Lutheran was destined to win its football game on Friday night.
Consider that while on the road in Texas, the Lions saw a 21-point lead erased; surrendered an onside kick in a tie game with less than three minutes to play; faced fourth down in overtime; and — finally — had to stop a two-point conversion attempt later in that overtime.
Despite it all, Lutheran, ranked No. 1 in the Class 3A poll, topped Lutheran South Academy of Houston 56-55 on Friday. It gave new coach Blair Hubbard a win in his debut.
What follows is an account relayed by the Lions’ official Twitter account.
Lutheran lead 35-21 at halftime and seemed to be in relative control. The lead extended to 42-21 early in the third quarter, but then things got crazy.
Lutheran South Academy scored 21 unanswered points, the final touchdown coming with 48 seconds to play in the third quarter. Lutheran retook the lead at 49-42 in the fourth quarter, but Lutheran South answered with 2:58 remaining. It followed the score up with an onside kick, and recovered.
But Lutheran’s defense forced a punt, and it’s offense drove down to Lutheran South’s 35-yard-line before regulation eventually expired.
In overtime — unlike Colorado, Texas starts teams at the 25-yard-line — Lutheran had possession first but soon faced 4th-and-9. That’s when quarterback James Willis hit Joshua Clausen for a first down at the 10. Three plays later, Willis had a 3-yard score on the ground.
It was 56-49. But not for long. Lutheran South quickly scored a touchdown of its own and called timeout. Out of the break, Lutheran South went for two but was turned away.
Clausen had a monster game with 214 receiving yards and a score, and running back Jamil Bond had four rushing scores and 184 yards. Willis threw for 238 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for the winning score.
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Adams City 21, Thornton 8
Friday’s victory marked the first time since 2008 that Adams City had won a football game on the field.
The Eagles had lost 58-consecutive games on the field, though their loss to Niwot to open the 2011 season was later forfeit. In fact, dating to the 2006 season, Adams City was 4-96 heading into 2014.
Adams City made the move to Class 4A this season after years of playing in 5A.
Friday was also the first time since 2005 that the Eagles had won their opening game of the season. That year, they went 6-5.
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4A: (1) Pine Creek 34, Falcon 28 (OT)
All night, this game had the state buzzing: Is Falcon going to knock off the top-ranked and defending champion Eagles to start the season?
Well … no.
Falcon led 14-6 at halftime, 21-14 in the third quarter and 28-20 late in the fourth. But Pine Creek rallied to score a touchdown and convert for two with 1:02 to play in regulation.
The Eagles then stopped Falcon’s offense on its possession in overtime, and scored on its own possession a short while later.
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2A: (7) Strasburg 26, (1) Platte Valley 22
While the defending 4A champ might not have been toppled on Friday, the 2A champ was — on the road, no less.
Like many games across the state on Friday, the teams endured a lightning delay. And Strasburg coach Jeff Giger said it may have helped, especially with his team trailing by 10 at the time.
“We were able to regroup,” he told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show. “I thought the kids just battled through it. I can’t say enough about them. They worked so hard to put themselves in this position.”
Giger added that the win may be a springboard, of sorts.
“We’ve got to take it in stride, it is a season-opener, but at the same time, playing in the Patriot League as long as we did, we’ve never beaten those guys. So for the kids to get out there and do that, I think it just helps confidence. We think we have a pretty good team this year, and it’s a huge stepping stone for us starting off the season.”
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4A-3A: (2) Montrose 28, (2) Delta 21
Montrose picked up yet another big win to start the season. A week after beating rival Grand Junction, the Indians had to rally and beat Delta.
“Delta’s a heck of a team, so I was happy to get out of there with a win,” Montrose coach Todd Casebier told the Scoreboard Show.
Delta hung tough most of the game, thanks to its offense. So Montrose’s D stepped up.
“Our defense has got to carry us sometimes, and they did tonight in the second half,” Casebier said.
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1A: (1) Paonia 20, (7) Monte Vista 14
The defending 1A champion had a tough matchup to start the season, but prevailed.
“It was a fun game,” Paonia coach Brent McRae told the Scoreboard Show. “They played a heck of a ballgame. Our kids fought, their kids fought. … It was a fun night.”
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5A: (3) Cherokee Trail 35, ThunderRidge 7
Izaiah Lottie rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns, Quincy Voss had 102 and a score and Cherokee Trail cruised to a win.
Quarterback Connor Nantkes also threw a touchdown for the Cougars, who led 21-7 at halftime.
Zeke Johnson had 83 rushing yards in the loss for ThunderRidge. Quarterback Tristan Eve hit Alex O’Reilly on a 39-yard touchdown.
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Notes
- Rocky Mountain kicker Alex Kinney had a 56-yard field goal in his team’s 34-7 win over Brighton. Kinney is a CU recruit.
- Fossil Ridge beat Boulder 24-14 tonight, and it was apparently the first time in school history that the team had won its opener.
- Another long winless streak came to an end on Friday night. Battle Mountain, coming off of consecutive 0-10 seasons, beat Middle Park 58-0 to capture its first game since Nov. 4, 2011. The losing streak spanned 21 games.
- Dakota Ridge beat Taravella (Fla.) 26-3, but the two teams didn’t finish their game until close to 2 a.m. in Florida because of a late kick caused by a lightning delay in an earlier game. They actually didn’t kick off until 11:20 p.m. local time. The win improved Colorado teams to 10-4 against out-of-state competition, including a 6-1 mark on Friday. They are 10-3 on the road.
- Legacy won the Mayor’s Cup by virtue of a 21-6 win over Broomfield.
- Can’t wait to see this boxscore: Holy Family 66, Mountain View 47. Still, the combined 113 points doesn’t even crack the top-10 all time. The record is held by Hugo and Vona (mostly Hugo, though) at 182 points. Hugo beat Vona 176-6 in 1930.
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