ONTARIO — It’s ideal to get off to a good start in a CIF Southern Section playoff game.
Senior quarterback Hayden Slegers provided that for Ontario Christian Friday night with a 62-yard touchdown run on the Knights’ opening play from scrimmage.
The good start continued throughout the first half as the top-seeded Knights scored on each of their first four possessions en route to a 45-13 victory over Dana Hills in a Division 6 first round game at Ontario Christian High School.
The Knights (9-2) will play at Huntington Beach in the second round next week.
“It feels really good to get this one,” Ontario Christian first-year coach Andrew Lachelt said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to get the first one under my belt. If we continue to execute, we’re going to play as long as we possibly can.”
The Knights’ up-tempo offense gave the Dolphins (8-3) trouble right from the start. Dana Hills punted from its first series, giving Ontario Christian the ball at its 38. One play later, Ontario Christian led, 8-0.
“It was a designed quarterback run,” Lachelt said of the touchdown. “We got the exact look we’d seen on film. We motioned into it and got the set we wanted. It was just him and the corner. We’ll take No. 2 (Slegers) any day of the week.”
Dana Hills’ next two possessions ended with turnovers and Ontario Christian followed with two more touchdowns, a 4-yard touchdown run by Zander Lewis and a 5-yard touchdown pass from Slegers to Marquis Bradley and Ontario Christian led 20-0 less than nine minutes into the game. The Knights led 30-7 at halftime and were not threatened thereafter.
Slegers finished the game 21-of-32 passing for 289 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. On the ground, he added 11 carries for 108 yards and two more touchdowns. Lewis finished with 12 carries for 141 yards and two touchdowns and Bradley caught seven passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns.
“First half for sure, we completed most of our balls,” Slegers said. “This week, we said, ‘no balls on the ground.’ A lot of it was not trying to do too much. Take what they (defense) give us.”
Ontario Christian’s defense excelled too, forcing six turnovers in the game, including five in the first half. Bradley had two of the Knights’ four interceptions.
“That’s (defensive coordinator) Carl Bradford,” Lachelt said. “He was my first hire. He preaches takeaways every day. We’re always looking to get the football back. We believe if we have the football, we’re going to score.”
It was a tough end of a season for Dana Hills, which played in the Division 10 playoffs last year.
“We thought they were very good on offense,” Dana Hills coach Tony Henney said. “Quarterback is an exceptional high school football player and I think 22 (Lewis) and 1 (Bradley) are going to play on Saturdays. We thought we had to go score-for-score with them. We didn’t take care of the ball early. We had some chances. It just wasn’t our night. You have to give them credit for that.”
Sophomore Jace Lowe threw for 204 yards on 18-of-37 passing with one touchdown and four interceptions. Junior Owen Walz had 94 yards rushing and a touchdown and 26 yards receiving for the Dolphins.
