Palo Verde rides defense to victory

“Defense wins championships,” Ortiz said. “For us, defense is everything.”

Ortiz helped exemplify that philosophy Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Sunset Region playoffs, as his three sacks powered No. 2-ranked Palo Verde to a 28-0 home win over Sierra Vista.

Palo Verde (11-0) will host Western in the Sunset semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday.

“Defense is what we are all about in the playoffs,” Panthers coach Darwin Rost said. “The kids did a really great job against a really good quarterback tonight. And that team scored 40 on us back at the beginning of the season.”

Palo Verde held the Lions to 155 yards of offense, 59 in the second half. The Panthers had five sacks and limited Sierra Vista (3-8) to 29 yards rushing.

“I was a little tired, but it felt really good tonight,” Ortiz said. “The guys did a nice job of getting in (the backfield) the whole time.”

Sierra Vista’s biggest threat came at the end of the first half, when a 47-yard pass play from Emir Lopez to Blake Marshall and a pass interference penalty helped the Lions drive to the Panthers 2-yard line with two seconds left.

On the half’s last play, Palo Verde’s defensive line closed in on Lopez, and he was forced to scramble for the goal line. But Panthers linebacker Liloa Nobriga met Lopez at the 1-yard line and brought him down to end the scoring threat.

On the offensive side, the Palo Verde ground game methodically chewed up yardage, rolling up 318 yards. Chaz Thomas led the way with 110 yards on 17 carries.

Tyrone Blake gave Palo Verde a 14-0 halftime lead with touchdown runs of 1 and 6 yards. He finished with 74 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Sidney Hodge added a brilliant scoring run in the third quarter, as he was hit hard by two Lions defenders in the backfield, then spun away and sprinted down the left sideline 35 yards to the end zone.

“I was really impressed with our kids tonight because we were a little beat up after playing Mojave for the league title last week. Championship games are like that,” Rost said. “But our No. 1 goal all season has been to get better each week. We did that, and we were very physical tonight. We hope to continue that next week.”