Second-half outburst propels Cypress

ANAHEIM - Cypress exploded for 28 consecutive points in the second half to turn a tight game into a blowout, beating El Toro, 38-9, in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Southwest Division playoffs on Friday night at Western High.

The Centurions earned their first trip to the semifinals since they won the CIF-SS Southern Division championship in 2007. The fourth-seeded Centurions will play top-seeded La Habra, the defending Southwest champion, next Saturday night. Tuestin plays Trabuco Hills in the other semifinal next Friday.

"We want to play the best and La Habra is the best," Cypress coach Ray Fenton said. "You have four teams that deserve to be in the semifinals and any one of them can win the whole thing."

Cypress (11-1) was clinging to a 10-9 lead over the Chargers at the half thanks to its bend-but-don't-break defense, which limited El Toro to three field goals. El Toro's Wes Harris connected on field goals of 35, 45 and 23 yards.

El Toro quarterback Braden Olson was able to move the ball through the air in the first half. Chargers running back Nico Jackson picked up all but 4 of his 71 rushing yards in the first half. It was a different story in the second half.

El Toro appeared to have the momentum heading into halftime after driving down the field for a 23-yard field goal by Harris as time expired. But the Chargers went three-and-out on the opening series of the third quarter.

Vince Rivera returned the ensuing punt 44 yards to El Toro's 20. Six plays later, Cypress quarterback Zach Ortiz used a great play fake to stun the Chargers defense and hit Rivera with a 1-yard scoring pass.

Cypress' defense got another three-and-out, then the offense put together a 7-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Ortiz continued to make timely play-action passes. He had one that went for 34 yards to Jared Cohen to get the Centurions to El Toro's 22. Four plays later, Cypress' star running back, Akeelie Muhammad, scored from a yard out and Cypress had a 24-9 lead.

On El Toro's next play from scrimmage, Jeremy Davidson picked off Olson and returned it to El Toro's 47. Ortiz hit Muhammad, who made a beautiful diving catch for a 42-yard gain. Ortiz connected with Rivera with a 5-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-9 with 1:13 left in the third quarter.

El Toro (8-4) finally picked up a pair of first downs and got into Cypress territory before stalling and being forced to punt. That would be the last time the Chargers would see the ball on offense.

Cypress put together a 15-play, 83-yard scoring drive that took nearly 8 minutes off the clock. Muhammad kept the chains moving, carrying 11 times on the drive. He put the exclamation point on the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run.

The Chargers fumbled away the ensuing kick return and Cypress ran out the final 2 minutes and 56 seconds.

Muhammad finished with 158 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries and he had two catches — both of the spectacular variety — for 80 yards. Cohen had two catches for 116 yards, including an 82-yard catch that gave the Centurions a 7-3 lead in the second quarter. Ortiz was 7 of 8 for 199 yards and three touchdowns.

Cypress upped its record to 11-1, while El Toro finished 8-4.