COLORADO SPRINGS – When the community gets involved, it only makes sense to lead an entire precession through town and into CA Foster Stadium.
Mesa Ridge and Widefield could take their annual rivalry game to a Friday night. Under the lights in primetime seems like the logical choice. But in their minds, that’s thinking too small. Give the town the day. A parade marched the community down the road and into the stadium ahead of the 48-minute battle between the players.
The Grizzlies came away with a 35-0 win, but this particular game went well beyond football. It was four quarters between two teams and one subdivision of Colorado Springs.
“It’s crazy, the locker room atmosphere is crazy,” Widefield running back Braydon Demattos-Burrows said. “Losing a game just hurts more.”
The loss was truly the result of three big plays, all coming in the first quarter. Quarterback Noah Ramirez threw touchdown passes of 62, 63 and 72 yards with Niko Allgood, Desmond Burton and Cash Cheeks all on the receiving end of them.
In a flash, the Grizzlies (2-2 overall) took a 21-0 lead and appeared on the verge of running away with the game. But then something clicked defensively for Widefield.
The Gladiators (0-3) started getting pressure on Ramirez and the defense became immoveable.
He got sacked four times, twice by Matthew Clark and twice by Cody Wilson.
“We were doing a bad job of moving our feet early,” Mesa Ridge coach Jerimi Calip said. “We wanted to fix that. We knew what we had to do and just make a few adjustments.”
It took a little time for the adjustments to take effect. The Gladiators kept up the intensity on the defensive side of the ball and kept Mesa Ridge out of the end zone for the entire third quarter. The dam unfortunately wouldn’t hold and the Grizzlies added a pair of touchdowns before the game ended.
“My line stepped up in the second half,” Ramirez said. “It was a team effort to get this win.”
This marks the third straight loss for the Gladiators to start the season, but coming off a week where they were missing players due to COVID-19, there was a lot to build on after Saturday’s game.
The way the defense battled in the second and third quarters provided a glimpse of what the team is capable of and how it just needs a couple more balls to bounce their way to put everything together.
“We have to put this one behind us,” Widefield coach Shane Zimmerman said. “We just need to focus on what we can do about today. The result is the result and we have to move forward. We have a choice, we can be 7-3 or we can 0-10. Being7-3 means taking the good things we did in the second and third quarters on defense and our offense starts executing and eliminating turnovers.”
The Gladiators host Golden in the final non-league before jumping into Class 4A I-25 play. Mesa Ridge will host Falcon and then open league play against Fountain-Fort Carson.
