Virgin Valley advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NIAA 4A state flag football tournament by grinding out a 25-6 victory over visiting Canyon Springs of North Las Vegas in a first-round playoff game Saturday afternoon, Feb. 7, at Wilson Stadium.

The Lady Bulldogs, 15-4 overall and the top seed from the Lakes Division, hosted Pinecrest Academy-Cadence (14-6 overall) Monday night in a quarterfinal contest that ended after press deadline. The winner advances to the semifinal round Tuesday night. The state championship game will be held Thursday at 3 p.m. at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Virgin Valley is competing in the 4A classification this season after being moved up from 3A. The Lady Bulldogs won four consecutive 3A state titles before the NIAA realigned last summer.

“It’s a whole different game playing in 4A,” VVHS head coach Joey Bowler said. “It’s a lot tougher. There are six or seven really tough teams in 4A, while there were usually two or three in 3A.”

Coming into Saturday’s playoff game against Canyon Springs (12-7 overall), Bowler was worried about the overall speed of the Pioneers.

“They are very quick, and we can’t let them get outside or behind us,” Bowler said.

The Lady Bulldogs were able to contain the Pioneers for the most part thanks to solid defensive effort.

“I thought we did a good job stopping the run and forcing them to pass,” Bowler said. “Our defense stepped up.”

Virgin Valley picked off six Canyon Springs passes led by Denise Silveyra, who had four, despite battling a sickness that had kept her out for a few days.

“I told her she should be sick more often,” Bowler said jokingly.

Davie Slack threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 58 yards and two scores to help power the offense. She also had two interceptions on defense.

The Lady Bulldogs scored on their opening possession, with Slack connecting with Brinley Cunningham on a 14-yard touchdown pass to cap a seven-play drive. The score would hold up throughout the first half as Virgin Valley led 6-0 at the halftime break.

Slack scored on a one-yard run and hit Cunningham with the conversion pass to put the Lady Bulldogs up 13-0 with 7:57 to play in the third quarter.

Canyon Springs answered one minute later, scoring on a 62-yard pass play from Jalaigh Brooks to Priscilla Roby, who avoided a couple of tackles and outran the Virgin Valley defense for the score.

The Lady Bulldogs went up 19-6 late in the quarter on Slack’s 32-yard TD pass to Linda Kioa, who had eight receptions on the day for 86 yards despite being sick during the week.

Slack capped the scoring with a nine-yard run with 8:47 remaining.

“I really liked our game plan both offensively and defensively,” Bowler said. “It’s going to get a lot tougher after this. We’ve got to come ready to play.”