(Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
WINDSOR — The Windsor football team has a theme this season.
It’s called chain breaking. In the third quarter of every game, they try to be chain breakers. Each guy tries to break his opponent and then it all comes apart. Then, usually, the Wizards win.
So far, the results are hard to argue with. After wearing out No. 5 Greeley West in the second half, especially the third quarter, during a 21-7 victory on Friday, Windsor moved to 6-0, 1-0 in the Longs Peak.
The No. 3-ranked team in this week’s CHSAANow Class 4A poll, the Wizards hosted the previously undefeated Spartans (5-1, 0-1) in a titanic clash for early conference bragging rights.
West beat Windsor 14-0 in Greeley in 2014, so the home team didn’t exactly lack for any motivation. But Friday’s game wasn’t about 2014. It was about the here and the now. It was about being chain breakers and about another focus for this week, as well.
“The speech this week was about, ‘You guys are an iceberg. I need to see more. Let’s look below the surface and see more,'” Windsor coach Chris Jones said. “Some guys showed up tonight and showed me more. That was the difference in the third quarter. The chain break was going to happen.”
In a game in which Windsor found early success moving the ball with their traditional ground attack, the Wizards had penalties that helped keep the game scoreless. On top of that, after back-to-back three and outs by the Windsor defense to start the game, the Spartans stuffed the home team on 4th and goal at the four with nine minutes and 16 seconds remaining in the first half.
Then, Greeley West finally got the chains moving and had a magnificent 96 yard drive capped off by a Tre Gonzalez 10 yard touchdown run to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead with just over two minutes left before the break.
That’s when Windsor woke up. A team that had only attempted 11 passes the entire season, completing five of them, found success through the air as quarterback Brad Peeples lofted one into the arms of 6-foot-6 receiver Brady Bowman.
The senior captain won the jump ball over an aggressive West cornerback and ran it 47 yards into the end zone with just over one minute before the half. The play tied the game at seven and provided Windsor with some serious juice going into the final two quarters.
“Brad threw a nice ball, the kid was all over Brady pushing and shoving, but Brady got it, broke the tackle and scored,” Jones said. “It was definitely one of those moments.”
Windsor’s Brady Bowman. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
“That was great,” Bowman added. “We don’t throw a lot, so when I caught it I was just so happy.”
The Wizards followed the theme after halftime, breaking chains and manhandling West in the trenches. Windsor received the second half kickoff, drove the ball 72 yards in four minutes, 58 seconds and Landon Schmidt punched it in from nine yards out to give the No. 3 team in the state a 14-7 lead.
Windsor put together another impressive drive soon after and had a first and goal opportunity at the eight as the fourth quarter began, but penalties and a missed chip shot field goal kept the Spartans within seven.
With the way Windsor was running the ball in the second half though, West’s hopes seemed to hinge on one drive and then one play.
The situation: 4th-and-3 at the Windsor 49 with 5:10 on the clock and still trailing 14-7. The result: West running back Nick Trujillo falling one yard short.
Windsor got the ball back, ran the clock down, and Schmidt ran in his second touchdown from three yards out to make it 21-7 with two minutes and 34 seconds to go. The game was all but over.
The Wizards rode a three-headed monster in their rushing attack as fullback Jacob Shields (137 rushing yards), Schmidt (57 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns), and Peeples (71 rushing yards, 78 passing yards) all wore down West’s defense.
“We all played together as a team,” Bowman said. “We did exactly what we wanted to do in this game tonight. I’m euphoric.”
Windsor has another huge game at Longmont (6-0), the No. 2-ranked team in 4A, next Thursday evening. Both teams are 1-0 in the conference.
As for Greeley West, the Spartans had trouble moving the ball all night, aside from their long touchdown drive. Gonzalez, a senior running back, finished the game with 60 rushing yards, but the offense mostly sputtered otherwise. West hosts Adams City (3-3, 0-1) next Thursday.