Dragons find playoff fire in ground attack

Running backs, fullbacks, quarterbacks, receivers, even an offensive lineman. It just didn't matter who carried the ball for Del Sol on Friday night.

The Dragons (9-1) racked up 364 rushing yards behind their massive offensive line on the way to a 49-7 rout of visiting Desert Pines (5-6) in the first round of the Sunrise Region football playoffs.

"Our offensive line is just an incredible group of guys," Del Sol coach Preston Goroff said. "It didn't matter who was running the ball, the holes were there, and we did a good job of hitting them all night."

Sixth-ranked Del Sol will play at third-ranked Canyon Springs (9-1) in the Sunrise semifinals next week.

The Dragons' line of Otto Hansell, Pat Mendes, Pono Huihui, Shawn Rivera and Alex Klorman average 250 pounds, and the line made plenty of room for Del Sol runners all night.

"I love my line," said fullback Jon Kirschbaum, who led the way with 125 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. "They're the best line in the state, by far. No one has anything on them."

The line showed its dominance from the start, as the Dragons drove 70 yards on seven plays on the opening drive, capped by a 15-yard touchdown run by Kirschbaum. Del Sol ran the ball four times on the drive, with three of them going for 13 or more yards.

Quarterback Matt Burge connected on just 1 of 3 pass attempts on the opening drive, but Goroff said just showing the pass helped the running game. For the game, Burge completed 6 of 12 passes for 156 yards and two TDs.

"I think you've got to give a little credit to Matt Burge tonight," Goroff said. "They came in tonight with the idea they were going to give us a nine-man front, and the first series we probably threw the ball half the time. And I think that loosened them up and gave us a little leeway in the run game."

Defensively, the Dragons surrounded Desert Pines running back Michael Ball, holding him to 46 yards on 16 carries. Ball, who has committed to UNR, missed the first meeting between the two teams with an ankle injury.

"Our defense is probably the most underrated part of our football team," Goroff said. "I think our defense kind of took it personally that everything was about Michael Ball, and they were up to the challenge tonight."

Desert Pines passed for 206 yards the first time the teams met, but the Dragons held the Jaguars to 77 yards through the air Friday. Curtez Martin had an interception, and Orlando Kelker broke up three passes.

"We just did a good job overall defensively," Goroff said. "We tackled well, we read our keys well and we got to the ball."

Jordan Molina rushed for 112 yards and two TDs on seven carries, and Ernest Hall had nine carries for 58 yards.

The 5-foot-4-inch, 145-pound Molina had a 71-yard TD run in the fourth quarter, where he ran straight ahead through a huge hole, then used his speed to outrun the secondary and score untouched. He also had a 4-yard TD run in the first half.

Tim Lawson caught four passes for 121 yards and a touchdown for the Dragons, and Evan Weinstock hauled in a 23-yard TD pass.

Burge and Mendes each added 1-yard scoring runs.

"We knew we could do it," Kirschbaum said. "We just had to come out and show everyone we were ready to play for the playoffs."

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4587.