JUSTIN — Ryan turned a bi-district playoff matchup against Saginaw into a glorified walkthrough on Thursday at Northwest ISD Stadium.

After a hit-and-miss first quarter, the Raiders stepped on the gas in the second and third, stampeding to a 48-7 win. Ryan came into the game facing the task of shedding the emotion coming off last week’s regular-season ending win over rival Guyer, but Saginaw was only able to stay in the game for one quarter.

“Getting into the playoffs, the beginning of the game is going to be tough,” said Ryan head coach Joey Florence. “There’s a lot of energy on the field, and I’m proud of all the kids the way they handled it.”

Ryan’s first drive started at midfield after the special teams unit recovered an onside kick to begin the game. Six plays later, Kaylon Alexander found a gaping hole created by Garrett Gramling and trotted into the corner of the end zone from 19 yards out. A two-point conversion pass play went wanting and opened a small door for Saginaw to grab an early lead later in the quarter.

After the two teams exchanged punts, Saginaw quarterback Henry Munoz found his own hole with less than a minute remaining in the opening quarter and tied the score at six with a 23-yard touchdown run.

The play was set up by a 30-yard completion on a fake punt three plays earlier.

“When you’re up against a team as talented as Ryan, we knew we had to take some chances in order to make something good happen for us,” said Saginaw head coach Chris Wilde. “And we were able to early, but we just didn’t have enough tricks in the bag.”

The Raiders (10-1) took back the momentum immediately, as Young found receiver Ben Telaneus for two touchdowns on consecutive drives in the second quarter. The Ryan defense began to stuff Saginaw’s run soon thereafter. After Telaneus’ second score, defensive end Ty Hook and linebacker Jonny Paramore got into the backfield on consecutive plays to end another Rough Rider drive with just over two minutes to play in the half and the Raiders up 20-7.

The backbreaker came on the ensuing Ryan drive when quarterback Scotty Young found Bud Sasser along the sideline for a 66-yard touchdown on just the second play. Young finished the game with 245 yards through the air on 15-of-19 passing and four touchdowns. Sasser netted three catches for 94 yards and the score that gave Ryan a comfortable 20-point lead at the half.

In the second half, the Raider defense went for the jugular. Saginaw’s first drive ended in a TeCory Smith fumble and an Ismael Pitts recovery, giving Ryan the ball back on a drive that ended in Antonio Ander-son’s only touchdown reception of the night to put the Raiders on top, 34-7.

But the Ryan defense wasn’t done putting its stamp on the bi-district blowout. Sedrick Pur-nell’s interception with just over four minutes to play in the third gave Ryan a possession that ended with a 30-yard Will Clark rushing touchdown less than three minutes later. With just over eight minutes to play, linebacker Bryce Scott was rewarded for his pursuit of Munoz with a strip, a fumble recovery in the backfield and a 70-yard return touchdown to give Ryan its final 41-point lead.

“Takeaways will determine a lot of playoff games,” Florence said. “Anytime you take the ball away, you’re giving yourself a chance. I’m proud of the defense and of the way the kids put a very emotional game last week behind them and focused on what needed to be done.”

Most of the Rough Riders’ second-half yardage came on a single drive that took up most of the final eight minutes of the game, but Saginaw (4-7) did manage 229 rushing yards on 60 attempts in the loss. Saginaw’s leading rusher was Darren Gayden, who gained 57 yards on 15 carries.

Alexander danced around the Rough Rider defense for 92 yards on just seven carries. Ryan will face the winner of tonight’s game between Arlington Seguin and Fort Worth Arlington Heights in the area round next week.

MATT MARTINEZ can be reached at 940-566-6873. His e-mail address is mmartinez@dentonrc.com .

Ryan 48, Saginaw 7

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

R – Kaylon Alexander 19 run (pass failed), 10:31

S – Henry Munoz 23 run (Ryan Rangel kick), .44

SECOND QUARTER

R – Ben Telaneus 8 pass from Scotty Young (Christihan Guifarro kick), 10:36

R – Telaneus 15 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 3:35

R – Bud Sasser 66 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 1:27

THIRD QUARTER

R – Antonio Anderson 4 pass from Young (Guifarro kick), 7:27

R – Will Clark 30 run (Guifarro kick), 1:48

FOURTH QUARTER

R – Bryce Scott 70 fumble return (Colton Gutierrez kick), 8:20

TEAM STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing – S: TeCory Smith 12-51, Darren Gayden 15-57, Craig Swift 12-45, Henry Munoz 7-34, D.J. Hester 7-22, Jared Smith 3-11, Logan Sumpter 1-3, Tony Chanchachone 1-3, Eddie Nuno 2-3. R: Kaylon Alexander 7-92, Will Clark 5-52, Sterling Fugett 1-12, Scotty Young 2-8, Nash Knight 2-(-4).

Passing – S: Henry Munoz 11-14-1 110. R: Scotty Young 15-19-0 245.

Receiving – S: Logan Sumpter 7-55, Eddie Nuno 1-30, John Gonzalez 1-10, Justin Cohn 1-8, D.J. Hester 1-7. R: Bud Sasser 3-94, Antonio Anderson 2-2, Trey Mohair 3-30, Michael Cudd 4-88, Ben Telaneus 2-23, Ismail Evans 1-8.