Fourth seeded Snowflake played host to No. 5 Blue Ridge on Friday night in the 3A quarterfinal round of the state playoffs and the Lobos, as they had done earlier in the season prevailed to advance to the state semi-final game on Saturday.
The game was knotted at 28-28 after three quarters but the Lobos defense shut out the Yellowjackets in the fourth, while their offense scored 14 points to win the game 42-28.
Brig Turley opened the scoring for the Lobos midway through the opening period on a 16-yard rushing touchdown. Sam Crockett’s point-after kick put Snowflake up 7-0.
Ethan Ramage pushed the scored to 14-0 a couple of minutes later when he hooked up with Caleb Lyman from 16 yards out.
Blue Ridge’s PJ London scored on a 12-yard run early in the second, then booted the point-after cutting Snowflake’s lead in half.
Turley’s second score of the night came on a 10-yard run with seven minutes left in the half. Crockett’s kick put the Lobos up 21-7. Late in the half, Blue Ridge’s Damon Mitchell punched it in from a yard out and again the Jackets were within seven points following London’s kick. The teams went to the break with Snowflake on top 21-14.
Blue Ridge wasted little time knotting the score in the third period when PJ London found Jimmy Wallace for a 75-yard catch and run tying the score at 21-21.
Turley scored his third touchdown of the night on an eight-yard run, putting Snowflake back on top 28-21 midway through the third. Not to be outdone London found the endzone for his third score of the night, the second on the ground, again tying the score at 28-28 after three quarters.
In the fourth, Terren Green put Snowflake on top for good with an eight-yard rushing score near the seven minute mark. Snowflake’s two-point conversion attempt failed leaving them on top 34-28.
Snowflake’s defense forced a Yellowjacket punt, then Turley quickly found the endzone for the fourth time on the night, this one coming from 60 yards away. Caden Cantrell ran in the two-point conversion and Snowflake went ahead for good 42-28.
Ramage had an efficient night throwing the ball, completing eight of his 12 attempts for 106 yards with one touchdown and one pick. Cantrell was the leading receiver with three catches for 38 yards. Welcome Chapman had 1 for 24; Nick McVicker, 1 for 19; Lyman, 1 for 16 and a score; and Noah Baum had one nine-yard catch.
Snowflake did most of their damage on the ground behind a huge night from Turley. The senior back was a Lobo work horse rushing 27 times amassing an impressive 259 yards with four touchdowns. Green also piled up big yards gaining 141 on 19 totes with one score. Lyman had three carries for six yards and Cantrell had one three-yard run.
Snowflake finished the night with 515 yards of offense, while their defense held Blue Ridge to 343.
With the win the Lobos moved their season mark to 10-2. One of those two losses came at the hands of their semi-final opponent, Benjamin Franklin. The top seeded Chargers, whose only loss this year came against second seeded ALA Queen Creek, defeated No. 9 ALA Gilbert, 35-28 in their quarterfinal game.
Snowflake will face Benjamin Franklin at 6 p.m. on Saturday night at Williams Field High School. In their meeting back on Aug. 30, the Lobos fell, 21-43.
Second seeded ALA Queen Creek and No. 3 Northwest Christian will square off in the other semi-final game. The two winners will play for the 3A State Championship the day after Thanksgiving at Campo Verde High School.
