(Rich Goddard/High Desert Imaging)
PUEBLO — This game needed a hero and Angelo Youngren delivered Saturday afternoon.
The senior running back sped around the right corner and leaped into the end zone on a two-point conversion propelling Montrose to a dramatic 39-38 double-overtime win past Pueblo South in a Class 4A semifinal game at a frigid Dutch Clark Stadium.
“I live next to my coach (Todd Casebier) and I have grown up with him and he will go for it when he believes we can get it,” the 5-foot-9, 185-pound Youngren said about his coach’s decision to go for the two-point conversion win. “I trusted my teammates and I believe in them. I’m going to make it every time I can when the hole that’s open. It is unbelievable to win like this and go to the state championship game.”
Montrose (12-1) advances to play Pine Creek (11-2) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Pine Creek beat Monarch 21-7 Saturday.
(Rich Goddard/High Desert Imaging)
“We kind of talked about it and we had a good play,” Montrose coach Casebier said about the two-point conversion. “We put it in our guys’ hands and we made a play, but give them (South) a ton of credit. That could have gone either way and fortunately it went for us.”
Youngren finished with 35 carries for 184 yards and two scores. Youngren missed the four games leading up to the playoffs with a broken collarbone.
“This was just awesome,” Youngren said.
The Indians last played in the state title game in 1990 and ’91, losing both times. Pueblo South was hosting its first semifinal state football game since the school opened in 1959 and was trying to reach its inaugural state championship game. The Colts also had their 10-game winning streak snapped.
“I figured they would go for two,” South coach Ryan Goddard said. “It was the play we thought they were going to run and they executed it well. They made a play and credit to them.”
Montrose held a 21-7 halftime lead, thanks to quarterback Kameron DeVincentis’ 36-yard touchdown pass to Peter Shearer as the second-quarter expired.
The Colts, however, never quit.
(Rich Goddard/High Desert Imaging)
Quaterback Nathan Spinuzzi snuck in for a 1-yard touchdown and then he tossed a pass over the middle to tight end Isiah Panunnzio who broke a slew of tackles on the way to a 93-yard score to tie the game at 21-21 with 31 seconds left in the third quarter.
That’s where the score remained until Lucas Ruiz-Diaz’s 27-yard field with 1:58 remaining in the fourth quarter. Montrose’s scoring drive was kept alive when South was called for a facemask penalty on fourth-and-2 at the Colts’ 20-yard line with 3:15 on the clock.
Trailing 24-21, Spinuzzi fueled a frantic 47-yard drive and with 3 seconds remaining he booted a 38-yard field goal right through the uprights.
“Nathan’s a fantastic kicker, but Ray Mitchell had a heck of a hold on that play,” Goddard said. “He got the ball down and he gave Nate a chance. Nate was just being Nate. He’s a football player and he’s playmaker.”
In overtime, each team received a possession at their opponent’s 10-yard line.
Montrose took the lead 31-24 on a 7-yard touchdown catch by Mike Rocha. South countered with Garrett Krage’s 6-yard scoring run to tie the score.
South then took the upper hand when Spinuzzi lunged in for another 1-yard score on fourth-and-1. Spinuzzi’s PAT put the Colts up 38-31.
With pressure at a paramount, the Indians rose to the occasion. Youngren crashed in for a 1-yard score to get Montrose within 38-37, setting the stage for his riveting 2-point conversion run.
“We wanted to see what they were going to do and I thought our defense battled,” Casebier said. “We thought we might have had a stop on fourth down and we didn’t get it. I didn’t want to keep going score-for-score. We just thought we had a chance to go win it and we were able to do that.”
Panunnzio, a sophomore, was just trying to come to grips with this bitter defeat.
“I was a little surprised they went for two,” said the 6-foot-2, 200-pounder who also is a standout defensive end. “It hurts a lot (to lose). We have come so far and to have it end like that was horrible. We gave them a fight and fought with them all the way to the end and that’s all we can really ask for.”