Lancaster Baptist cruises to victory | Sports activities

LANCASTER — The Lancaster Baptist football team jumped out to a dominating start to its first-round playoff game on Friday night.

Senior Daniel Flores scored on two rushing touchdowns on Lancaster Baptist’s first two possessions of the game against visiting Southlands Christian.

Daniel Flores then left the game with a leg injury on defense, but Lancaster Baptist was able to keep the momentum and cruise to a 48-12 victory over Southlands Christian in a CIF-Southern Section Division 2 8-Man First-Round Playoff game at Lancaster Baptist High School.

Lancaster Baptist (9-1) advances to the quarterfinals and will play at the winner of Cuyama Valley/Rolling Hills Prep.

“They kind of reset, quickly,” Lancaster Baptist coach John Alvarez said. “I know it’s hard to do. I told them ‘Hey, that’s a tough thing when you have a pause in the game with an injury.’

“Obviously we don’t know what the full extent of the injury is, but they did get their head back into the game and focused and came out to finish that series. After a while you do get back into the swing and the mood of the game. You really have to force that thought out of your mind and keep playing. I thought the boys did a good job.”

Flores scored on touchdown runs of 19 and 12 yards to give Lancaster Baptist an early 14-0 lead.

Flores went down on pain making a tackle on a Southlands Christian pass play, pounding the field in pain.

“I broke my leg,” Flores yelled to a hushed crowd.

Flores appeared to injure his lower left leg towards the end of the first quarter. He was transported to the hospital.

“It was a good win after Daniel Flores, our second running back, went down,” Lancaster Baptist senior Filipe De Paula Rosa said. “We knew someone had to step up. Someone stepped up and we came out with the W.

“When the injury happened, it kind of demoralized us. It didn’t make us feel good. We had to let it pass and get over the fact that our running back was injured and move on.”

Lancaster Baptist finished with 289 yards rushing on a combined 35 carried by five different ball carriers.

Filipe De Paula Rosa finished with four touchdowns: two rushing, one on a pass from junior quarterback Wyatt Langley and another on an interception return.

Filipe De Paula Rosa rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries.

The play after Daniel Flores was injured, Langley got one of Lancaster Baptist’s six interceptions.

Although Lancaster Baptist’s next drive stalled, it scored on the next three possessions, taking a 35-6 lead at halftime.

Lancaster Baptist had 281 total yards in offense in the first half, while holding Southlands Christian to 84 total yards and forcing three turnovers.

Langley, senior Troy Santos and junior Michael Averbeck each had an interception in the first half.

Lancaster Baptist sophomore Samuel Flores scored on a 42-yard run early in the second quarter and senior Filipe De Paula Rosa scored on a 9-yard run midway through the second to give LB a 28-0 lead.

“The bigger picture was going to the championship game and get a ring,” Samuel Flores said of the injury to his older brother. “It hit me. It was very unexpected. I never really thought I was going to have to step up like that. As I said, the bigger picture was to championship and get a ring. As soon as it happened, I thought of the bigger picture and it was kind of drifting away.

“The coaches talked to me and told me to step up and do what I do.”

Samuel Flores finished with 109 yards rushing on nine carries.

“I wanted Sammy to be able to get some touches and get a feel for the game,” Alvarez said. “He’s obviously been playing for us. It wasn’t his first time touching the ball. I wanted him to use some of that adrenaline and some of that emotion and use it for some good use for him.

“We gave him the ball a couple of times and he did a great job with it. We’re going to need him more and more. Proud of Sammy for taking over for his brother. Danny is a great football player. He’s a better person. He’s a great teammate. Hopefully it’s not as bad as we think. That’s what we’re praying for, certainly.”

Filipe De Paula Rosa caught a 38-yard touchdown pass from Langley with 33 seconds left in the first half to give Lancaster Baptist a 35-6 lead entering the second half.

Southlands Christian sophomore quarterback Elijah Vargas completed 7-of-21 passes in the first half with a 9-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter. He also threw three interceptions.

“(Samuel Flores) played great,” Filipe De Paula Rosa said. “He really stepped up the second half. I’m proud of him. He needed to and he did what he was supposed to do.”

Filipe De Paula Rosa intercepted a Southlands Christian pass on the opening possession of the second half and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown.

Averbeck intercepted a Southlands Christian pass on his second possession in the third quarter.

“I think we did pretty good,” Samuel Flores said. “There’s a couple of mistakes that we had here and there, but going into practice on Monday, we’ll fix those mistakes and do what we have to do to get better for the next round.”

Lancaster Baptist as coming off a 52-35 loss to Leadership Military Academy, which the Eagles denied a chance at their first league title and to finish 9-0 in the regular season.

“We definitely needed the momentum, coming off a loss from leadership. We needed this,” Filipe De Paula Rosa said. “We needed a good win and we got that. Now we need to look to our next opponent.”

Lancaster Baptist advanced to the quarterfinals last year, losing to eventual champion Faith Baptist.

Lancaster Baptist won one CIF championship in 2017, advancing to the title game in 2016 and 2019.

Southlands Christian finished third in the Majestic League, behind first-place Cornerstone Christian and second-place California Lutheran, which both had first-round games on Friday and could face each other in the second round.

They were also the only two teams to beat Southlands this season.

Southlands went winless last season in the Express League.

It was the third different league in as many seasons for Southlands after switching from 11-man football in 2021.