Fruita Monument pulled off the biggest upset of Class 5A football’s first round when the Wildcats, a No. 7 seed, beat No. 2 Westminster 28-14 on Friday night.
Braeden Graham had four rushing touchdowns for Fruita Monument, including a 50-yard score on 4th-and-1 with less than two minutes to play which sealed the game.
“It’s a sign of our progress,” first-year Fruita Monument coach Todd Casebier told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “Our kids have done a good job of buying into what we’re trying to do as coaches, and our coaches have done a super job.
“Two of the last three games we’ve played, we’ve come back in back-and-forth games to win, and those were games that earlier in the year, we couldn’t win,” Casebier said. “So I feel like we’re making progress and our kids are hanging in there and they’re learning how to play four quarters — and, of course, at this time of year, you have to do that or you’re not going to win.
“It was a great win for us against a Westminster team that had a super year.”
Graham opened the scoring for Fruita (5-5) on its first drive. Westminster (9-1) answered quickly, and then went for two to take an 8-7 lead.
The game stayed the way until the third quarter, when Graham scored his second touchdown on a gutsy fourth-down run at the goal line in which he swept around left.
Westminster tied the game on its next possession on Dillon Pace’s second rushing touchdown, but this time the two-point conversion failed.
Graham’s third touchdown, a 27-yard run, gave Fruita Monument a 21-14 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. That set the stage for Graham’s game-sealing touchdown in the fourth quarter.
“We had the ball at midfield, and it was one of those deals where you don’t want to punt it back to them,” Casebier said. “We’re a team that believes in going for it on fourth down, and we were able to get it. … We got a big play there and it kind of iced the win for us.”
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5A: (3) Horizon 28, (6) Doherty 20
Horizon scored with 4:23 left to seal this game and move on to 5A’s second round.
“It was tough early. They came out and took it right down the field on us and ran it right down our throat,” coach Frank Ybarra told the Scoreboard Show. “It kind of caught us off guard.”
Horizon rallied to tie the game at 7 after the first quarter, and they were tied at 14 just before the half. But Doherty marched down and responded with a TD to take a 20-14 lead into the break.
“They marched right down the field in about 50 seconds,” Ybarra said. “Our backs were to the wall. We just went in and told our kids, ‘Don’t have any regrets.’ They came out in the second half and played very well.”
Horizon scored to go up 21-20 on its first drive of the second half.
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5A: (2) Arapahoe 31, (7) Bear Creek 14
Arapahoe scored the game’s final 31 points to advance to the second round.
The Warriors fell behind 14-0 after the first quarter, but adjusted and eventually took the lead in the third quarter on Nick Thompson’s rushing score inside the red zone.
Raymond Haas had two receiving touchdowns for the Warriors, both from quarterback Pete Mitchell, and Thompson finished with two rushing scores.
The game was close into the fourth quarter, but kicker Nate Rapue gave his team some breathing room with a field goal with 9:11 to go in the game. That made it 24-14.
The Warriors advance to play No. 3-seeded Ralston Valley, which beat No. 6 Fossil Ridge on Thursday.
Arapahoe is now 10-0.
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4A: (10) Wheat Ridge 35, (8) Denver South 34 (OT)
The Farmers won the Mountain League championship in overtime thanks to a stopped two-point conversion attempt.
“They ended up going for two and didn’t get it,” said first-year Wheat Ridge coach Stacy Coryell. “So we knew all we had to do was put one in the end zone and on third down I called a pass and Nicco Young just went up and wanted it more than the other guys and that was huge.
“We had a penalty on the extra point,” Coryell continued, “so we made that interesting, too, and had to scoot it back, and had a new snapper in there. Matt Seal did a good job on the kick.”
Wheat Ridge finished the regular season 8-2, and now head toward the postseason via an automatic berth.
“We’re excited to be back in the playoffs,” Coryell said. “That was one of our goals all year, and they got it done.”
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4A: Pueblo Centennial 27, Pueblo South 24
Another league title — the Southern — came down to overtime as Centennial’s Jake Sanchez scored a four-yard touchdown to give his team the win.
Pueblo Centennial trailed 21-7 at one point on Friday night.
“We just made things happens. Kids made some great plays, and we got some turnovers here and there,” coach Mike Palumbo told the Scoreboard Show. “We just battled back, and had a great drive there at the end to tie it up. And then just had a great drive in overtime to score the touchdown when South kicked the field goal.”
The Bulldogs, who started 0-5, clinched a playoff spot as a results. They are now 6-4.
“We played a brutal schedule,” Palumbo said. “We just didn’t have all of our ducks in a row. We’re really young. We had a lot of inexperienced kids. We had two freshman that started out there tonight just because of a lack of bodies.
“But we’ve finally got people in the right places and they just started buying in once we got that figured out. We’ve just got a bunch of guys that don’t quit.”
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Notables
- Hayden Blubaugh had four rushing touchdowns as No. 1 Grandview rolled to a 49-6 win over No. 8 Prairie View in 5A’s first round.
- Defending 5A champion and No. 1 seed Cherry Creek opened its title defense with a 38-7 win over No. 8 Rock Canyon.
- The other No. 1 seed in action on Friday night, Valor Christian, also rolled: 50-14 over Legend. Dylan McCaffrey threw for five touchdowns and 212 yards for the Eagles.
- No. 4 seed Mullen led 14-0 late in the fourth quarter, then held on for a 21-7 win over No. 5 Rocky Mountain in 5A.
- No. 2 Regis Jesuit cruised to a 33-7 win over No. 7 Rangeview in 5A.
- There’s only one other 5A game to be played on Saturday, when No. 4 Heritage hosts No. 5 Cherokee Trail at 6 p.m. The postseason play really gets underway in 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man on Saturday.
- In 3A, Evergreen upset No. 9 D’Evelyn 28-7 to win the Metro North title. “We’re playing quite well, especially the last few weeks and looking forward to getting into the playoffs and competing and playing some hard-nosed football,” coach Rob Molhom told the Scoreboard Show.
- Windsor quarterback Brad Peeples had six touchdowns as the No. 4 Wizards rolled to a 47-6 win over Adams City to finish the regular season 9-1.
- 4A No. 3 Vista Ridge held off Falcon 43-30 to win the Foothills League.
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More coverage
- No. 6 ThunderRidge pulled another upset in 5A’s first round, 35-14 over No. 3 Fountain-Fort Carson.
- No. 5 Chaparral knocked off No. 4 Fairview in 5A.
- Photos from Chaparral/Fairview.
- Fourth-seeded Mountain Vista held on to beat No. 5 Denver East.
- Photos from Arapahoe’s win over Bear Creek.
- Photos from Cherry Creek’s win over Rock Canyon.
- Photos from Vista Ridge/Falcon.
- Photos from Fruita Monument/Westminster.
- Brackets: 5A | 2A | 1A | 8-man | 6-man
- Top-10 scoreboard for 4A and 3A games
- All scores from Friday night, and Saturday’s schedule
