In a game that had four second-half lead changes, it was Anthony Stevenson and the St. Paul Johnson defense that came up big to prevent a fifth.
Colin Moore Jr. ran for 165 yards and two scores, and the fifth-seeded Governors took down No. 4 Simley 20-17 in a Class 4A, Section 3 quarterfinal Tuesday on a raw, windy night. The feel-like temperature at kickoff was 30 degrees.
“They made a little Instagram post talking about how they had a bye week, so we had to show them it wasn’t a bye week,” Stevenson said.
“(Quality Results Formula) had us as a three seed, coaches’ vote gave us a five,” Moore said. “They made us come over here and show that we deserve the three. Now we got to bring this over to Saturday.”
That would be an 11 a.m. game at top-seeded Hill-Murray (7-1).
Johnson is now 6-3, with its losses to top-10 Class 3A teams: twice to Minneapolis North and once to St. Croix Lutheran.
“We felt slighted and disrespected. But in situations like that, the best thing you can do is come out and show who you are. That’s what we did tonight,” coach Richard Magembe said.
Trailing by three, Simley (2-7) converted a fourth-and-14 to keep a drive alive at the Johnson 20. After a couple runs netted a yard, Stevenson wasn’t touched by a blocker and dropped quarterback Christian Urbina for a 4-yard loss.
A 40-yard field goal attempt into a stiff breeze came up short with 3:35 remaining.
Moore made sure the Governors ran out the clock.
The junior had a 19-yard slithering run for a first down that forced Simley to call the first of its three time outs. Short runs by Moore and quarterback Ali Farfan made the Spartans stop the clock two more times.
Moore gained three yards on fourth-and-1 with 1:36 left.
It was only appropriate the game-sealing play came on fourth down. Johnson converted all six times it went for it in such situations.
“In the huddle every time we kept saying, ‘We got this, never a doubt. Have to execute every play, ’” Moore said.
Carter Bungue finished with 164 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Simley, including from the 8 late in the third quarter for a 17-14 lead.
Charlie Martin’s 24-yard field goal midway through the third quarter made it 10-8 for the home team.
That advantage was brief.
On first down, wide receiver Justice Moody had a thunderous block, allowing Moore to get the edge and go 80 yards to the end zone.
“I saw him with the pancake, and I was like, ‘I got to take this,’ ” Moore said while grinning widely.
Moore scored on a 13-yard run and caught the two-point conversion early in the second quarter for an 8-7 Johnson lead. The score capped a 16-play, 80-yard drive that included a pair of fourth-down conversions.
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