YAKIMA – Just how well had the East Valley football team dissected the schemes of Saturday’s state-qualifying opponent Rogers?

On the second of Jaxon Berg’s four touchdown passes, with the ball barely out of his hand, Red Devils assistant coach Eloy Flores started yelling, “PAT, PAT, PAT,” signaling the kicking team to get ready for the point-after.

Indeed, Berg’s pass would hit Greyson Stevens in stride with nary a Pirates defender within five yards and East Valley’s all-time leading receiver would stride into the end zone.

The Red Devils rolled past the Spokane school 56-0 to improve to 10-0 for the first time since 2004 and return to the Class 2A state playoffs for the second straight season.

About the only thing that could earn a gripe Saturday was that the gorgeous sunlight made it hard to read the scoreboard the first half or so of the game.

“Every game and every week our focus has been getting better than the last day, better than the last week and keeping our foot on the gas,” said Berg, who has 83 career passing touchdowns.

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East Valley’s quick-strike offense got a boost Saturday. The Red Devils special teams and defense, which pitched its third straight shutout, gave EV short fields throughout the day with big returns and takeaways.

“Our defense and our special teams the last couple weeks have been huge giving us good field position,” said Berg, who threw for 260 yards. “If we don’t need those 90-yard drives, we’ll take that all day.”

Half of the Red Devils’ scoring drives were 36 yards or less, and only two were longer than 50 yards. Just one scoring drive was longer than four plays, with two needing two snaps and another one play – which was set up by a fumble recovery on the second half kickoff.

“They just have this mentality, ‘we have this opportunity and we need to take advantage of it,’” EV coach Eric Berg said. “Last year when we were in these situations, we were kicking a lot of field goals and the kids wanted more.”

EV senior Jayden Buckalew had two interceptions, the first he hauled in while falling after he had tipped the ball. Linebacker Cody Gasseling also picked off a deflected pass.

“It’s a big thing that we’re all going downhill and making an impact no matter where the ball is on the field,” Gasseling said.

The versatile senior was his usual impactful on offense, barreling around and over defenders.

After a 14-yard scoring run in the first half, Gasseling broke free for a would-be 54-yard sprint to the end zone. However, Stevens was flagged for an illegal block and the ball was marked at the 21.

“He didn’t believe in my speed,” Gasseling said. “Nah, he was hustling and gave me a great block.”

Gasseling would get in two plays later on a 5-yard bolt up the middle.

Stevens had touchdowns of 29 and 57 yards and finished with 106 yards on four receptions. Garen Chapman and Brock Goodell also had scoring grabs.

East Valley will find out Sunday who and where it’ll play in the first round of the 16-team tournament.

Although the 16 teams who won play-ins will be reseeded, it’s hard to imagine that the Red Devils, who are third in the RPI, would not host a first-round game.