Font ResizeKamas » The key, for South Summit on Saturday afternoon, was a quick start. The first five minutes of the game, reasoned Wildcats coach Jerry Parker, would tell the story for the rest of the contest against Millard.
How right he was.
South Summit, in defeating the Eagles 45-6, returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown and never stopped. By the time the game was over, the Wildcats had advanced to the semifinals of the Class 2A state football playoffs. And they did so in dominating fashion.
"We did two things right today," Parker said. "We took care of the football and we didn't punt the ball. Things get really easy when you don't punt the ball."
In this game, Trevor Rydalch proved to be a huge key. The junior running back started his day with the 95-yard kickoff return for the opening touchdown. He wasn't done there. He came up with a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and he kicked a fourth-quarter field goal to go with knocking home all of South Summit's extra points.
"It seemed like everything went our way," Rydalch said. "Everything that we struggled with for most of the season was gone today. We came out, executed and we got ourselves a big win in the process."
It was 42-0 before Millard could get itself on the board. Jesse Rhodes, a freshman running back, took a fake punt and ran it 60 yards for the Eagles' lone score.
Besides that, the game was all
"Our defense was very good today," Parker said. "I thought they were aggressive, they were mean and they forced turnovers. This was a good team we played today. There's a reason that Millard made the playoffs. We were really excited to play today."
South Summit will face Grand in the semifinals.
South Summit scores 42 consecutive points to start the game.
» Trevor Rydalch and Trevor Lewis score two touchdowns each.
» The Wildcats advance to the semifinals of the Class 2A playoffs.
