"And then there were four."

That's what the Marcos de Niza coaching staff told their players after they knocked off Ironwood Ridge 35-15 Friday night in an important Division II quarterfinal match. The win pushed the Padres' record to 11-2 heading into their semifinal game against Skyline (12-0) next Friday night.

The last time the team posted 11 wins and made it to the semifinals was in 2012. Ironwood Ridge defeated the Padres that night 35-21 and then Nighthawks went on to win the championship a week later.

Revenge? Hardly.

The current crop of Marco de Niza standouts weren't on the field that night but they were on the field on Oct. 16 of this year. That was the night the Nighthawks beat them 35-24 after the Padres built a 17-0 lead.

There would be no comeback this time.

"We gave up in that game," Marcos de Niza quarterback Nazareth Greer explained. "We let them back in but this time we kept our foot on the pedal. We didn't give them a chance."

Greer passed for 144 yards in the win, surpassing 6,000 yards in his career. But it was the run and the takeaways that did the most damage.

The Padres rushed for 330 yards on the night and came close to 500 yards of total offense while Ironwood Ridge was limited to 154 yards rushing and 144 passing.

Marcos de Niza set the tone early in the opening drive by marching 80 yards in 13 plays, capped by a 5-yd run by Greer. The Padres only had two third downs in the drive. Ironwood Ridge followed that up with a punt after one minute of offense.

Still, Marcos de Niza was stopped on their next drive but a fumble at midfield gave the Padres the ball back and it was 14-0 a couple of minutes later. After another quick punt, the Padres pushed the score to 21-0.

An interception by Trysten Griffith ended another Nighthawk drive. The Padres missed two long field goals and the half ended with Marcos de Niza leading 21-0.

Again, Ironwood Ridge had another chance after driving down to a first-and-goal at the 6-yard line but the Padres forced a turnover on downs and then went 97 yards on five plays to build a 28-0 lead with Avery Sanders gaining 52 yards on the drive and Shaun Richards running it in from 15 yards out.

Cole Gerken found Harrison Beemiller from 27 yards out to cut the lead down to 28-7 moments into the fourth quarter. The Padres would get a late TD with 2:06 left and Gerken hit Michael Ayers on a 54-yard strike but it wasn't enough and Marcos de Niza pulled out the 35-15 win.

Padre junior kicker Krysten Muir was perfect on all of her extra points. Her longest field goal in a game was 28 yards this year but she hits from 47 in practice.

"This just feels awesome. Really awesome," Muir said. "There are no words to describe it. I love my guys, especially my line."

At the other end of the field, Matt Johnson gathered his players and had them line up to say goodbye to the seniors after he reminded them of some of their accomplishments.

"First, I love you guys," he said. "You reached a lot of goals this year. You beat Salpointe, you beat Mountain View. You showed lots of character."

Greer is looking forward to tthe match against Skyline next Friday. Skyline defeated Mesa 30-7 in their semifinal game but the Padres are also riding high.

"I played with some of their linemen and they are a tough team," Greer added. "They are big up front but I am obviously feeling better right now."