STERLING -- Alex Dose ran and ran and ran and still nobody caught him.

The Hampton senior scored three touchdowns and rushed for 251 yards to lead Class D-2 No. 5 Hampton to a 35-12 victory against No. 6 Sterling Wednesday night before about 1,000 fans at Sterling.

Dose scored on runs of 32, 65 and 34 yards to lift the Hawks to the quarterfinals, where they'll meet defending champion Ewing.

"(Dose) is the real deal," Sterling coach Arlo Wusk said. "We have seen the best in the state tonight. He has the speed and he hits hard. You think you've got him, he'll stop and back up and go right by you."

Hampton squeezed out a 14-6 halftime lead but quarterback Carson Klute scored on a 12-yard run and Dose broke loose on a 65-yard run to increase the lead to 28-8 entering the fourth quarter.

"We thought we had better conditioning than anybody in the state and that showed in the fourth quarter," Hampton coach Joel Miller said. "We just kind of wore them out there at the end."

Hampton (9-1) finished with 303 yards rushing. Sterling (8-2) finished with 111 yards rushing, including 114 by Jacob Wirthele, who also scored the Jets' two touchdowns.

"We knew what was coming with Wirthele and Zach Lempka leading the blocking and I thought we did a good job of getting to them and shutting them down enough to get some control of this game," said Miller, who was dressed in short sleeves and shorts. "We talk about consistency on offense and defense and everything else we do. That's why I try to stay consistent with the way I dress, too."

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-3713 or khambleton@journalstar.com.