No. 2 Montrose rolls over Grand Junction in rivalry football game

Montrose quarterback Kameron DeVincentis passes to Nick Foster for a 27-yard touchdown. (Tom Hoganson)

MONTROSE — These guys weren’t satisfied. That was the reason for the onside kick late in the first quarter.

Yes, there is that whole matter of unfinished business — Montrose lost to Pine Creek in last year’s Class 4A championship game — but the Indians really wanted this one against 5A rival Grand Junction. Badly.

“We just like to beat Junction,” said quarterback Kameron DeVincentis, a senior.

And Friday night, during the season-opening Zero Week, they did. The final was 41-15, but Montrose led 30-0 at halftime and controlled the night.

It was an early meeting for the rivals, who were league foes up until this season when both joined new divisions across the mountains. Traditionally, this game has been a tossup. From 2004-13, the two teams went 5-5 against one another.

Friday night, though, belonged to Montrose.

The onside kick came with the Indians leading 16-0 as 59 seconds remained in the first quarter. It led to another score, a 23-0 lead, and the end result looked to be demoralizing for Grand Junction.

“We’ve been practicing — it’s been three weeks now: two-a-days and three-a-days,” said Montrose senior Mike Rocha, a standout at fullback who had three touchdowns and nearly 200 yards on 30 carries Friday night.

“We’ve been going full-pad practice in the morning before school, after school,” he continued. “We definitely prepared for this one. We came out and threw up a great result. … We expected a dog fight, but we just kept rolling.”

Yes, it’s Zero Week. Yes, it’s one game. Yes, much can change. But hovering over the field Friday night was the feeling that Montrose is again destined to be playing at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on a late November day.

Montrose’s Cayden James makes a tackle. (Tom Hoganson)

Hey, these guys are ranked No. 2 in the preseason poll for a reason. Four of their starters on the offensive line return. Rocha and DeVincentis are back.

Pine Creek is the preseason favorite, and the Eagles rolled in their opener, too. But who’s to say that this year won’t be different — especially if Montrose develops this passing attack which surprised many on Friday night.

DeVincentis had two touchdown passes and was 5-of-11 for 93 yards. He did throw for 1,054 yards and 14 touchdowns as a junior, but averaged just seven attempts and 75 yards per game.

“That was a good way to start our year,” he said. “That was awesome.”

Add in new weapons like Dalton Wright, a junior who carried 11 times for 27 yards and showed flashes of speed, and Montrose looks to be in good shape. Here’s another reason why: Coach Todd Casebier wasn’t satisfied with the 26-point win.

“We’ve just got to polish,” he said after the game. “We made a lot of mistakes, but again, it’s Zero Week. Those things happen.”

Grand Junction crept back into the game when Jack Parsons escaped the backfield and broke away for an 80-yard run which made it 30-15 with 1:54 to go in the third.

But Montrose’s defense, a force, especially up front, much of the night, came up with the game’s defining moment just as its offense hit a rut. After scoring on four of their final six drives in the first half, the Indians couldn’t move the ball on their first three possessions of the third quarter.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Grand Junction had cashed in on its first two possessions of the half — the second capped by Parsons’ dash — and was again moving the ball on its third. Then a swing pass was popped loose by a Montrose defender and the Indians’ Dylan Atwood jumped on it at the Tigers’ 34-yard-line. There was just 9:15 to play in the game.

DeVincentis trotted out and told his huddle the following: “We’ve got to score. We’ve got to put ’em down, put the nail in the coffin.”

Montrose handed the ball off to Rocha exclusively. He chewed four and a half minutes off the clock and then plopped in on a 1-yard score, his third of the game. It was 38-15 with 4:51 left, and that was it. Well, Lucas Ruiz-Diaz added a 26-yard field goal with 2:08 remaining, but the game was already over.

“We just had to finish them off,” Rocha said. “We were ahead and they fought back, but we just knew we had to go down there and put it in the end zone.”

The fumble recovery which led to the score was Montrose’s third turnover of the night.

“It was big,” Casebier said. “We knew there were going to be turnovers in Zero Week. Our guys got a bunch of them. I thought they did a pretty good job. Again, we’ve got a long ways to go, but I was happy with it.”

The defense also gave the offense excellent field position. On Montrose’s six scoring drives, the average starting position was Grand Junction’s 32-yard-line.

“We kept getting short fields,” Casebier said, “and usually that turns into good things for our team.”

As for Grand Junction, the Tigers have some pieces, but it wasn’t their night.

A snap went over the punter’s head and resulted in a safety early in the first quarter, and another missed snap ended up giving Montrose the ball at the 5 in the second quarter. (Rocha walked it in the very next play.)

Grand Junction played three quarterbacks Friday night, at times all on the same drive. Parsons, fellow senior Mike Poland, and sophomore Jax Nourse all took snaps — and all had their moments.

Nourse, though, may be something of a star down the road. He’s already 6-foot, 200 pounds and is surprisingly light on his feet for such a big frame. He was 9-of-18 for 110 yards and also had 27 rushing yards.