Red Mountain's Marcus Brantley kick-started a decisive second-half with his breakaway ability. Red Mountain's defense pitched in with shutout play after intermiission.

What that added up to was a 45-19 victory over No. 12 seed and upset-minded Sunnyside in the first round of the Division I football playoffs at Red Mountain.

Red Mountain (9-2) advances to next week's quarterfinals on Nov.10 and will face No. 4 seed Desert Ridge, which hammered Boulder Creek, 49-0, in its first-round game. The Mountain Lions got three touchdowns apiece from Brantley and fellow running back Kory Ho (two rushing and one receiving).

Sunnyside (7-4) got Red Mountain's attention with a 19-point second quarter, one in which the Blue Devils controlled the ball for nine minutes and pulled within 20-19. All three touchdowns -- passes from quarterback Christian Oropeza to Joey Baker, Dominic Martinez, and Anthony Jewitt -- took place in the last four minutes of the quarter. Although Red Mountain never trailed, the Mountain Lions were concerned and a little jolted heading to halftime.

"We didn't tackle very well the first half," Red Mountain coach Ron Wisniewski said. "They came up here and played their butts off. We knew No. 24 (Sunnyside's Cedric Gonzalez) was good, but he was better than advertised. He hurt us in the first half."

Gonzalez had three catches for 65 yards and rushed for 20 yards on two carrries in the second period to key Sunnyside's scoring drives. He finished with 55 yards rushing and 70 yards receiving.

But as Red Mountain has done in several games this season, it came out quickly in the second half.

Brantley returned the second-half  kickoff 49 yards to the Sunnyside 35. Six plays later quarterback Mason Thorman scored on a 3-yard run to improve Red Mountain's advantage to 26-19.

Red Mountain's defense, which gave up 133 yards passing in the second period, forced two Sunnyside punts and held the Blue Devils on downs in their first three possessions of the second half. On the first play from scrimmage after Sunnyside's second punt of the third period, Brantley galloped 70 yards for this second touchdown. With 1:14 left in the quarter, Red Mountain was up 32-19. It was the identical play he raced 40 yards for a score on in the first half.

"When Marcus has the ball and is full speed in the second level, it's going to be a good play for Red Mountain," Wisniewski said. 

Sunnyside picked up only three first downs in the second half -- two on Red Mountain penalties and one in the final minute of the game on Sunnyside's longest run from scrimmage. Sunnyside had 39 yards of offense in the second half.

Brantleyfinished with 178 yards on 14 carries. His third TD on a 9-yard run with 6:24 left in the game was the clincher. He also was part of a defensive adjustment in the second half that had him covering Gonzalez.

"We've been very good coming out and establishing ourselves in the second half," Wisniewski said. "We've done that in five or six games."