Senior Cade Spradling accounted for five touchdowns between offense and defense as the Rangers built an insurmountable lead by halftime.
Smithson Valley is headed back to the state semifinals, and Cade Spradling is a big reason why. Spradling, a senior quarterback and linebacker for the Rangers , accounted for five touchdowns to help lead Smithson Valley to a 49-14 dismantling of Corpus Christi Flour Bluff in the Class 5A Division I state quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at the Alamodome .
Spradling ran for two touchdowns and passed for two touchdowns in less than three quarters of work on offense, and he returned an interception 84 yards for another score as Smithson Valley built a unassailable 42-7 halftime lead before cruising in the second half. 'We just came out and played hard,' Spradling said. 'We're a close team, and we wanted to stay together another week. I really don't have a preference of whether I play quarterback or linebacker. I just do what the coaches tell me and whatever the teams needs me to do.' BOX SCORE: Smithson Valley 49, Flour Bluff 14 With the win, Smithson Valley advances to the state semifinals for the second straight year and for the eighth time in program history. The Rangers now take on Angleton at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco. Angleton, the runner-up from District 11-5A-I, advanced to the semifinals with a 24-21 win over La Porte on Saturday afternoon in Houston. The win by the Wildcats avenged a 35-28 regular-season loss to their district rivals. Smithson Valley, which is now 14-4 all-time at the Alamodome and has won nine straight games, got the ball to start the game and took just 67 seconds to get on the board. Spradling rolled to his right and found a wide-open P.K. Moeller, who caught Spradling's pass and raced 61 yards for a touchdown to give the Rangers an early 7-0 lead. Flour Bluff , the No. 3 team from District 15-5A-I, responded with a touchdown of its own on an 18-yard pass from Jayden Paluseo to Cameran Dickson on the Hornets' opening possession. However, Smithson Valley regained the momentum on the Rangers' next play from scrimmage, as Spradling ran around left end and sprinted 78 yards to the end zone to make it 14-7 Smithson Valley just over four minutes into the game. 'You always want to come out and establish the tone of the game early, and I think our explosive plays did that,' said Smithson Valley head coach Larry Hill, who picked up career win No. 313 with the victory. 'When you get ahead the way we did, you make have to be one-dimensional and throw the ball, while we can run the ball and grind out the clock, which we like to do.' Later in the first quarter, Diego Davila picked off Paluseo near midfield and the Rangers went 52 yards in five plays before Spradling scored on a 5-yard run to give Smithson Valley a commanding 21-7 advantage after the opening 12 minutes. Smithson Valley picked off Paluseo three times in the first half, returning two for touchdowns, to help blow the game open for the Rangers. Smithson Valley landed the knockout punch with three touchdowns in the final 5:09 of the first half. Spradling stepped in front of a Paluseo pass and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-7 with 5:09 to go. Then, following a Flour Bluff punt, the Rangers went 50 yards in seven straight running plays to score on a 1-yard run by Brad Sowersby with 28 seconds left before halftime. The final blow came on the Hornets' next play from scrimmage, when Julian Colunga grabbed Paluseo's pass and went 37 yards with his interception for another touchdown, putting Smithson Valley up 42-7 and removing any doubt regarding the outcome. 'Our defensive line really made uncomfortable back there,' Spradling said. 'We were really able to capitalize on it and get in front of some passes.' Spradling added his final score on Smithson Valley's first drive of the second half, hitting Brody Day with a 37-yard touchdown pass to give the Rangers a 49-7 lead with 8:36 to go in the third quarter. NEWSLETTER: Your free all-access pass to the best high school sports coverage in San Antonio Spradling finished the game 4-for-6 passing for 105 yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding 110 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries. Sophomore Ty Knutson gave Spradling a break at different points in the game and went 5-for-7 passing for another 60 yards for the Rangers. ' has a tremendous present and future for us,' Hill said. 'It's nice to be able to have someone who can spell and we don't do anything different when is in there. He can do all the same things Cade can.' Day had two catches for 68 yards and a touchdown and gained another 38 yards on two rushes as well. Moeller had four catches for 76 yards and a score, and Sowersby finished with 46 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, all in the first half. Paluseo ended up 21-for-36 passing for 292 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Andre Mimms had six catches for 138 yards and a touchdown, Dickson added five catches for 93 yards and score, and Jayce Raines netted five catches for 40 yards in the loss. Most of the yardage came after the outcome had been decided and Smithson Valley kept Flour Bluff's ground game in check the whole way, as the Hornets managed just 41 yards on 24 carries in the game.
Wildcats Hornets Cade Spradling Jayden Paluseo Moeller Larry Hill Ty Knutson Cameran Dickson San Antonio Spradling Diego Davila Brad Sowersby Cade Andre Mimms Jayce Raines Brody Day Julian Colunga Smithson Valley Flour Bluff CC Flour Bluff Corpus Christi Alamodome Smithson Valley 49 Angleton Mclane Stadium Waco Paluseo I District 11 District 15 La Porte Houston Class 5A Division I P.K.
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