Littleton’s defense pitched a shutout in its first game of 2015. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
LITTLETON — These Lions look to be headed in the right direction, and, at least as of Zero Week, they have their offseason to thank for it.
Noah McGhee ran for three touchdowns and 117 yards as Littleton beat Golden 21-0 to open the football season under a dark blue Colorado sky that slowly faded to black.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” McGhee said after the game, “but, hey, I’m excited we got this first one, and hopefully we can keep that going.”
Dating back to last season, it is Littleton’s fifth win in six games. For the Lions, who went 5-25 from 2010-12, that is a big deal. Littleton has steadily improved since that period, going 4-6 in head coach Kurt Krantz’s first season in 2013, and then 5-5 last year.
This summer, with improvements to Littleton High School and its surrounding facilities underway, the football program was forced to the nearby middle school.
“It was a tough summer,” said Krantz, who estimated that roughly 30 percent of his players were unable to attend due to that, or other reasons.
And yet, the seniors and Krantz said the summer — tough or not — was excellent in terms of workouts and team chemistry.
“We gelled so much in the offseason,” said McGhee, who is one of Littleton’s captains. “We had great lifting sessions, we had great conditioning. It was the best we’ve had probably since I’ve been here.”
Added senior Ethen Vasquez, another captain: “Everybody was there, they were on time. Everybody was pushing themselves through pain, whatever they had. They were just going hard.”
Littleton’s Noah McGhee reaches for the end zone to score his second of three touchdowns. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
It’s one game, but Littleton looked surprisingly sharp for a first outing — an outing that, since it was in Zero Week, came just 11 days after the start of practice.
Yes, the first quarter was sluggish. On both sides. In three minutes, the two teams turned the ball over a combined four times deep inside Golden territory.
But, as the second quarter dawned, Littleton cut out the mistakes. And handed the ball off to McGhee, who has all the makings of a star.
McGhee rushed for 1,191 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior. In the spring, he won the 100-meter dash at the Class 4A state track meet, and was second in the 200.
Thursday, his first score of 2015 came on a 1-yard plunge with 8:16 remaining in the half.
Golden and Littleton continued to exchange jabs as the game wore on, but nothing really landed. That is, until the third quarter, when Littleton forced Golden to punt with seven minutes to go. Vasquez broke through the protection and blocked that punt. With his facemask.
“Coach was telling me, ‘Go in there and make a play,’ so I just went in there and made a play,” Vasquez said. “I tried to put my hands up and I saw it, and it just hit me right in the facemask.
“Our whole team just got energized and it was going off from there.”
Indeed, the next play, McGhee burst around the right side of the line and stretched out past the goal line for his second score, a 10-yard run with 6:44 to go in the third. He added his third score on the first play of the fourth quarter, another 1-yard run.
“I just had to be patient,” McGhee said. “We have some new guys on the line, but I just had to stay patient and go 100 percent.”
Littleton’s defense stood out, intercepting four passes, and notching five sacks. The Lions held Golden to fewer than 100 yards, including just 30 rushing.
“We’re good, we’re fast,” Krantz said. “Our motto is, ‘Play fast, hard and physical.’ They got it and they get it.”
Golden showed some flashes on Thursday, including senior wideout/defensive back Brandon Bowker, who had 53 total yards and was electric at times. The Demons, coming off their best season since 2010, look to be improved from last year.
More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)