After Las Vegas High School played Silverado to a scoreless tie in the first half Thursday, Wildcats senior defensive lineman Xavier Cleveland felt pretty good about his team's chances of winning -- if it could only find a way to score.

"We knew if we scored just one touchdown on offense, we would almost have the game in the bag because the defense was playing so well," said Cleveland.

With a little help from the defense, the Wildcats' offense finally took off. Las Vegas converted two turnovers into 14 points early in the third quarter and rolled to a 27-8 victory in the Sunrise Regional semifinal.

The Wildcats (11-1) advance to the Sunrise Regional championship game at 7 p.m. next Friday at Foothill.

Las Vegas took control almost immediately after kicking off to start the second half. On the Skyhawks' first offensive play, quarterback Tyyler McNeace fumbled a pitch that Wildcats linebacker Josh Winfield pounced on.

On the next play, running back Jamal Lomax took a handoff, ran right, stopped, circled back left and raced down the sideline 32 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0.

"I just had to keep the play going," said Lomax. who had 150 yards on 23 carries. "I just had to keep the legs going and make a good second effort to get in the end zone."

Two plays later, Nate Carter recovered another Skyhawks fumble, and O'Ryan Bradley then tossed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Avant Gates to make it 14-0.

"Everybody started rolling from there," said Lomax, who added a 3-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats' defense held Silverado to 8 yards of offense in the second half before the Skyhawks' final drive. Silverado (7-4) finished with 152 yards.

Cleveland had six tackles, including three sacks.

McNeace threw for just 48 yards. He was held to 0-for-9 passing with one interception in the second half.

"It was a tough first half," Cleveland said. "But we approached the second half like 'If they don't score, they don't win.' "