DIVISION I-A FOOTBALL: Fox leans on defense to get Crusaders to championship game

Vernon Fox could have gone for the jugular twice in the fourth quarter Saturday. Instead, Faith Lutheran’s first-year football coach opted to put the game in the hands of his defense.

With the way the Crusaders were playing on that side of the ball, who could blame him?

Faith Lutheran limited Lowry to 74 yards of total offense in the second half, and Trent Dolby booted three field goals as the host Crusaders grinded out a 16-8 win in a Division I-A state semifinal.

The Crusaders (11-2), who have won 11 straight games, advance to the state final for the first time and will face Churchill County (10-1) on Saturday at Damonte Ranch High in Reno. The Greenwave, the top seed in the Northern Region, knocked off Moapa Valley 34-24 in the other semifinal.

“I’m just blessed to work with this great group of of young men and outstanding group of coaches,” said Fox, who played in the NFL for eight years. “We came into this game knowing it was going to be a slugfest. I’m proud the defense found a way to win it.”

Leading by eight points midway through the fourth quarter, Faith Lutheran faced a fourth-and-1 at the Buckeroos’ 43-yard line and Fox chose to punt rather than use the “Beef” formation that was effective in short-yardage situations during the first half.

The decision proved to be correct as Vinny DeGeorge’s coffin-corner kick pinned Lowry (10-2) at its own 2 with 6:10 remaining.

After the teams traded fumbles, the Crusaders drove to the Lowry 10 — Faith Lutheran quarterback Jacob Deaville converted a third-and-long with a key 22-yard scramble — and had fourth-and-2 when Fox sent out Dolby for a 27-yard field-goal attempt. The kick missed, however, giving the ball to the Buckaroos at their own 20 with exactly two minutes remaining.

“If you watched the flow of the game, they didn’t have any deep-hitting plays,” Fox said. “(Lowry quarterback Calvin Connors) is a great athlete, but I figured if we put the ball in his hands and make him win the game, I could live with it.”

Connors moved the Buckaroos to the Faith Lutheran 44 on six plays. But on third-and-6, Connors lined up at wide receiver and broke his route off early, allowing DeGeorge to intercept Garrett Naveran’s deep pass with 27 seconds to play.

The Crusaders held Lowry to 201 yards rushing, its second-lowest total of season and 112 yards below its season average. Connors finished with 140 yards on the ground, including a 50-yard run late in the first half. Beau Billingsley, Lowry’s second-leading rusher, was held to 15 yards on 11 carries.

The Buckaroos finished with 232 total yards.

“We had to grind,” Deaville said. “The offense should have punched it in a couple more times. But we knew the defense was stopping them. I love my defense. I can always count on them.”

Deaville completed 15 of 23 passes for 179 yards and one interception and added 41 yards rushing. Fabian Lagudi had a team-high 49 yards rushing, all in the second half, and Keenan Smith finished with 35 yards and a 2-yard touchdown run that gave the Crusaders a 13-8 lead with 1:59 left in the second quarter.

Faith Lutheran stopped a fake punt on the Buckaroos’ first possession and put together a 10-play drive but managed only a 27-yard field goal by Dolby. It was the first of two short field goals by Dolby. Lowry took advantage and snagged an 8-6 lead with 4:45 left in the second quarter when Connors scored from 13 yards out and then hit Brandon Okuma on the 2-point conversion.

The drive was extended when the Crusaders were flagged for 12 men on the field on fourth-and-5 at the Lowry 44 following an injury timeout.

“We definitely knew it was going to be a game of ball control and we knew they had the ability to string off some long drives,” Fox said. “But we can do the same thing and we wanted to match that.”

The Crusaders regained the lead less than three minutes later as Deaville led a seven-play drive, going 4-for-5 for 54 yards. DeGeorge had a 23-yard reception, managing to get both feet in before going out of bounds, and Smith scored on the next play to make it 13-8.

“We came into this one always being known as just Faith Lutheran,” Deaville said. “We want to be known as the Faith Lutheran people respect. The only way to gain respect is to win the state championship.”

Churchill County 34, Moapa Valley 24 — At Fallon, Trent Tarner returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown, and the host Greenwave never looked back en route to a Division I-A state semifinal.

Churchill County (10-1) never trailed and ended the Pirates’ streak of seven straight appearances in a state final.

Moapa Valley turned the ball over eight times, including six interceptions.

"We shot ourselves in the foot a few too many times today," Pirates coach Brent Lewis said.

Morgan Dirickson tossed TD passes of 4 and 11 yards, and Tarner added a 63-yard touchdown for Churchill County, which led only 14-12 at the half, but extended the margin to 27-18 on Tarner’s rushing score.

Tarner's TD run came right after Moapa Valley was called for roughing the punter, extending the Greenwave drive.

Moapa Valley (11-1) closed to within 27-24 after Andrew Huerta's 5-yard TD run. The Pirates had the ball deep in its own territory before Tyler Bagby returned an interception 18 yards for a score with about three minutes left in the game to all but seal the win.