Erick Cortez isn’t exactly known for his breakaway speed, so he wasn’t too disappointed when a track star ran him down near midfield to prevent a 99-yard touchdown.

He had already inflicted enough damage anyway.

The East Union senior — a defensive anchor at middle linebacker and tight end-turned-running back for the night — had a career outing on offense, helping the visiting Lancers trounce rival Sierra, 38-0.

“I was just thinking, get downhill and get as many yards as I can,”Cortez said of the 52-yard scamper midway through the fourth quarter. That was also his final carry of the game.

He was momentarily knocked off balance by Kian Mejia before Sierra speedster Blama Kamara, a state finalist in the 400-yard dash last spring, finally brought him down.

“I was open to score, but No. 1 is fast,” Cortez added.

Cortez finished with 15 carries, 115 yards and three touchdowns — all career-highs. His only other varsity carries (14 for 60 yards) came in a loss to Oakdale two weeks ago.

“He just gives us a different kind of runner,” East Union coach Jason Stock said. “It’s a little mix of just trying to find our personnel. We had talked about it earlier in the year, but that was more my call. He’s a bigger back, obviously, and he runs hard, so he’s a tougher out.”

Darrion Brown added 78 yards and a touchdown on 12 rushes, and East Union (2-3 Valley Oak League, 5-4 overall) totaled 383 yards of offense.

Dante Tafoya (7-of-12 passing, 70 yards) hit fellow sophomore Austin Lee on a 25-yard play that was the only receiving touchdown of the game. Bryson Ybarra (10 of 17, 95 yards, interception; 18 rushing yards) also saw time behind center.

Six different receivers caught at least two pass each and were led by Gunnar Fay’s four catches for 40 yards.

“Coaches put together a good game plan,” Cortez said. “I’m honored that coach chose me to start against our cross-town rival, but we got dudes working just as hard as me. Albee Menchaca and Darrion have been putting up numbers, but I just got the chance to start today.”

Defense and special teams also had their highlights in this one-sided shutout.

It’s the third shutout of the season for East Union, and the second straight week that the Timberwolves (1-4, 4-5) were held scoreless. Sierra had just 37 of offense in the first half, finishing with 119.

East Union also came up with three turnovers, two of them on special teams. Yandel Gutierrez made a 28-yard field goal early in the third quarter and converted all five of his point-after kicks.

Menchaca recovered two fumbles on kickoff returns, the first of which was forced by Urijah Lopez after the Lancers scored a 22-yard scamper from Cortez on their opening drive.

Lopez also had a hand in the interception. Sierra had not reached the red zone all game until its final drive, but that was thwarted when Lopez tipped a pass from Jaysen Martinez (8 of 17, 57 yards) and Ricky Soria came down with it on the 1-yard line.

That set up Cortez’s longest run of the night.

Martinez was sacked three times.

“Anytime you can do that (get a shutout), that’s a good feeling,” Stock said. “They played well, and they played hard tonight. We still have some stuff to clean up, like always, but I’m happy with where we’re at. Now we’ve put ourselves in a position to play later in the year, and that’s the big thing.”

For Sierra, things went downhill in a hurry.

The defense did well to put East Union in a third-and-long situation after the first two plays from scrimmage, but Ybarra, a playmaker with his legs all season, ran for a 10-yard gain and a first down.

Then came the fumble on the kickoff just minutes later.

At the end of the first quarter, Brown scored on a 45-yard run as time expired, giving the Lancers a 21-0 lead.

“I gotta do better as a coach with preparation and getting everything dialed in,” Sierra coach Ryan Teicheira said. “I gotta do a better job of implementing (the game plan) and getting them to understand our schemes.

“East Union is a good team. We knew that they would be god. They got a good run game and do a lot of different things well, but I will own this. I gotta take it on my shoulders and do a better job preparing them.”

A playoff berth may be out of reach for Sierra with the loss, but the T’wolves should still be in contention for a Sac-Joaquin Section Bowl Game. They wrap up the regular season at home next week against Patterson, while East Union welcomes its oldest rival Manteca.