Basic cruises to Sunrise quarterfinal win over Eldorado

Basic football coach Jeff Cahill had two main objectives as he sent his players onto the field Friday. He wanted a win, and he wanted to keep his starters healthy.

Both goals were achieved as the Wolves used good field position throughout the night to cruise to a 54-14 home victory over Eldorado in their Sunset Region quarterfinal game.

“I thought we played OK tonight,” Cahill said. “We knew (the Sundevils) would have a tough time against our athletes, and it is was our plan all along to make sure nothing was going to happen to anybody.”

Aaron McAllister completed 7 of 8 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns — all in the first half — to lead Basic (7-3), which will play Foothill in the semifinals Thursday.

The Wolves needed just four plays to score on their first drive, with Dorian McAllister plunging in from a yard out to make it 7-0. Aaron McAllister extended the lead with TD passes to Jordan Gallegos and Frank Harris later in the quarter to put Basic ahead, 21-0.

Cahill said he talked to his team before the game about establishing early dominance.

“That was huge for us,” he said. “We wanted to get on the board first and score early and often so our young guys could play.”

After another TD run by Dorian McAllister, the Sundevils (2-8) finally got on the board with a fake punt that resulted in a 73-yard TD pass from Jaime Rangel to Amartae Butler.

But Basic’s Zack Grismanauskas returned an interception for an 80-yard TD just a minute later, allowing Cahill to unload his bench as planned.

“It was nice to get the JV guys in there,” Cahill said. “They were real fired up to be in a playoff game.”

Although reserve quarterback Paul Myro threw an early interception, he recovered to keep Basic rolling in the second half with TD passes to Grismanauskas and Franco Mays.

Rangel did hit Adrian Fernandez with a 15-yard scoring pass early in the fourth quarter, but the score was out of reach by that time.

Myro completed 7 of 11 passes for 78 yards and two TDs to help Basic, and teammate Darnell Washington had two receptions for 60 yards.

Anthony Silva rushed 13 times for 92 yards to lead Eldorado. Rangel completed 16 of 36 passes for 148 yards, but he was also intercepted four times.