Prep football: Sartans overwhelm Lobos, reach 4A final
St Pius鈥� Cayl Cox-Liggins, left, runs past Chaparral鈥檚 Zahid Chavez for a touchdown during the third quarter of their Class 4A state semifinal Saturday at Nusenda Community Stadium.
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On the Class 4A prep football landscape, everything pointed to this spot on the map for the St. Pius Sartans: An appointment on the season鈥檚 final day.
Chaparral on Saturday afternoon didn鈥檛 fare much better against St. Pius than they did when these two met a month ago, and the Sartans, the No. 2 seed, overwhelmed the third-seeded Lobos 41-0 in the state semifinals at Nusenda Community Stadium.
St. Pius (10-1) will play host to No. 1 Bloomfield (11-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Community Stadium in the 4A championship game. The Bobcats pulled away in the second half of last year鈥檚 final to beat the Sartans.
鈥淎s soon as we lost that game, coach (Curtis) Flakes was instantaneously preaching about finishing the game, and finishing out the season,鈥� said junior receiver Cayl Cox-Liggins, who had three touchdowns on Saturday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna be a battle.鈥�
This semifinal was not.
The St. Pius defense completely smothered Chaparral (8-4). In the first half, for example, the Sartans limited the Lobos to 20 yards of offense. St. Pius led 27-0 at halftime.
Hershul Olloway Jr. scored on an 18-yard run on the game鈥檚 sixth play. Near the end of the quarter, Isaiah Carpenter tossed an 18-yard TD pass to a wide open Cox-Liggins in the end zone.
Eighth-grader Cy Saenz upped the lead to 20-0 on a 4-yard run midway through the second quarter.
Carpenter鈥檚 most sensational throw of the day was a 54-yard strike to Christian Morales down the near sideline just before halftime; two plays later Olloway scored on a 1-yard run on the last play of the half.
How dominant were the Sartans? They stretched their lead to 41-0 in the third quarter, and St. Pius ran exactly ONE offensive play during those 12 minutes.
Cox-Liggins took a jet sweep 25 yards for a score, and he added a 50-yard pick-6 three minutes later for the game鈥檚 final points.
鈥淐ayl had a phenomenal day,鈥� Flakes said. 鈥淗e was all over the place. And Cayl, that鈥檚 the one out of all the kids, he鈥檚 a generational talent. You don鈥檛 get kids like Cayl come around very often. He鈥檚 a special kid; I鈥檓 blessed that he鈥檚 in this program.鈥�
Truly, it was the St. Pius defense that carried things against Chaparral, which lost two games to the Sartans by a combined 91-0.
The Lobos were handcuffed throughout, and didn鈥檛 even run a play in St. Pius territory until the third quarter was almost over.
鈥淲e just had a great game plan in play,鈥� Flakes said. 鈥淎nd a good week of preparation. We knew a lot of things they were gonna do.鈥�
The Sartans generated a strong pass rush, their secondary was brilliant, and the Lobos 鈥� who did win a playoff game for the second straight season 鈥� had no answers whatsoever.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been playing lights out,鈥� said Olloway, who had a relatively quiet day by his standards, rushing for 80 yards on 10 carries, all in the first half. 鈥淭hey just go out there, they work hard and they fly around.鈥�
And another stern test awaits when Bloomfield鈥檚 high-powered offense rolls into the West Side in a week鈥檚 time.
鈥淲e鈥檙e super excited for the opportunity to play against Bloomfield,鈥� Flakes said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been a dominant 4A powerhouse the last few years, and we really want that spot. 鈥� We wanted to not just make it to the state championship game, we want to win a title.鈥�
