An 18-yard completion with a defender draped around his legs. A 29-yard run on which he reversed field and broke multiple tackles. A 56-yard pass for a touchdown.
Those were just a sampling of the plays SMB Jalen Suggs made during the Wolfpack's 48-29 victory over Chisago Lakes on Saturday in the Class 4A quarterfinal at Centennial High School.
Suggs, a senior quarterback who's among the top-ranked high school basketball players in the Class of 2020, accounted for five scores, including four in the first half. That included a 20-yard completion to Terry Lockett on fourth-and-19 and the 56-yarder to Savion Robinson.
"We were just playing solid, finding the open man, seeing the gaps in the defense and taking advantage of it," Suggs said. "We were playing just really simple football, and it was working for us."
Trevon Howard also caught a touchdown pass for SMB (11-0), which led 35-0 at halftime. The Wolfpack's Tommy Stolpestad rushed for a score, and linebacker Kaden Johnson returned a fumble 65 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
"We were ready to go and really relaxed," first-year coach Chris Goodwin said.
Cole Peterson rushed for two touchdowns and Nick Wasco and David Kimlinger also rushed for scores for Chisago Lakes (5-7), which accumulated over 450 yards of offense and outscored SMB 29-13 in the second half.
The Wildcats, in their first state tournament in 18 years, went 2-6 during the regular season and 3-0 in the Section 7 playoffs to earn the state berth.
