Cheyenne defense comes through, stuffs Spring Valley

By the end of the first quarter, Cheyenne had made plenty of big plays in its Sunset Region quarterfinal against Spring Valley on Friday night.

The sixth-ranked Desert Shields already had 214 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

But Cheyenne's biggest play was by its defense, and it came with four minutes to play.

Spring Valley quarterback Anton Stallworth was stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Cheyenne 2-yard line, and the Desert Shields escaped with a 28-20 victory over the No. 10 Grizzlies.

Cheyenne (8-2) advanced to play No. 1-ranked Bishop Gorman, a 43-20 winner over Cimarron-Memorial, in next Friday's semifinals. Spring Valley finished 7-4.

Leading by eight, Cheyenne had to put the game in the hands of its defense after Terence Bryson fumbled to Spring Valley's Brandon Wisenberger at the Desert Shield 29.

Aided by two personal fouls against Cheyenne, the Grizzlies moved to the 11-yard line with six minutes to play. Three straight runs got the ball to the 2 on fourth down.

Stallworth kept the ball on the option, but was met by four members of the Cheyenne defensive front, and the Desert Shields ran out the clock.

"Spring Valley never quits," Desert Shields coach Charles Anthony said. "They keep pounding the football at you, but we made the plays when needed. This is a big win to send us to the next level."

The Desert Shields put together consecutive scoring drives of 74, 75 and 65 yards in the first quarter, piling up big yardage on the ground.

Tracy Lide had an 89-yard kickoff return for Spring Valley's first-half points as Cheyenne led 20-6.

Cheyenne's defense came through on the third play of the second half when D'Angelo Butler picked up a fumbled snap and raced 10 yards for a touchdown and a 28-6 lead.

But Spring Valley didn't fall apart.

The Grizzlies got 1-yard touchdown runs by Lide and Stefan Klein to pull to within 28-20. In the second half, Spring Valley ran 35 plays to 11 for Cheyenne.

Ronnie Green led Cheyenne with 105 yards on 11 carries and scored first-quarter TDs of 36 and 38 yards. Tank Johnson had 82 yards rushing and V'Son Milton 64 as Cheyenne had a 283-80 edge on the ground.