Quincy turns back Zillah

ZILLAH - Darren Hodges scored two touchdowns and Antonio Melendez and Jacob Durfee added a score each as the Quincy Jackrabbits raced past the Zillah Leopards 29-10 on road in the first round of the 1A state playoffs Friday.

"It was a great win for the team and the Quincy community ... we had a lot of folks come to the game," coach Stephen Wallace said. "Now we get to keep fighting for another chance to move on."

Three Caribou Trail League teams entered postseason play this weekend, and only Quincy is left standing as perennial powerhouses Cashmere and Cascade were soundly defeated. The Bulldogs were whipped at home by the Cle Elum-Roslyn Warriors, 48-6, and the Kodiaks were handed a Royal beat down by the Knights, 70-14.

"No one really expected us to get his far as we've been playing the underdog role," Wallace said. "I'm not surprised Cashmere got beat because they lost two of their best players to injury. But I'm kind of surprised by the outcome of Cascade-Royal game ... thought it would be more of a shoot out."

Defense was the name of the game as the Jacks limited the Leopards hard running halfback Kurt Calhoun to 40 yards on 19 carries.

Calhoun had rushed for more than 200 yards in each of the last five games. Quincy also intercepted three Jace McKay passes, two of which led to Jacks touchdowns.

"We kept hearing about how good the Calhoun kid was ... that he was close to rushing for 2,000 yards this year, and would probably hit that mark against us," Wallace said. "But he didn't as we held him 40 yards for the game."

Zillah took an early 3-0 lead on a 35-yard Luis Medina field goal.

An 11-yard Hodges TD run (kick failed) put Quincy up 6-3 to end the first quarter scoring.

The second quarter of action was all Jacks as Quincy pushed the score to 22-3 on a 1-yard dash by Durfee (run failed), a 20-yard Hodges scamper (Mario Figueroa kick), and a 35-yard Figueroa field goal.

A 20-yard pass from McKay to Brady Widner (Medina kick) closed the gap to 19-10 to round out the first half of play.

Neither team scored in the third quarter of action. But the Jacks hung seven points on the board in the final 12 minutes on a Melendez 1-yard run (Figueroa kick) to make it 29-10 Quincy.

"We kept telling the kids this team is designed for the playoffs ... and if we ground it out ... eat up the clock ... and control the tempo of the game we'll be successful," Wallace said. "They've bought into the philosophy, and now we are on to the next round."

The win over the Leopards puts the Jacks in a quarterfinal match up with the River View Panthers from Kennewick Saturday at noon at Lambson Staduim.

"River View is a lot like Royal," Wallace said. "They have a very athletic quarterback who throws well on the run, so it's going to be a big challenge for us. But I think were up for it. ... it should be an exciting game."