Belleview Christian won its first football game since 2012 on Saturday.
The Bruins beat Miami-Yoder 18-14 during their homecoming contest. It was their first victory since Oct. 6, 2012 against Justice — five years and one day ago.
The 8-man football program started in the fall of 2012, and went 2-6. Belleview Christian was then 0-7 in 2013, and didn’t field a team in 2014 nor 2015. The Bruins returned to the field last season, and went 0-6.
It means Saturday’s win, which was the first varsity win for second-year coach Darius Oller, also snapped a 17-game losing streak.
[divider]
Notables:
Coaches Scott Yates (Kent Denver) and Chris Brown (West Grand) remained tied atop Colorado’s all-times wins list this week as both of their teams won. Kent Denver beat Ridge View Academy on Friday, and West Grand beat Plateau Valley 46-0 on Saturday.
In a 6-man game that was delayed from Friday night because of a faulty light, No. 2 Stratton/Liberty cruised to a 53-6 win over No. 3 Cheyenne Wells.
5A No. 10 Highlands Ranch (5-1) handed Lakewood (5-1) its first loss this season with a 35-28 victory.
4A No. 9 Pueblo South is now 5-1 following a 42-14 win over Grand Junction Central.
2A No. 2 Bayfield rolled to a 56-12 win over Montezuma-Cortez.
1A No. 1 Bennett continued its roll, beating Vail Christian 52-8. Bennett is averaging 54.5 points per game.
1A No. 3 Strasburg is 5-1 after a 57-20 win over Byers.
1A No. 2 Meeker is 6-0 after beating Grand Valley 34-7.
6-man No. 6 Kit Carson rolled to a 77-0 win over Branson/Kim. Kit Carson is now 5-1.
6-man No. 10 Genoa-Hugo is 4-2 after beating Edison 73-25.
Far Northeast edged out a win over city foe Denver East in 5A, 28-27.
HIGHLANDS RANCH — It was a mixed bag of emotion when the sun set at Shea Stadium for Pomona’s football team Saturday.
The No. 3 ranked team in the CHSAANow.com Class 5A rankings gathered for its normal post-game talk after a convincing 62-21 victory over Rock Canyon. However, thoughts weren’t on the Panthers’ 5A Mt. Evans League opening win.
“I did some pretty good things,” said Pomona junior receiver Billy Pospisil, who caught three touchdown passes and had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. “But right now, I’m pretty focused on the health of our quarterback.”
Pomona junior Billy Pospisil (9) breaks a pair of tackles during one of three TD catches Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Pomona’s three-year starting quarterback Ryan Marquez was sacked and fumbled with 4:25 left in the second quarter. Right away the injury looked serious with Rock Canyon’s doctor being called to the field to check on the senior quarterback.
Marquez suffered an injured left forearm on the hit. He was immediately taken to the hospital for further evaluation of the injury.
Via text on Saturday night, Marquez confirmed he suffered a broken radius on his non-throwing arm.
“It’s a tough one. Hard to wrap my mind around it,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said of losing his quarterback that helped lead the Panthers’ to back-to-back appearances in the 5A championship game. “It’s his senior year. Who cares how I feel. It’s how he (Marquez) feels that makes you feel so bad.”
With Pomona’s sideline stunned, Rock Canyon (4-2, 0-1 in Mt. Evans League) scored just before halftime on a 15-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Adam Mullen to sophomore Jack Ramsey to cut the Panthers’ lead to 35-14 at halftime.
Pomona (4-2, 1-0) responded in the second half with senior Max Borghi scoring his second touchdown of the game. Pospisil put an exclamation point on his game with the kickoff return for a touchdown.
Pomona senior Max Borghi (21) leaps into the end zone Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“I knew somebody had to make a play to give us a spark,” Pospisil said of his 95-yard kickoff return. “I took it up the middle and everyone blocked great. I just ran as fast as I could and got into the end zone.”
Pospisil caught his third touchdown that went for 47 yards late in the third quarter from Pomona junior quarterback Colten Muller. It was the first career varsity touchdown pass for the Panthers’ back-up, but now likely starting quarterback.
“Muller is a winner,” Madden said of the junior who was undefeated as a starting quarterback at the freshmen and junior varsity level the past two years. “He has run this system since he was about 9-years-old. We are going to rally around him. It’s his time.”
Muller capped off the game with a 5-yard touchdown pass to senior Jesse Stuht early in the fourth quarter that induced a running clock with a 41-point lead for the remainder of the game.
Pomona’s Garrett Warner (82) pressures Rock Canyon quarterback Adam Mullen. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“I need to step up. Ryan was a great quarterback and it will be hard to replace him. I’ll do my job to help the team win,” said Muller, who got a chance to talk to Marquez before he was taken to the hospital. “I basically said that I love him. I’m going to pray for him and hope he gets better soon.”
Pomona senior linebacker Mateo Crespin was clear after the game that he wants the Panthers’ defensive unit to carry more of the load with the loss of Marquez.
“The defense has got to step up. No more 20-point games. I’ll take that on my shoulders as a defensive captain,” Crespin said referring to Pomona giving up 20 or more points in four of five games so far this season. “No one is going to rush for another 150-yard game on us. I promise you that. We are here to stop the run and get the ball to our offense so we can put points on the board.”
Pospisil is confident the Panthers will rally to remain a state contender this season.
“I know Colten is going to step up and be a leader for this team. He is going to do a good job,” Pospisil said. “We’ll rally and find ways to win games.”
Pomona senior QB Ryan Marquez suffered an injury on his non-throwing arm Saturday against Rock Canyon. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
DENVER — Joel Daniel scored the lone goal in the second half as The Academy boys soccer upset No. 6 Denver Science & Tech Stapleton 1-0 in a Class 3A game on Saturday.
A week after beating sixth-ranked Silver Creek, Erie football has another top-10 feather in its cap.
On Friday night, the Tigers, now ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, beat No. 4 Berthoud 33-7.
“Playing in the Tri-Valley (League), it doesn’t get any easier,” coach Chad Cooper told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show after the game. “I told our kids to enjoy this one tonight, but tomorrow morning we’re back to work and getting ready for Holy Family.
“It’s kind of similar to a playoff run where you can’t let down,” Cooper continued. “It’ll be good to kind of prepare us for the playoffs. You can’t have any let downs in the playoffs. It’ll be a great test for us.”
Erie’s Jacob Mansdorfer hit Alex Mathis with a touchdown pass just before the end of the first half to push the Tigers’ lead to 20-7.
Noah Roper rushed for two second-half touchdowns, and also recovered two fumbles on defense. He returned one of those for a touchdown. Roper had 165 yards rushing.
“Noah, obviously, is a talented kid. He kind of does it all for us,” Cooper said. “He runs extremely hard and is able to grind on people, too, with the style that we have on offense.”
[divider]
6-man: (5) Prairie 44, (1) Peetz 41
Prairie got the go-ahead score with 11.8 seconds remaining to secure the upset of previously unbeaten Peetz.
“It was just a dive to the right to Trenton Holzworth, one of our seniors, and he was able to power through a couple of kids and was able to get the ball in,” coach Justin Kerns told the Scoreboard Show of the winning score.
Prairie is now 6-0 this season.
“The players here are excited, the kids are excited,” Kerns said.
[divider]
2A: (3) Platte Valley 42, (6) Sterling 21
Tied at 21 at halftime, Platte Valley reeled of 21 unanswered points in the second half to secure a big win and move to 6-0 this season.
“It was one heck of a game up here for homecoming week, that’s for sure,” coach Troy Hoffman told the Scoreboard Show.
Hoffman praised his team’s effort on defense, which forced four turnovers.
“The kids created some opportunities and some turnovers,” Hoffman said. “We just needed to do that, play a little more aggressive in the second half, and when you get four turnovers, a lot of times good things happen for you, and it sure did for us tonight.
Senior Zach Waite had four touchdowns, including runs of 55 and 50 yards, and Ernseto Rios and Trevon Wehrman also score the the Mustangs.
Platte Valley had more than 400 yards of total offense.
[divider]
2A: (5) The Classical Academy 27, (8) Salida 19
TCA rallied from down 13-7 late in the second quarter to get an important top-10 win.
Jenson Hall had two rushing touchdowns for the Titans, and Cade Bethany accounted for two total touchdowns.
Brayden Luft added a receiving touchdowns.
[divider]
Notables
(Sedgwick County/NFHS Network)
8-man No. 1 Sedgwick County cruised to an easy win over No. 3 Haxtun, 44-0.
Centauri is 6-0 in 1A after beating Monte Vista 27-2. The Falcons, No. 4, got another big night out of their defense. “That’s been our strength this year,” coach Kyle Forster told the Scoreboard Show. “Our defense has done a great job when we needed them to.”
In 2A, Basalt got a big rivalry win over No. 10 Aspen, 48-22. Noah Williams had six touchdowns for the Longhorns. “Just a big, strong, very, very gifted athlete,” coach Carl Frerichs told the Scoreboard Show of Williams.
5A No. 4 Regis Jesuit beat Legacy 32-7. “I think this puts us in the driver’s seat” for the conference title, Raiders coach Danny Filleman told the Scoreboard Show.
Caliche snapped a two-game losing streak and knocked off No. 8 Dayspring Christian in 8-man, 18-13.
8-man No. 10 Gilpin County is 5-1 following a 48-0 win over Soroco.
6-man No. 8 La Veta cruised to a 52-19 win over Sierra Grande in an afternoon contest.
Platte Canyon moved to 5-0 this season following a forfeit by Front Range Christian. The Huskies are ranked No. 7 in 1A.
No. 6 Merino got a narrow win over Akron in 8-man, 28-26.
Paonia, No. 6 in 1A, is 5-1 after beating Hotchkiss 28-21.
Deer Trail picked up its first win of the season when Cheraw forfeit Friday’s 6-man game due to lack of players. It snaps a 13-game losing streak for Deer Trail.
Denver North beat Vista PEAK 15-13 in 3A, and is now 6-0 this season.
Wray is now 3-3 following a 40-8 win over Wiggins in 1A. Cade Hillman had 227 yards and two touchdowns, while Manny Heurta added three scores.
3A No. 9 Harrison is 6-0 after a 46-0 win over Sierra.
Springfield upset No. 2 Holly in overtime, 32-26, in 8-man.
An impressive win for Northglenn over ThunderRidge in 5A. Northglenn is now 5-1.
LONGMONT — Top-ranked Mead football came out and stunned No. 5 Roosevelt early in a 33-6 win on Friday.
The Mavericks scored 13 points in a matter of three-and-a-half minutes on just seven plays to open the game.
“This is what we want to do: We want to have great body language, we want to give great effort and we want to have a great attitude,” Mead coach Jason Klatt said. “If we do that, the execution happens. We don’t even focus on the scoreboard, or anything like that. We focus on those three things.”
On third down of the opening Mead possession, Derek Edwards took the handoff right, then looked up to find Dom Esters for a 67-yards touchdown on a designed running back pass.
“We’ve been tinkering with it for a couple weeks now,” Klatt said. “We liked it. Our offensive coordinator does a great job. He has a feel of what’s going on. He felt like it would be good there, and he called it. Dom Esters, he’s the guy that made it work. They kind of had it double covered, and it didn’t look good. Sometimes players make you look good. Dom did that.”
Added Edwards: “I’ve never thrown one before. I knew it was going to be open, I just had to toss it up there for Dom to make a play on it. And he did, he took it to the house. That’s all on him.”
Mead forced a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and took over on the 25 after a Jake Wachter fumble recovery.
Four plays later — on fourth down and three — quarterback Tyler Keys kept on a read option and took the run up the middle for an 18-yard touchdown.
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“That was huge. Our special teams has been big all year,” Klatt said. “We’ve typically been a team that starts fast. We want to continue that, and we jumped on them early. It was nice to have that cushion in the beginning.”
Mead threw a haymaker at a Roosevelt team that came in looking to upset Class 3A’s No. 1 team. Instead, the Roughriders looked up at the scoreboard to see themselves down 13 points before the eight-minute mark in the first quarter.
“It just gives us ton of energy and pushes us in the right direction that we want to carry on for the rest of the game,” Edwards said.
Taylor Kamigaki put two field goals (23 yards, 25 yards) through the uprights to give Mead a 19-0 lead before the half was over.
Roosevelt was threatening, down 16-0, but a fumble on the snap set the Roughriders back. They were forced to attempt a fourth down conversion instead of taking points on a field goal, and were not able to convert.
Roosevelt attempted a fourth and three from the Mead 30 on the first drive of the second half, but Mead stuffed the run in the backfield.
The Maverick took the ball down the next drive for a touchdown. Keys ran it in from five yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the game.
“We feel that we have a good team all around,” Edwards said. “We want to go out and show what we can do every week. We want to come with our stuff, pound the ball and play some good, solid defense. We came out and did that.”
Roosevelt got on the board with a six-yard touchdown pass from Trent Beall to TJ Sterling with 9:34 to play.
Mead’s Nathan Mackey, held in check for most of the game, was able to break through on a 2-yard touchdown run to put the score at 33-6.
“We’re going to go to work tomorrow and get ready for a well-coached, good team next Thursday on a short week,” Klatt said. “(The win) means nothing and says nothing. We’re going to have fun tonight, but we know we’re right back to work tomorrow. We’re going to go one day at a time.”
LAKEWOOD — In the age of up-tempo, spread and pass-happy offensives, Columbine football is simply “old school.”
Offensively, the Rebels and longtime coach Andy Lowry hasn’t gone away from its “3 yards and a cloud of dust” mentality. Really no reason to argue with Columbine’s style. It has yielded five big-school state titles since 1999.
“I think we’re OK with it. The success that we’ve had doing it,” Columbine junior quarterback Logan DeArment said of the Rebels’ punishing ground attack. “Tonight we just rolled up our sleeves and won the line-of-scrimmage. That was big part of the win tonight.”
Fairview junior Ashton Nichols (22) gets a fist full of Conner Snow’s jersey. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The latest sign that Columbine’s style isn’t going out of style came Friday at Jeffco Stadium. The Rebels, ranked No. 9 in the currently CHSAANow.com Class 5A football poll, knocked off previously undefeated No. 5 Fairview 35-14.
The signature stamp the Rebels (5-1, 1-0 in Mt. Cameron League) put on the top-10 match-up was an 89-yard, 18-play touchdown drive that chewed up more than 10 minutes off the clock in the second half. DeArment dove in from 1-yard out to cap the drive that extended Columbine’s lead to 28-7 early in the fourth quarter.
“That was a beautiful piece of work,” Lowry said of the longest touchdown drive for the Rebels. “I’m proud of our offensive line. They are getting better every single day. The backs ran hard. It was great.”
Columbine had 53 rushing attempts that netted 306 yards on the ground. The Rebels did it without their biggest running threat. Senior Ted Mullin dressed, but didn’t see the field for the second straight week after suffering an injury a few weeks ago against Chatfield.
Lowry said he hopes to get Mullin back in action soon. Without Mullin, senior Conner Snow led the way with 17 carries for 114 yards. Snow’s 9-yard touchdown run with under 4 minutes to play pushed the Rebels’ lead to 35-7.
Columbine QB Logan DeArment, left, gets protection from senior Kevin Singer (62). (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Sophomore Tanner Hollens had an impressive game in the Rebels’ full-house backfield. Hollens carried 16 times for 86 yards and a touchdown. He also caught a key 6-yard touchdown pass from DeArment on the fourth-down play in the second quarter.
“I was a little nervous,” Hollens said of his touchdown catch. “I was screaming for the ball. I just had to catch it and get in there.”
Hollens was able to shed tackle attempt and dive to the pylon for the score that gave Columbine a 21-0 lead.
Fairview’s two touchdowns came in the final minute of the first half and with under 2 minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Fairview senior Mariano Kemp had a 7-yard touchdown catch from sophomore quarterback Aidan Atkinson to close out the first half. Kemp scored on a 1-yard run late in the game for the final score.
DeArment, who also plays defensive back, got an up-close look at Kemp when he faced a one-on-one situation with the 230-pound running back.
“I knew I had to take him down low. He is a big load,” the 170-pound DeArment said. “I just held on and waited for my teammates. I wrapped up hung on for dear life.”
The Knights (5-1, 0-1) drove inside Columbine’s 20-yard line on two other occasions, but the Rebels’ defense came up with some big stops to turn the ball over on downs.
Fairview senior Mariano Kemp (5) had the two touchdowns in the Knights’ loss. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“The defense played great,” Lowry said. “(Fairview) has a great offense.”
The Mt. Cameron League should be one of the toughest conferences in 5A this year. Right now, league members Fairview (No. 5), Mullen (No. 7) and Columbine (No. 9) are all ranked in the top-10 of the CHSAANow.com poll.
No other conference has more than two teams in the top-10 rankings.
The Rebels host Mullen next week at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, at Jeffco Stadium. The Mustangs won their league Cameron League opener yesterday in a high-scoring affair — 55-41 at North Stadium.
“I don’t mind it. I think it’s good for us,” Hollens said of facing Mullen next week. “We come out here and get the W and next week we’ll be ready to get it again.”
Fairview heads back to Boulder to host ThunderRidge at 7 p.m. next Friday night at Recht Field.
Columbine sophomore Tanner Hollens (24) and the Rebels face No. 7 Mullen next Thursday at Jeffco Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
FOWLER — There was nothing better to do in Fowler on Friday night. Not because of the modest size of the town, but rather because of the thriller that was taking place on Vibber Field.
Two of the state’s best 8-man football teams battled it out in what ended up being arguably the most intense football game of the night, regardless of classification, regardless of city or town.
No. 5 ranked Hoehne came away with a 34-28 win, but from the opening seconds, it looked like it wasn’t going to be the Farmer’s night. The opening kick-off was fumbled. Dylan Polomino scooped it up and ran it in for a touchdown.
The No. 7-ranked Grizzlies (5-1 overall, 1-1 Southern) were on the board first.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
But they couldn’t quite grasp the momentum and the Farmers never lost focus.
“We’ve been down before,” Hoehne coach Gabe Dasko said. “We were down to Dayspring. The kids had to battle back.”
It was a challenge that they willingly accepted. Jacob Yates got the ball rolling with a 21-yard touchdown run that put the Farmers up 8-6. They had a chance to build on the lead, but Yates’ pass on the last play of the second half was picked off by Quinton Flanscha.
In the second half, it was the Grizzlies who came out looking like the more polished team. They converted their first two drives in touchdowns, one from Luke Bitter and the other from Flanscha. Things were looking good for Fowler, who was sitting on a 20-8 lead.
“It takes a little bit for our kids just to start to believe,” Fowler coach Mark Van Sickle said. “We’re a second half football team.”
In all, the Grizzlies stopped the Farmers on downs five times through the course of the game. Yates, however, added long touchdown runs of 65 and 46 yards to tie the game.
Flanscha retook the lead for Fowler with a 20-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion put Fowler back on top by eight points.
But there was plenty of time left. The Farmers drove into Fowler territory, but faced a 4th and long situation after a hold penalty. But no matter, Yates threw a strike to Trystan Moltrer to keep the drive alive.
And naturally, since Yates had broken off for long touchdown runs all night, he tied the game on a pass. He found Riley Hudson over the middle and after the successful conversion, it was off to overtime.
“It just happened,” an emotional Yates said. “I’m sorry, we’re just kind of scatterbrained.”
Fowler got the ball to start overtime and couldn’t convert. Yates provided the key tackle for the Farmers as he stuck Bitter at the five-yard-line.
And then it only took two plays. Yates ran the ball in from the five and the Farmers sideline exploded into cheers. It’s a feeling that the players and fans are used to. The Farmers haven’t lost to the Grizzlies since 2006.
“The only thing going through my head was if we were the first team in 11 years to lost to Fowler, I’d be very disappointed,” Hudson said.
No worry on that side.
Van Sickle noted that the game played out exactly how he thought it would. He has a good football team and he hopes that this loss can push the players to new heights.
“This is the kind of loss that you can grow from,” he said. “That’s what we talked about after the game.”
