Jacob Littlefield, Wildcats top Falcons

Las Vegas High senior Jacob Littlefield didn’t carry the ball once on offense during the regular season.

But when the Wildcats’ leading rusher Elijah Hicks went down with an injury at the end of the first quarter of Friday’s Sunrise Region quarterfinal game at Foothill, Littlefield took over at running back.

He ended up not just carrying the load for the Vegas running game, but carrying his team to a playoff victory, as Littlefield had 19 carries for 184 yards and two touchdowns to power the Wildcats past the host Falcons, 28-23.

With the win, Las Vegas (6-4) will host Basic (5-5) in the Sunrise semifinals.

Littlefield said before the game against Foothill, he never would have expected he would carry the ball for the offense. Nor had he anticipated the end result: teammates and fans alike loudly chanting his name after the game.

“All I was saying is, if I get the ball, I’m going to do all that I can,” Littlefield said. “And I knew the offensive line was going to do enough for me to get some good runs. I just wanted to give the best effort that I could.

“Honestly, I’m just blessed to have another 48 minutes of football. That’s all that I can ask for.”

Littlefield’s burst through the middle on a 30-yard romp to the end zone gave the Wildcats a 21-17 lead with 4:07 left in the third quarter was perhaps the key run of the game, as Las Vegas never trailed again.

The Wildcats added another score with 8:45 left in the fourth quarter on Sam Blackburn’s circus catch in the middle of the end zone on a 20-yard toss from Trevor Swenson that extended the lead to 28-17.

Foothill (5-5) came back, as Nick Gardner found James Hagen on a 7-yard touchdown pass with 5:12 left in the game that trimmed the lead to 28-23.

But it was Littlefield who closed it out for Las Vegas, as he carried the ball on the first six plays on the ensuing drive, racking up 43 yards.

The clincher was his last carry, a 21-yard burst that forced Foothill to burn its final timeout. From there, the Wildcats were able to kneel and run out the clock.

Both teams had problems hanging on to the ball through the contest, with Las Vegas turning the ball over five times to Foothil’s four. But Foothill was actually more proficient in turning Wildcat miscues into points.

Foothill’s Jose Valenzuela picked off a screen pass at the 5 and walked into the end zone to give Foothill its first lead of the game, 14-7, with 10:11 left in second quarter.

Las Vegas answered on the ensuing drive, marching 92 yards, with Littlefield’s first carry of the game setting the tone for the night, as he rumbled 63-yards to the end zone to tie the game at 14.

Both of Littlefield’s touchdown runs started out with him running through the middle of the line and into the clear.

“It was kind of crazy, because I expected to get hit on both (touchdown runs),” Littlefield said. “And when I busted through the line and didn’t get hit, it was just daylight, and I just ran as hard as I could.”

Chris Dieguez’s interception with just less than 6 minutes left in the second quarter set up Cory Fisher’s 29-yard field goal that gave the Falcons 17-14 lead.

Then, with Foothill poised to increase the lead to two scores, Las Vegas’ Delvonta Menyweathers recovered a fumble at the Wildcats 16 with 1:26 left in the half to keep Foothill’s lead at just three points going into halftime.

Now the Wildcats have all but erased the bad taste they had from losing their final game of the regular season after leading 17-0, which resulted in Las Vegas having to open the playoffs on the road.

“We have started fast this season, then kind of let up. So that was our message this week was to play all 48 minutes,” Littlefield said. “This game showed that we can preserver. So now we are just going to have a great week of practice and try to beat Basic.”