LAKEWOOD — Columbine football proved it can, and will throw the ball through the air this season.
The Rebels’ passing game actually opened up the running game on opening night Thursday at Jeffco Stadium. Columbine senior quarterback Logan DeArment connected with junior Luke Folsom on a 73-yard touchdown pass on the Rebels’ fifth offensive play from scrimmage.
“We have been working on that play all summer. I think it’s perfect for us,” DeArment said of his first pass of the 2018 season. “We are obviously run first, but once we get an opportunity (to throw) I normally have two guys open. It’s nice it went for a touchdown.”
Columbine senior Nehemiah Nua, left, makes the tackle on Denver East senior Elijah Ewing. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The long touchdown pass gave Columbine an early lead over Denver East. Columbine, ranked No. 2 in the Class 5A football CHSAANow.com preseason poll, never looked back in the non-league opener. The Rebels rolled to a 35-3 victory.
The vaunted ground game Columbine coach Andy Lowry has run for more than two decades coaching the Rebels took over after DeArment’s touchdown pass.
“Logan is good at it,” Lowry said of his second-year starting quarterback that threw 26 touchdowns as a junior. “We didn’t throw it many times, but he is pretty effective when he does.”
DeArment didn’t put much stress on his arm. He finished 2-for-2 passing for 92 yards and the touchdown.
“We are still run first,” DeArment said. “I still consider those trick plays.”
Tanner Hollens started his junior campaign just like he finished last season. The second-year starting running back had 14 carries in the opening half with 115 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His 5-yard touchdown run with 33 seconds left in the first half gave the Rebels a 21-3 lead at halftime.
Denver East junior Jaylin Graham (1) breaks into the open field Thursday against Columbine. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It was great. We do what we do,” Hollens said. “We run the ball down your throat five yards at a time.”
Lowry said is excited about the talent and depth he has at running back this season.
“Tanner is one of the best backs in the state. He can do a lot of damage,” Lowry said of Hollens who had nearly 1,400 yards rushing in the Rebels’ run to the Class 5A state semifinals last year. “We are probably the deepest at running back as we have ever been. We’ve got about eight guys who can carry the load, but there is only one football.”
A fumble at Denver East’s 10-yard line to open the second half didn’t allow the Rebels an early score in the third quarter. However, Columbine junior Mason Degutis scored on a 17-yard touchdown run with 2:33 left in the third quarter to push the score to 28-3. Senior Tamrat Cunningham wrapped up the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Columbine’s defense settled in after having some issues with Denver East’s offense spreading things out in the first half. The Angels and senior quarterback Myles Patterson guided Denver East inside Columbine’s 10-yard line twice in the first half, but the Angels could only manage a field goal.
Junior Braeden Hogan and senior Cody Ramming both had key sacks on Patterson to keep Denver East on getting into the end zone in the first half.
“We had a lot of Week 1 mistakes. It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world,” Lowry admitted. “Kids got better and we got everyone in to take a look at. I think that’s the important part of it.”
Columbine heads to Florida next week to face University (FL). The Rebels have non-league games against Fountain-Fort Carson, Highlands Ranch and Olathe North (KS) before starting their stretch in the newly formed 5A Metro West League.
All five 5A football programs within Jeffco Public Schools — Arvada West, Columbine, Lakewood, Pomona and Ralston Valley — are in the same conference, along with Mullen. The league is one of the deepest in the state with a pair of semifinals from last season in Columbine and Pomona, along with tradition rich programs in A-West, Lakewood, Ralston Valley and Mullen.
Columbine players congratulate junior Luke Folsom (25) after his 73-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter against Denver East on Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
COLORADO SPRINGS — As it stands right now, Cherry Creek has the most football players committed to Division I programs in the class of 2019.
Thursday night at Garry Berry Stadium, the Bruins put the full force of that talent on display. The end result was a 56-7 win over Doherty in game that the preseason Class 5A No. 1-ranked Bruins dominated from start to finish.
“We got out on them early,” Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan said. “They had an early miscommunication on a punt which gave us a short field. But I thought for game one, we played hard and did some good things.”
The Spartans (0-1 overall) stalled on the first three plays of the game then went to a heavy dose of Jayle Stacks on the ground. Stacks ran the ball four times for 23 yards to give Creek (1-0) its first touchdown of the season.
University of Iowa commit Alex Padilla went to the air often for the remainder of the first half. He found Air Force Academy commit Marcus Miller for a 27-yard strike to put the Bruins deep in Doherty territory. He found Miller again from 22 yards out to put Cherry Creek up 14-0.
In all, Padilla and Miller made for a deadly connection. Miller finished his night with 110 receiving yards and two touchdowns all coming in the first half.
“We just wanted to come out and make a statement to the state,” Miller said. “We’re here and we’re coming for it all. That’s what we wanted to prove, and I think we did that tonight, but we have to keep going forward.
Padilla finished the night 10 for 17 with 185 yards and four touchdowns. He found Chase Penry for touchdown passes of 22 and nine yards.
“Their safeties were up in the box for the majority of the game,” Padilla said. “We saw some things that would give us some deep shots and get the ball over the middle and on the outside. That opened some things up for us.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Doherty was limited offensively but looked to senior running back Gage Vanaman to carry the load. He was able to grind out tough runs, with a 29-yard run coming as Doherty’s longest offensive play of the night.
He followed that up with a 27-yard run to setup a six-yard touchdown run for CJ Puleo, ending Creek’s hope of opening the season with a shutout on the road.
“It’s always good to score at least one time on an amazing football team,” Doherty coach Jeff Krumlauf said. “They’re extremely well-coached, they have great players, they play hard. Early on we had a miscommunication on a punt and we had three or four drives where we’re a yard short of extending it with a first down.
Now, does that change anything? Who knows. The bottom line is we have to get better.”
It’s hard to imagine Creek looking better than they did in the opener. Damoni Jones and Myles Purchase provided defensive highlights, both hauling in impressive interceptions off Doherty quarterback Brandon Becker.
Add in the offensive balance and Creek looks every bit the part of a team with an eye on a state title run. At the bare minimum, it’s going to be a problem for the remaining nine teams on the schedule.
“A big one,” Miller said. “We can run the ball, we can throw the ball, we can do everything. That’s kind of what we focus on. We don’t want to be one-dimensional.”
WESTMINSTER — Alexisius Jones Jr. rushed for two touchdowns, and Fountain-Fort Carson’s defense stood tall when it needed to as the Trojans opened the season with a 21-14 win over Horizon.
Jones, a sophomore, handled the bulk of the carries for Fountain-Fort Carson, rushing 24 times for 136 yards. Included were scoring runs of 1 yard and 33 yards.
“He’s a special kid,” third-year Fountain-Fort Carson coach Jake Novotny said after the game. “He does not look like a sophomore. He’s the first freshman to play in a long time at Fountain. We played him last year in a couple of games. He’s special, man. We are excited about him.”
The 33-yard run came late in the third quarter, right after the Trojans’ TaShon Smith recovered a huge fumble near midfield and returned it to the Horizon 33-yard-line. Horizon had recently cut the lead to 14-7, and had momentum following a fourth-down stop.
“He’s a special player, too,” Novotny said of Smith.
Fountain-Fort Carson’s defense also held firm after Horizon blocked a punt early in the fourth quarter, and got good field position at the 27-yard-line. The Trojans ultimately forced a turnover on downs.
“Since I’ve been here, that’s been something I’ve put an emphasis on,” Novotny said of his defense. “We’ve been playing well there. It’s the third year in the system for these guys. They’re doing a great job. We talk all the time about being an opportunistic defense, and that’s everything we asked for today.”
