(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) A-W's Nathan Easton and Eric Eskra are silenced after falling 28-20 in the first round of state playoffs at Alta Monday night. [Click to enlarge]

Alta jumped to an early 12-0 lead en route to a 28-20 win over the visiting Akron-Westfield Westerners in the first round of state football Monday night.

The host Cyclones took a commanding lead with a pair of rushing touchdowns - one for five yards and one a 64-yard run - in the first quarter to lead 12-0 after 12 minutes of play.

Alta held the lead over the eighth-ranked Westerners until Grant DeRocher stripped a fumble at the Cyclone 1-yard line and scrambled into the end zone for the A-W score. Reuben Ritz added the PAT kick and the Westerners pulled within one score, down 7-12.

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) A-W's Grant DeRocher scrambles into the end zone for a touchdown after stripping a fumble at the Cyclone 1-yard line. The touchdown was the first Westerner score in Monday's playoff game at Alta. A-W lost 28-20 to finish its season. [Click to enlarge]

The Cyclones blasted their lead open in the third quarter with another pair of running touchdowns. Alta's Jack Mills scored on runs of 41 and 12 yards to notch his second and third touchdowns of the game. Mills added a two-point conversion run on the latter score to give the host squad a 28-7 cushion at the end of the third quarter.

But the Westerners weren't ready to let the Cyclones exact their revenge just yet. A-W struck twice in the final quarter under the leadership of quarterback Eric Eskra.

With 8:43 to go in the game, Eskra hooked up with Nathan Easton on a 24-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit in half, down 14-28 after Ritz nailed the PAT kick.

Eskra found the end zone again on a 2-yard scramble with 4:52 to go in the game. With the score, A-W trailed 20-28.

No points were added in the final minutes of the game, and the Alta Cyclones got the win, advancing to host second-ranked Southern Cal on Friday night.

Not two weeks ago, on October 24, the Westerners were in Alta to finish out the regular season. The district opponents battled into overtime, where A-W wrapped up a 18-12 victory over the host Alta.

Unfortunately, A-W's playoff run as the top seed in the district ended with Monday's loss to Alta while the Cyclones live to see another game.

In the loss, the Westerners posted a balanced attack on offense, led by the junior Eskra. On the ground, the quarterback rushed for 105 yards on 17 carries, adding one touchdown. Joe Sievert added four yards on five carries. However, negative yardage brought the Westerners ground game to a total 98 yards in the loss.

Through the air, Eskra was 10-23 for 112 yards and one touchdown. He also threw a pair of interceptions.

Easton, Ben Wolthuizen and Christopher Carlson each wrapped up three passes from the junior quarterback. Easton totaled 44 yards with one touchdown while Wolthuizen recorded 39 yards and Carlson wrapped up 25 yards. Alex Frankl caught one pass for four yards.

On defense, Wolthuizen lead the stops with 9.5 total tackles including 1.5 for loss. Austin Moffatt recorded 6.5 tackle points including 2.5 for loss while both Easton and DeRocher totaled 5.5 tackles in the game. Easton had 1.5 tackles for loss while DeRocher had the only takeaway for A-W with his fumble recovery for a touchdown.

Carlson recorded five tackles - including 1.5 for loss - while Nicholas Milbrodt made 4.5 stops, 3.5 of which were for a loss. Sievert added the only sack of the game for A-W plus four tackles. The senior's sack was for a loss of eight yards against the host Cyclones.

The Westerners graduate 11 seniors from the current squad, which ends its season with a 9-2 overall record. Monday's loss was the first since week one at Elk Point-Jefferson. A-W was a perfect 6-0 in their league play to win the district title and take the top seed in sub-state pairings. The Westerners defeated Newell-Fonda last Wednesday in the sub-state round to advance to Monday's state playoff game.