ROUNDUP: Engel steals spotlight from LeBoeuf as Mountain View tears through Lincoln County

With Lincoln County focusing on stopping running back Cortland LeBoeuf, Mountain View quarterback T.J. Engel found himself with a chance to shine.

And the junior made the most of the opportunity, rushing for 86 yards and tossing three touchdown passes as the Saints beat the visiting Lynx 36-22 in the Class 2A Southern League playoffs on Saturday.

Mountain View (9-2) plays at Battle Mountain (8-2) in a Class 2A state semifinal at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Engel had two first-quarter TD passes to help Mountain View jump out to a 22-0 lead after one quarter.

“That was really important for our team, especially because we like to get our momentum up in the very beginning,” Engel said. “But we need to carry it on for the rest of the game and not just have a 10-minute burst.”

In addition to the TD passes, Engel had 40 yards rushing in the first quarter.

“It seemed like they had two or three people keying on Cortland, which gave T.J. that quick trap up the middle, and T.J.’s a great runner,” Mountain View coach Ray LeBoeuf said. “He was able to take some pressure off.”

Engel connected with Mark Allen for a 17-yard TD pass on the game’s opening drive, and hit Karl Benjamin with a 42-yard scoring strike that made it 14-0 with 5:42 to go in the quarter.

The Saints recovered an onside kick after Benjamin’s touchdown, and Cortland LeBoeuf had a 21-yard TD run as Mountain View took a 22-0 lead.

Lincoln County (5-5) used its inside running game to go 65 yards on 11 plays, topping it off with a 4-yard TD run by Tyler Center. The

Lynx then got a break on the final play of the first half when a Mountain View player broke up a pass in the end zone but deflected it to Jeremy Avery for a 29-yard TD pass.

Center’s 2-point conversion cut the lead to 22-14 at the break.

Mountain View regained the momentum in the third quarter after LeBoeuf scored on a 16-yard run, and Allen caught a 34-yard TD pass from Engel for a 36-14 Saints’ advantage.

Engel played defensive end in the second half as the Saints moved to a four-man front and had more success stopping Lincoln County’s inside rush attack.

“I love defense,” Engel said. “That’s my favorite thing, to go play defense and actually go hit somebody instead of them hitting me.”

Cortland LeBoeuf finished with 109 yards on 18 carries.

Lincoln County’s Randon Wright rushed for 90 yards, and Center had 68 yards and two TDs on the ground.

Tonopah 36, Spring Mountain 8 — At Tonopah, Chris Thackery ran for three touchdowns, and the host Muckers exploded for 28 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Eagles in a Class 1A state quarterfinal.

Thackery scored on runs of 3 yards in the first quarter and 6 and 20 yards in the fourth quarter.

Denver Otteson rushed for 177 yards and a touchdown. He also threw for 31 yards, caught two passes for 21 yards and had a team-high 24 tackles.

Maurice Kennedy added 10-yard touchdown run for the Muckers, who led 36-0 before Spring Mountain got on the board.

Tonopah racked up 349 total yards, including 295 on the ground, but lost five fumbles. The Muckers will visit Coleville — a 72-16 winner over Carlin on Saturday – in a state semifinal on Nov. 14.

Robby Lindbloom’s 13-yard scoring pass to Clarence Torres and a conversion run accounted for Spring Mountain’s points.

Lindbloom completed 14 of 33 passes for 195 yards. Spring Mountain also committed five turnovers.