Amari Staten was key to the D-Ranch wrecking crew on Thursday
(Burbank)- No stranger to being on the road in the post-season, Diamond Ranch dispatched Burroughs 41-18 Thursday night in the first round of the CIF-SS Southeast Division playoffs.
It was the second straight year that the Panthers knocked off a Pacific League opponent in the opening round. It was also their fourth straight victory.
“It is about the playoffs,” said Diamond Ranch head coach Roddy Layton. “We play a tough schedule so we can get ready for this part of the season. It allows us to be deeper in different positions as players can fill in for injured guys during the season.”
The Indians have yet to win a playoff game since reaching the finals in 1987 and are 0 for the decade.
In a game featuring two of the best rushers in the Southeast Division, it was Amari Staten who continued his emergence as a premier back running for 264-yards on 22 carries and touchdown runs of 49, 6, and 70-yards.
The complexion of the game changed early in the second quarter when Indians senior running back Dalton Williams (13 carries for 83 yards) went down with an injury after a six-yard run.
At the time, Burroughs was in the midst of an 11-play drive that already chewed 3:34 off the game clock. It all changed once Williams was injured as they were unable to sustain the drive.
“We had Dalton the entire game it would have been different,” said Indians head coach Keith Knoop. “They (Diamond Ranch) had a hard time tackling him. It changed the momentum of the game.”
Burroughs settled for a 44-yard field goal by Michael Solano to take its only lead, 3-0.
The Panthers rattled off 21 unanswered points as Staten found the end zone for the first time, and Gus Viramontes found Elijah Henley for 36-yards and Ryan Gibson for 33-yards.
The Indians scored late in the half when Lucas Yanez (11 of 17 for 131 yards and a touchdown) found Kohl Adams-Hurd for a 35-yard strike with Staten draped all over the receiver to cut the lead to 11.
The vaunted run offense of the Indians was unable to get on track in the third as Ranch extended its advantage on Staten’s second score with 6:04 remaining in the quarter.
Yanez added a six-yard run for Burroughs to cut the lead to 10 points after a successful 2-point conversion.
Staten stopped any hope of an Indians uprising with his final score putting an exclamation point on an impressive night.
DIAMOND RANCH 0-21-7-13 41
BURROUGHS 0-10-0-8 18
SCORING:
B – Michael Solano 44-yard field goal
DR – Amari Staten 49 run (kick fail)
DR – Elijah Henley 36 pass from Gus Viramontes (Staten Run)
DR – Ryan Gibson 33 pass from Viramontes (Stamp kick)
B – Kohl Adams-Hurd 35 pass from Lucas Yanez (Solano kick)
DR – Staten 6 run (Stamp kick)
B – Yanez 6 run (Andrew McKnight pass from Yanez)
DR – Staten 70 run (Stamp kick)
DR – Marquis Cherry 21 pass from Cesar Carrillo (run fail)
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