The Class 3A football state quarterfinals were all played on Saturday afternoon throughout Colorado.
When the dust settled, the semifinal matchups in the classification were set. No. 1 Roosevelt will take on No. 5 Green Mountain in the first semifinal, while in the second, No. 3 Lutheran will face No. 2 Durango.
(1) Roosevelt 48, (9) Evergreen 20
Through three quarters Saturday, the only things that were covering greater distances than Xavier Ramirez’s explosive running plays were Evergreen’s opportunistic, over-the-top passing plays.
But while Roosevelt’s pounding defense mostly put a stop to the Cougars’ passing in the final 12 minutes, seemingly nothing could have stopped Ramirez’s running.
And just when it seemed like Ramirez had already engineered the type of postseason performance he will remember for the rest of his life, he had a few more tricks — make that, a few more gashing runs — up his sleeve.
On the backs of Ramirez’s jaw-dropping rushing performance and the Rough Riders’ air-tight fourth quarter defense, top-seeded Roosevelt powered its way to a 48-20 win against ninth-seeded Evergreen in the second round of the Class 3A football playoffs Saturday at Peterson Field.
Doing some especially heavy lifting — as the Rough Riders were without their second-leading rusher, senior Ryan Doucette — Ramirez ran for a career-high 365 yards and two touchdowns on 35 physically grinding carries.
“I’m astonished,” Ramirez said, after hearing of his yard total moments after the game. “I had never even touched 300 yards before this. … I had to step up for the team and do what I needed to do.”
The unbeaten Rough Riders improved to 12-0 heading into a semifinals date next weekend in Johnstown against fifth-seeded Green Mountain (also, 12-0) — which was a 31-6 winner Saturday over No. 13 Palisade (5-7).
Evergreen ended its season at 9-3, despite being very much within reach of an upset through three quarters.
Roosevelt led just 28-20 heading into the final quarter.
That’s when the Rough Riders’ defense — and hard-running Ramirez — did their best work.
Ramirez churned out 168 yards and both of his touchdowns on seven carries in the fourth.
Roosevelt’s defense held the Cougars scoreless in the fourth, as Evergreen was unable to capitalize on its 128 passing yards in the quarter. The Cougars finished with 363 passing yards but were outscored 20-0 in the final quarter.
“We really emphasize every little detail with our team, all the way to the fourth quarter,” Rough Riders senior middle linebacker Ryne Knutson said. “We want nobody to hang with us. We want to control the game.”
(5) Green Mountain 31, (13) Palisade 6
Green Mountain wields a dangerous combination for any team, owning the top scoring offense and defense in the 3A ranks. They have held true to form after the first two rounds, as they topped Palisade, 31-6, in the quarterfinals after a 58-0 win in round one.
“We did a good job of denying the run and making them take the long hard road,” head coach Jesse German told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We’re super proud of the execution on both sides of the ball. We’re going to continue to find things to get better at, but the execution has been there most of the time.”
The Rams took an early 14-0 lead after a touchdown pass from Zach Wallace to Dalton Poulignot, followed by a Colton Brown 8-yard rushing TD. The Bulldogs answered with their only score, as Malakhi Espinosa rushed from three yards out to put the tally at 14-6 at the half.
Green Mountain continued to lock down the potent Palisade rushing attack in the second half, all the while upping their lead to 24-6 on a Wallace rushing TD and a field goal.
Wallace put the final nail in the coffin in the fourth with his third TD in the fourth quarter to get Green Mountain to next week’s semifinals against the top seeded Roughriders.
Green Mountain is seeking their first championship game appearance since 1999.
(3) Lutheran 21, (11) Frederick 6
The Lutheran Lions are back in the semifinals for the second consecutive year, after not having reached this point since 1999 last season. As the No. 2 seed last year, they will try and get over the hump and reach their first ever state championship game.
The Lions came into the game with the third-best offense in the 3A ranks, but used a stout defense to fend off the upset minded Frederick Golden Eagles.
“Our offense can be explosive, but we knew if we were going to make a run in the playoffs that it would come down to defense,” Lutheran head coach Stephen Robbins told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “I think we held them to under 60 yards rushing today, and that’s a good team in Frederick, so very proud of our guys.”
Frederick held the Lion offense in check in the first half, only yielding one TD to keep it just 7-0 into the half. That score held into the fourth quarter, setting up a wild stanza.
Frederick started it with a score early on, but a failed two point conversion kept Lutheran ahead. The Golden Eagles then shocked with an onside kick that they recovered, but the Lion defense held strong to keep them up by one. The potent offense then kicked into gear, scoring twice more down the stretch to earn the 21-6 victory.
(2) Durango 56, (10) George Washington 28
The final game to finish up was the highest scoring, as the Demons defeated the upstart George Washington Patriots, 56-28. After falling short as the No. 4 seed in the quarterfinals last season, Durango took care of business this time around.
“It’s the second week in a row playing a league champ,” Durango head coach Todd Casebier stated on the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “You know you have a quality opponent when you’re playing a leage champ, but our guys did a great job. Little sloppy in the first half, but we got it done and that’s all that matters.”
The final score wasn’t as indicative of the closeness of the game, as the score stood at 7-7 after one quarter, and was 21-14 in the second quarter before two-straight Demon scores made it 35-14. GW got a late score in the second quarter to put it at 35-21 at the half.
Durango was the dominant team in the second half, as they outscored GW 21-7 down the stretch to run away with the double-up final score.
Durango is now seeking their second championship game appearance in three seasons after winning a state title in 2020.