Cards sink Pirates, set sail for Sutter

Corning High's football team saw the Pirates' warship coming from a mile away, and tried running up that same distance in rushing attempts Thursday, racking up all 442 yards of offense on ground in a 53-14 victory over Wheatland in the Division II quarterfinals at Cardinal Stadium.

Corning's defense held the Pirates to minus-1 yard on their first drive, with the help of an Erik Miranda sack that pushed them 12 yards further back. It was just the first sack of a night of constant pressure on Wheatland quarterback Justin Bragg.

Following the Wheatland punt, Corning put together a nine-play drive with J.D. Whited bulling the ball over from 2 yards out. It was just the first of his five touchdowns on the night, as he would later score on carries of 30, 25, 8 and another 2-yard run.

Ezekiel Rodriguez scored Corning's longest TD of the night with a 48-yard sweep to the right side in the first quarter, which required him to do some tightrope-walking to stay inbounds in front of the Corning bench.

Ryan Holland also kept the football for a 1-yard score in the second quarter, with the Pirates finally getting on the board on a 19-yard scoring run by Thomas Aiono with 3:58 left in the half.

The scoreboard at the break read Corning 32, Wheatland 7.

Whited made his last two trips to the end zone in the third quarter, and Nate Fultz sped his way 9 yards to the end zone, also in the third.

With a running clock implemented for the duration of the fourth quarter, the Pirates notched the only points of the period on a 30-yard scoring pass from Bragg to Hayden Liessmann with 6:48 to go.

"We came out firing," Corning coach John Studer praised in his post-game pep talk, "it's been awhile since we won a playoff game."

It was not only the win the had the coach fired up, but how the Cardinals went about business. He also hopes they can execute the same "business plan" Nov. 18 when they face second-seeded Sutter o the road.

"We're not leaning on any one player. We may be throwing more, but we'll still be running to the inside and outside."

Defensively, Studer hopes the Cardinals are able keep the pressure on the Huskies, and tackle better than they did against the Pirates.

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.