(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
MONUMENT — If there was any worry about Palmer Ridge being stuck in the playoff bubble, they may have impressively popped it Friday night with a convincing 45-21 win over Rampart at Don Breese Stadium.
On paper, the game should’ve been a close battle between two teams looking to make their argument to play beyond the final week of the regular season. Instead, the Class 4A No. 8 ranked Bears (5-1 overall, 1-0 4A Pikes Peak Athletic Conference) left little doubt in anyone’s mind who the better team was.
“We have to take it one game at a time,” Bears coach Tom Pulford said. “Looking back last year at our loss to Rampart, that was an ingredient that kept us out of the playoffs.”
For the Rams (4-2, 0-1) the task of limiting the damage that Palmer Ridge quarterback Isaiah Sanders could inflict was priority number one, but it appeared to be a task easier said than done as his four touchdown passes paced the Palmer Ridge offense.
He was able to to manipulate the Rams defense and take advantage of several Rampart mistakes, including a 15-yard facemask call on the Bears’ second drive of the game. That helped Sanders find receiver George Silvanic for a six-yard touchdown pass.
The Bears missed the extra point, but held the early lead, putting pressure on a Rams defense that was without arguably their most effective weapon in wide receiver Clayton Hacker, who missed the game due to a high-ankle sprain.
“Clayton’s a game changer,” Rams coach Rob Royer said. “He’s big time player for us and losing him is always tough.”
A 34-yard field goal from Grayson Matalus and a touchdown run by Collin Ambrose helped the Bears establish a comfortable 17-0 lead over the Rams. Sanders found Silvanic for another touchdown pass, this one from 10 yards out to push the lead to 24-0 at halftime.
“That’s a good football team and they played a great second half against Discovery Canyon last week,” Pulford said. “We knew they would be in it to the bitter end, those guys keeping grinding. They never give up.”
The struggles continued early into the second half for the Rams. The offense had no rhythm and the line was having a hard time protecting quarterback Parker Humphrey. A long pass from Sanders to Matalus helped set up a one-yard touchdown run from Trevor Grob all but closed the door on the night for Rampart.
Late in the third quarter, the Rams were able to finally put some offense together and drive down the field and into the red zone for the first time. Humphrey found receiver Joey Williams, but the two-point conversion failed.
Sanders would later add a 40-yard touchdown pass to Grob to put the exclamation point on the win. Humphrey would find Williams again, this time from 25 yards out to pull the score to 38-14, but the Rams just didn’t have enough time to generate a comeback, falling 45-21.
“It felt good, the offense was doing good things,” Sanders said. “They don’t call (the game) early so you have to keep playing until it hits zero.”
The Bears will take to the road next week as they head for a league game against Durango. The Rams will return home to District 20 Stadium next week in hopes of getting their first win of the season as they host Air Academy.
“One thing I’ll tell you about these kids is that they work hard every day,” Royer said. “They have great character, they have a lot of grit and they fought hard this game. We just couldn’t get it done.”