For a second or two, it looked as if the Lincoln East defense had Creighton Prep’s Alex Hook trapped for a big loss, which would have gone a long way toward preserving the Spartans’ three-point lead early in fourth quarter Friday night at Seacrest Field.

But the slippery Junior Jays quarterback slipped away from everyone and raced virtually untouched 19 yards into the end zone for the touchdown that proved to be the difference in Prep’s 14-10 first-round Class A playoff win.

It was the fourth straight win for ninth-ranked Prep, which improved to 7-3 and will play second-ranked Millard West in next Friday’s quarterfinals.

Lincoln East coach John Gingery was among the many who thought the Spartans had Hook cornered on the play.

“And then he slipped out, and all of a sudden, he’s gone free,” said Gingery, whose eighth-ranked team had a seven-game win string snapped and ended a remarkable season at 8-2. “I thought we had him, too. We had him in the backfield for what could have been a loss. But he’s a good player. He broke containments on some third-down-long plays and came up and made some nice passes and kept them in position.”

Hook completed 6 of 10 passes for 61 yards with two interceptions and threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to flanker Andrew Fisher to give Prep a 7-3 lead midway in the third quarter. He also rushed 11 times for 83 yards.

East quarterback Matt Palm also had a big game throwing the ball. He completed 16 of 28 passes for 176 yards, with two interceptions on tipped balls in the fourth quarter. His 4-yard touchdown pass to Tyson Clark gave the Spartans a 10-7 lead in the final minute of the third quarter, but East rushed for just 42 yards as a team and its inability to establish a running game was probably the biggest difference in the game.

“They’re so darn big up front, and they have good linebackers,” Gingery said of the Junior Jays. “They make it tough for anybody to match up on them. It’s tough to get moving on those kids.”

Creighton Prep coach Tom Jaworski said one of his team’s main goals was to stop East’s option running attack.

“We absolutely wanted to (stop East’s running game),” Jaworski said. “We have some good defensive linemen and Connor McDermott when we played our one linebacker set a lot played really well. And our secondary really rose to the occasion late in the game.”

And while East couldn’t get its running game going, the Spartans had a hard time stopping Prep running back Brad Heldt, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior, who ran for 119 yards on 31 carries.

“Heldt’s a warrior,” Jaworski said. “He just gives his body up. He gives no quarter and asks for none. He’s beat up. He’ll be in the hot tub tonight, and tomorrow, and next week. He runs hard.”

Prep ran its playoff record to 56-19 in a record 29 appearances under Jaworski. The Junior Jays still have never lost twice in a row in the first round (they fell to eventual champion Kearney 17-0 last year).

“I knew from the time we drew them that this was going to be a great football game,” Gingery said. “They’re one of the better teams. They’ve got a great shot at winning the whole thing. They’re big, they’re physical, they run the ball well, and they’ve got a heck of a defense.”