Nelson senior Brody Austin had two touchdown catches in Friday's quarterfinal win over Lakeridge. (Photo by Ryan Fanger)

HAPPY VALLEY – Nelson's football team took one more giant step into uncharted territory with another impressive performance Friday night.

The second-seeded Hawks broke a scoreless tie with three touchdowns in the third quarter and went on to defeat No. 10 Lakeridge 21-7 in a 6A football quarterfinal at Nelson.

That means that Nelson – which won its first conference title this year in its fifth varsity season – will play in the semifinals for the first time next week when it meets No. 3 Lake Oswego. Unbeaten against Oregon teams, the Hawks (10-1) are looking more like a legitimate state-title contender with each passing week.

“We feel great. We know we can compete with anybody,” said senior quarterback Danny Leary, who completed 19 of 27 passes for 161 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

Nelson now gets a chance to take on powerhouse Lake Oswego and their Utah-bound senior running back, LaMarcus “Bam” Bell. The Hawks believe their dominant defensive front, which held Washington-bound Lakeridge senior Ansu Sanoe to 37 yards on 16 carries Friday, will be up to the task.

“Man, I'm excited,” said Hawks defensive lineman Abraham Zhyryada, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound senior. “We've had other good match-ups in the season – all respect to them, – but I'm ready for the big dogs. We want to go to the state championship this year. I'm excited to play Bam. I'm sure he's a great player, but our defense is just so physical, so fast, I'm excited to see how it comes out.”

Lakeridge coach Spencer Phillips tipped his cap to the Hawks, saying he doesn't know if his defense could have played any better.

“They have some dynamic players on the perimeter,” Phillips said. “Skill-wise, they're as good as anyone we've played all year. I think this next match-up against Lake Oswego is going to be a good one.”

Nelson, which opened the season with a 26-21 home win over Lakeridge, knew the Pacers (6-5) would be looking to get even Friday. Both teams squandered red-zone opportunities in the first half – Nelson three times, Lakeridge once – before the Hawks took command in the third quarter.

The Hawks got a spark with a trick play when Leary threw backward to 6-foot-5 senior tight end Cal Gradwahl, who uncorked a 32-yard strike to senior Cooper Stevenson to the Lakeridge 18-yard line. That set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Leary to senior Brody Austin to make it 7-0.

Nelson added the trick play to their repertoire last week.

“I threw the ball back to our quarterback and my coach saw it was a good throw,” Gradwahl said. “So we put the play in, and we ran it, and it worked. It was a big momentum-booster, for sure.”

The play seemed to energize the Hawks, who gained 170 of their 281 total yards in the second half.

“Coaches had to pull that out of their bag,” Zhyryada said. “Seeing that was awesome.”

Nelson extended the lead to 14-0 late in the third quarter when senior Corbin Croslin ran for a four-yard touchdown to finish a 63-yard drive. It grew to 21-0 as time expired in the third quarter when Austin caught an inside screen pass and turned it into a 45-yard touchdown.

'As soon as I got it, I just saw great blocks by the line,” said Austin, who had six catches for 88 yards and two touchdowns. “I saw a hole and I just got out of there.”

Nelson, which reached the Lakeridge 7, 15 and 9 in the first half but came up empty, found the end zone on its first three possessions of the second half.

“At halftime, we were just going, 'We're going to break loose at some point,'” said Croslin, who finished with 20 carries for 84 yards and one touchdown. “That's what we did. The third quarter, we scored on that first drive, and what's what we needed.”

Lakeridge finally got on the board with 4:41 left in the game on a four-yard touchdown run by Sanoe, but it was far too little for the Pacers.

Lakeridge senior quarterback Drew Weiler completed 18 of 32 passes for 167 yards. Senior Jaden Tragesser led the Pacers in receiving with three catches for 75 yards.

Nelson's defense, which has yielded only 32 points in its last four games, held Lakeridge to 196 total yards. The Hawks came ready to stop the inside running game of Sanoe and limited the Pacers to 29 rushing yards on 23 carries.

“We knew once we stopped their run, they were going to have to throw some shots,” Zhyryada said. “Once we made them bail on their original plan, that's when everything started to come together nicely.”

The Pacers fell short in their bid to make the semifinals for the first time since 1994. Since that final four appearance, they are 0-6 in the quarterfinals, including the last three seasons.