Shadow Ridge’s offense piled up 510 rushing yards Friday night, but a defensive play might have been the key for the Mustangs against Las Vegas High.
With Shadow Ridge holding a seven-point lead, Tanner McDonald picked off a pass and raced 53 yards for a touchdown to swing the momentum, and the Mustangs rolled to a 71-35 victory to advance to the Class 4A state championship game against Silverado.
“That was pretty great,” said running back JaQuieze Holland, who rushed for five touchdowns. “It boosted everyone’s morale and hyped everyone up.”
Holland and the running game took care of the rest. He rushed for 246 yards on 18 caries and scored four of his five touchdowns in the second half.
“He’s the guy,” Shadow Ridge coach Travis Foster said. “He’s our guy. He doesn’t say much. He goes about his business, he works incredibly hard, and he deserves it. He absolutely deserves it.”
Shadow Ridge (11-1) completed just one pass, but it hardly needed more than that. Holland scored on runs of 51, 2, 29, 7 and 46 yards.
“It feels really good,” Holland said. “I’m happy that the line blocked good. I’m thankful for them. It feels really good to be back and go back to state.”
Playing at home, the Mustangs had trouble shaking the Wildcats (8-3) in the first half. Las Vegas twice tied the game, but Shadow Ridge was able to answer both times with touchdown runs by quarterback Coen Coloma. His 16-yard TD run with 23 seconds left in the half gave the Mustangs a 35-28 advantage.
“We were just telling each other to keep our minds clear and keep going, keep pushing forward,” Holland said.
Then came McDonald’s interception on the first drive of the second half, and it was more or less all Shadow Ridge from there.
“Defensively we came up with stops and played really well in the second half,” Foster said. “That pick-six on their first drive was huge.”
Keau Hadley picked off an Elijah Espinoza pass on the next possession, setting up Holland’s 2-yard TD run that made it 49-28 with 8:02 to go in the third quarter.
Shadow Ridge sacked Espinoza five times, three in the second half.
“We were able to get pressure, dialed up a couple more blitzes,” Foster said. “We were able to kind of get the edge on them. (Espinoza’s) a heck of a football player, man. He’s really good. And we were able to push him off his spots.”
Espinoza completed 30 of 55 passes for 299 yards and a touchdown. He also had a pair of 1-yard TD runs.
Coloma ran for 140 yards and two scores on 12 carries, and Jon Wilson had five carries for 77 yards and a TD. Wilson also returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown.
Now the Mustangs have their sights set on Silverado (11-0), which beat Coronado 57-17 in the other 4A semifinal Friday. The Skyhawks beat Shadow Ridge 61-27 in last year’s state title game.
“Hopefully we finish it this year,” Foster said. “We’ve got to play better. Silverado’s a heck of a football team. They’re really, really good. A lot of skilled guys coming back, but so are we. We’re bringing a lot of dudes back, too.”
