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Football roundup: Rocky Mountain holds firm to hold on and beat ThunderRidge

Ryan Casey
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Fairview Rocky Mountain football

Rocky Mountain coach Mark Brook, pictured during a game earlier this season, led his squad to a win over ThunderRidge in the 5A football playoffs. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

ThunderRidge stood on Rocky Mountain’s 3-yard-line with one second to play. Score a touchdown, and you win.

Well, for Rocky, it was, hold firm and you win. The No. 2-seeded Lobos did just that, notching a sack on the final play to preserve a 7-3 win over No. 7 ThunderRidge in the first round of the Class 5A football playoffs.

“We couldn’t get things going offensively, but we battled back at the end and we were able to make a stop when we needed to,” Rocky Mountain coach Mark Brook told Colorado Preps’ Scoreboard Show. “It was pretty darn close.”

The game’s only touchdown came when Rocky’s Tausolia Liufau recovered a fumble in the end zone in the second quarter.

“I was on a blitz and saw Scottie (Creighton) knock the ball out,” Liufau told the Fort Collins Coloradoan. “It was a great play by him. I just jumped on it in the endzone.”

Rocky Mountain will play Fountain-Fort Carson in the second round. The Trojans beat Westminster 35-6 on Friday night.

“I know for a fact that that’s an athletically gifted team,” Brook said. “They have a couple of people who are really special, and that’s a hard-nosed football team.”

2A playoffs: (7) Montezuma-Cortez 40, (10) St. Mary’s 37

In the lone 2A playoff game of the night, Montezuma-Cortez built up a 33-7 lead at halftime, only to watch it slowly evaporate in the third quarter, and again the fourth.

Eventually, St. Mary’s rattled off 30 unanswered points to take a 37-33 lead with two minutes remaining. But Montezuma-Cortez was able to rally itself for the win.

“We thought we had it in the bag at the halftime, and I told our kids, ‘We have one more half.’ They didn’t show up until the last two minutes of that game,” Montezuma-Cortez coach Casey Coulter told the Scoreboard Show. “It was a wild one.

“We came out flat (in the second half). And hat’s off to St. Mary’s,” Coulter said. “I mean they were a different team in the second half. They did everything right, we did everything wrong. And you can’t do that. We got lucky.”

According to Colorado Preps, it is the first postseason win for Montezuma-Cortez in 57 years.

The Panthers will play the winner of Saturday’s game between No. 2 Kent Denver and No. 15 La Junta in the second round.

3A: (1) Discovery Canyon 34, (10) Canon City 31 (OT)

The top-ranked Thunder narrowly escaped the upset in this one.

Canon City actually had a shot at a winning field goal in the final seconds of regulation, but the kicking team couldn’t get lined up in time before the clock ran out.

In overtime, Canon City kicked a field goal — and then Discovery Canyon’s Spencer Chambers scored the winning 1-yard touchdown on the ensuing possession.

With the win, Discovery Canyon is likely to end up as No. 1 in the final Wild Card points. The 3A bracket will be set on Sunday.

Canon City wide receiver Zach Manchester had 18 catches in the game, according to the Canon City Daily Record. That is the fourth-highest mark in state history.

3A: Delta 27, (8) Palisade 24 (OT)

Likely needing a win to make the 3A playoff field, Delta first tied the game with a 21-yard field goal from Abraham Ontiveros with 20 seconds left in regulation.

Ontiveros then hit a second field goal in overtime to pull off the upset.

“We got to about the 3 (yard-line) and couldn’t quite get it in (during regulation), and (Ontiveros) banged it in,” Delta coach Ben Johnson told the Scoreboard Show. “Then in overtime, we had intercepted a pass, so we ran it a couple of times and lined him up in the middle, and he hit that one through.

“He’s just a good, clutch kid and he made some big plays for us.”

5A playoffs: (2) Fairview 41, (7) Castle View 21

Fairview Castle View football

Fairview’s Johnny Feauto (17) celebrates with teammates after winning Friday night. More photos. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

For a little while, Fairview looked to be in a bit of trouble.

Heading into the fourth quarter, the second-seeded Knights led No. 7 Castle View just 20-13 and faced 4th-and-1 at their own 47.

Well, junior Carlo Kemp rumbled for 20 yards to pick up that first down. Two plays later, Jason Harvey scored — and Fairview exhaled.

“We did a nice job of overcoming some things tonight,” Kemp told BoCoPreps.com after the game.

Fairview quarterback Johnny Feauto threw for 395 yards and two touchdowns, according to the paper.

The Knights advance to play No. 3 Overland in the next round. The Trailblazers beat No. 6 Denver East 45-21 on Friday night.

 5A playoffs: (2) Valor Christian 48, (7) Horizon 12

This one, too, had the makings of an upset early.

Valor Christian led just 7-6 late in the second quarter, but a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dylan McCaffrey to Sid Turnbull-Fraser just before the half made it 14-6 at the break.

The Eagles then scored on their first possession of the second half, and got an interception return for a touchdown from Eric Lee Jr. on Horizon’s first drive to break the game open.

McCaffrey finished 18-of-23 passing for 166 yards and three touchdowns, while Stone Watson rushed for 158 yards on 17 carries.

Brian Dawkins Jr. also had an interception for Valor, his fourth of the season.

Valor Christian will next play Mountain Vista, which beat Cherokee Trail in the first round.

Notables

  • Greeley West staved off near disaster with a game-winning stop in overtime. Loveland nearly pulled off an upset in regulation, but a short field goal missed wide. In overtime, after Alex Silva’s 28-yard kick, the Spartans’ defense sacked Loveland quarterback Ayden Eberhardt on fourth down to preserve the win. Had Greeley West lost to the Indians (3-7), it was in danger from dropping out of the 4A playoff field. With the win, it appears safe.
  • No. 5 Lakewood beat No. 4 Prairie View in the 5A playoffs, 27-9. Prairie actually led 3-0 at halftime. “I think our kids were a little uptight in the first half,” Lakewood coach Jeff Braun told the Scoreboard Show. “I just told them, ‘Relax. We’ll make a few adjustments and we’ll go play.’ … Once we got up on them 7-3, the momentum swung to our side.”
  • Also in the 5A playoffs, Columbine, a No. 5 seed, handled No. 4 Rangeview 48-7.
  • Eaglecrest pulled away from Legacy with a 28-point fourth quarter to win a 5A playoff game, 49-27. It was another No. 5 seed beating a No. 4.
  • The lone No. 4 seed to win in the 5A playoffs was Bear Creek, which beat No. 5 Fossil Ridge 42-16.
  • Those upsets noted, higher-seeded teams in the 5A playoffs are 12-3 to this point.
  • Grandview, a No. 1 seed, rolled Brighton 51-0. Five different players had rushing touchdowns for the Wolves, led by Chuk Obinnah’s two.
  • There was just one playoff game Friday night in 1A: No. 2 Buena Vista beat No. 15 Hotchkiss, 41-7.

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