Nemer Hassey called his 5-5 record from a year ago one of his best coaching performances ever. The Bobcats were 1-5 and it looked like Vail Cienega was going to be an afterthought among the Division II giants.

Cienega responded with four straight wins - including a must-win 29-19 victory over Tucson Sahuaro in the final game - to even up their record but they missed out on a sectional championship and a trip to the playoffs after Sierra Vista Buena made a field goal with only seconds left to defeat Tucson Sunnyside 24-23 in their final game.

That close.

Now, in his final season as a head coach due to his pending promotion to principal of Cienega, Hassey put in another great performance by going over 140 wins in his career on the back of an electric 11-2 season.

Starting out with a 17-7 loss at Oro Valley Ironwood Ridge, the No. 4 Bobcats ripped off 11 straight wins to reach the semifinal round and a match against No. 1 Peoria Liberty Friday night at Phoenix Paradise Valley High School.

Unlike Cienega, Liberty had never played for a state championship. The Lions were turned back in the second round last year by the powerful Tucson Salpointe squad 45-14 and they got knocked out by Gilbert Williams Field 53-30 in the Division III second round the year before that.  As a 2-seed in 2011, the Lions lost in the second round again.

Frustration.

Then came Tyler Wyatt. As a junior, Wyatt threw for 2,745 yards and 27 touchdowns and rushed for 653 more and another 15 TDs.  Even though Wyatt recently signed to play baseball at Grand Canyon instead of entertaining football offers, the senior has thrown for 2,395 yards and 25 TDs along with 346 yards rushing and seven TDS.

265 of those passing yards and 90 of those rushing yards came against Cienega.

Both teams came out flat through the first six minutes but a pass interference call against Cienega on a third-and-10 started Liberty on their way. Alex Hunter capped off the possession with a 13-yard dash to put the Lions up 7-0 and that was all Liberty needed.

By the time Wyatt was finished and replaced by junior QB Kaden Kubaiko late in the fourth quarter, the Lions had added 40 more points to make the score 47-0. Cienega never really got started.

There was a questionable call on a muffed punt earlier in the game that might have jump started the Bobcats but the final unofficial offensive totals of 46 yards rushing and 73 yards passing removes any suggestions that one or two plays made a real difference.

This was Liberty's night. Even a curious five-down possession to score their final touchdown really had no outcome on the win.

With 493 yards of offense, Liberty was not going to be denied.

Alex Jackson finished with 85 yards receiving to lead Liberty and Jake Schuiteboer rushed for 79 yards.

On Cienega's season, senior QB Adriell Alvarado finished with over 2,000 yards passing and standout running back Francisco Dicochea had over 1,500 yards rushing.  Terrence Johnson added almost 600 yards receiving.

Danny Filleman has guided his top-ranked Liberty squad to a 12-1 record with his only blemish being a 17-14 loss to No. 3 Peoria Centennial seven weeks ago. Centennial opened up with two losses but won 11 in a row including a 24-0 win over No. 10 Scottsdale Chaparral in the other semifinal game to set up a rematch with Liberty.

The Division II championship game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 29 at Sun Devil Stadium.