Jamal Lomax of Las Vegas High celebrates after running for one of his two third-quarter touchdowns in the Wildcats' 35-0 victory over Foothill in the Sunrise Regional championship game Friday night. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky. Evan Walton (11) of Las Vegas dives for a first down while being tackled by Foothill's Brian Miller in the second quarter Friday. Photo by Jane Kalinowsky.

Forgive Foothill quarterback James Silvas if he has nightmares about Las Vegas defensive lineman Xavier Cleveland. After all, Cleveland was in his face all night Friday.

Cleveland sacked Silvas twice, threw him for a loss on two other occasions and batted down a pass to lead the defense as the Wildcats dominated the Falcons 35-0 in the Sunrise Regional title game at Foothill.

"We were just aggressive," Cleveland said of the defensive performance. "Monsters."

Those "monsters" held Foothill to 51 yards of offense. The Falcons had negative 1 yard in the second half, and Silvas was 0-for-9 passing.

"Our defense is like the best part of our team, so we've got to keep it up when our offense is down," Cleveland said.

The Wildcats (12-1) will host Palo Verde (7-5) in the Class 4A state semifinals at 4 p.m. next Saturday.

Las Vegas led 7-0 at the half, but the Wildcats got rolling after halftime with the help of a couple of Foothill miscues.

The Falcons (11-2) were forced to punt on their first possession of the half. A good snap went through the hands of punter Danny Osorio. The Wildcats had been setting up a return, so Osorio was able to scoop up the loose ball and get the kick away, but the punt went only 11 yards, and Las Vegas took possession at the Foothill 40.

Three plays later, quarterback O'Ryan Bradley faked a handoff to Jamal Lomax and scampered 9 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0. Lomax set up the score with a 23-yard run.

On the next Foothill possession, Silvas dropped back on second-and-15 to attempt a screen pass to D'Angelo Jones. But Las Vegas defensive end Jeremy Craddock made a leaping catch in the backfield and returned the interception 32 yards for a touchdown.

After another short punt, the Wildcats drove 44 yards in six plays, capped by a 6-yard Lomax run to make it 28-0 with 5:34 to go in the third quarter. Las Vegas was helped when Foothill's Brandon Baker was called for pass interference on third-and-8 from the 29.

"In the second half we made some big plays," Las Vegas coach Chris Faircloth said. "We made a defensive touchdown and kind of got momentum. And for whatever reason, whenever we get momentum, we seem to keep it pretty well and ride it out, and that happened for us tonight."

Lomax capped the scoring with a 12-yard TD run with 5.8 seconds left in the third quarter. He finished with 139 yards on 20 carries.

Jones returned the ensuing kickoff 72 yards to the Las Vegas 33, but the Wildcats' defense forced a turnover on downs. That was as close as Foothill would get to the end zone in the second half.

"The offense was a little slow in the beginning, but after the half, they picked it up and the defense hung in there and gave them that goose egg," said linebacker Cris Basch, who added three tackles for loss.

Las Vegas has outscored its three playoff opponents 77-15. The Wildcats have allowed 28 points over the last six games.

"Our defense is performing (the way) they're expected to perform," Faircloth said. "We work hard every week, and we have some very talented athletes on that side of the ball. We have high expectations, and anything less than what we've done wouldn't be acceptable at this time."

Jones entered the game with 1,987 yards rushing, but managed just 69 on 16 carries.

"That's their key player," Cleveland said. "If you stop him, you stop their whole offense."