched 40 yards on just four plays, capped by an 8-yard TD run by Hector Velazquez to make it 14-0 with 5:24 to go in the opening quarter.
Then came a pair of miscues that let the Mountain Lions back into the game.
On the first play of Shadow Ridge’s next drive, Sierra Vista’s Mafua Matthews-Mafua picked off a pass from Gage Crnkovic and raced 58 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-6 with 9:05 to go.
Shadow Ridge recovered the Mountain Lions’ onside kick attempt, giving the Mustangs great field position at the Sierra Vista 49. But Crnkovich fumbled attempting to handoff on the first play of the drive, and Matai Olive pounced on the loose ball for the Mountain Lions.
Though Sierra Vista wouldn’t score again in the first half, the play helped further short-circuit Shadow Ridge’s momentum.
“The pick-6 was bad, and you know what was worse was the fumble on the next play,” Foster said. “Because I think had we handed the ball off it would have been a big gain, and momentum is right back on our side. But you know, playoff wins aren’t always pretty. This one was kind of ugly, but we’ll take it.”
Crnkovic scored on a 37-yard run in the final minute of the first half to give the Mustangs a 21-6 lead at the break, and the lengthy opening drive on their first possession of the second half pushed the lead to 28-6, and the outcome wasn’t really in doubt after that.
Ula Cox scored on a 17-yard run to cap that drive. He was one of five players to score a rushing TD for the Mustangs. Crnkovic led the way with 107 yards on six carries, and Trevin Young had 100 yards and a TD on five carries.
“We’ve got to have a super-correct mentality,” King said of the team’s old-school style. “In order to put those plays into action, we’ve got to be able to perform at our best, and we’ve always got to have each other’s backs no matter what.”
Colton Richter had two sacks in the first half and scooped up a fumble and returned it 21 yards for a TD with 1:09 to play to seal the win for Shadow Ridge.
“The defense is playing extremely well,” Foster said. “Having the scoop-and-score there at the end, and I’m pretty sure there was at least one other fumble that wasn’t called a fumble, but you know, we’ll take it.”
The win earned the Mustangs another shot at Legacy, which defeated Silverado 28-6 on Friday night. The Longhorns beat Shadow Ridge 43-14 in the regular season.
“Getting this win, it’s going to give us a lot of momentum going against Legacy,” King said. “And it’s going to give us what we finally need to beat Legacy, because last game, we unfortunately lost against them.”