ENGLEWOOD — Throughout the first half Friday night, the Englewood defense was accomplishing the unthinkable by frustrating Elizabeth’s high-scoring offense.
In the second half, however, the Pirates had no answer when the Cardinals’ special teams took over.
Elizabeth never looked back after Joe Finken returned the second-half kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. The Cardinals also blocked two punts after halftime en route to a 49-7 victory in a Class 3A Metro South showdown.
Elizabeth, the top-ranked team in Class 3A, will await word of its playoff fate Sunday after completing the regular season 10-0, 6-0 in the league.
“Our special teams really fired us up, and then our offensive line came off the ball and really moved people in the second half,” Elizabeth coach Chris Cline said. “Joe Finken really fired us up. Here is a kid who is a backup running back as a junior but wants to play, and he gives us an effort like that. That’s incredible.”
The Cardinals led by only a touchdown at halftime after Englewood’s defense produced a goal-line stand, a fumble recovery and an interception in the first half.
Finken’s touchdown romp to start the third quarter sparked the Cardinals, who scored 20 consecutive points in the quarter and outscored Englewood 42-7 after the break. Elizabeth recorded its first blocked punt at the end of Englewood’s first possession of the second half, setting up one of four touchdown runs by Matt Biery.
Biery’s 170 yards rushing led an Elizabeth rushing attack that compiled nearly 400 yards, scoring touchdowns on runs of 36, 9, 76 and 22 yards.
“We had a good halftime talk, and some guys took off on special teams to give us that spark,” Biery said. “It’s great to know we can come out in the second half when we’re down and bounce back and do what we need to do to get the victory.”
Elizabeth 0 7 28 14 — 49
Englewood 0 0 7 0 — 7
Eliz — Biery 36 run (S.Taylor kick). Eliz — Finken 88 kickoff return (S.Taylor kick). Eliz — Biery 9 run (kick failed). Eliz — Boss 1 run (S.Taylor kick). Eng — Waltz 8 pass from Pleiman (Embertson kick). Eliz — Biery 76 run (Weber pass from D.Taylor). Eliz — Goldsberry 1 run (S.Taylor kick). Eliz — Biery 22 run (S.Taylor kick).
