(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
GREENWOOD VILLAGE — In order to gain momentum for a playoff run, sometimes a team just needs to make a statement.
And that’s exactly what Grandview did in a 37-7 win over Legacy Friday night at the Stutler Bowl.
Hayden Blubaugh ran for 157 yards, picked off a pass and made a highlight-reel special teams return in the win.
When coaches talk about all three phases of football sharing importance, Blubaugh is the player that models their statements.
“(We wanted) to make a statement, show other teams that we’re not a team to be messing with,” Blubaugh said. “We had a great week of practice and we came out, executed and got the job done tonight.”
And they got the job done with by putting the ball in their playmaker’s hands just like they have done all year.
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
The Wolves (10-1 overall) gave Legacy a healthy dose of Blubaugh and the senior running back didn’t disappoint. He ran for 104 yards and a touchdown just in the first half.
But his most exciting play came on the special teams side. Trying to get on the board early in the second quarter, the Lightning sent Kyle Freeburg out to try a 51-yard field goal. The try came up about 11 yards short and it was Blubaugh who sat at the one-yard line ready for a return.
Legacy wasn’t going to stop him if it built a fence on the field. He just would’ve plowed right through it.
“I thought that if I could get to the sideline, I would score,” Blubaugh said. “So that’s what I tried doing and the field goal team set up a good block for me to do that.”
And it didn’t help Legacy (8-3) that the offense struggled all night. It seemed like things were going to get figured out as Alec Lewis found Landon Sneyd for a 63-yard touchdown pass to make it a 21-7 game.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
But the Wolves answered right back as Gunnar Lamphere found Gunner Gentry for an 11-yard touchdown that pushed the lead back to three scores at halftime.
“The biggest we said (at halftime) was we had to execute the little things that we were not doing in the first half,” Legacy coach Wayne Voorhees said. “So that first step was making sure that we got hands on guys. Those kinds of things.”
Defensively, the Lightning seemed to do a better job of just that as it held the Wolves to nine points in the second half. But the offense just could not counter the speed and athleticism of Grandview.
Overall, Legacy rushed for -11 yards on the night. Lewis went 12 for 25 for 151 yards. He threw two interceptions to go with his touchdown pass to Sneyd.
Next up for Grandview in the Class 5A state playoffs is a showdown with former league foe Valor Christian.
The Wolves did not schedule the Eagles for non-league play so they have not taken the field together this year.
“But do now,” Grandview coach John Schultz said.
In order to get through one of the state’s elite teams, Shultz knows that he’ll have to lean on Blubaugh in order to advance to the semifinals.
“We’ve been leaning on Hayden a lot for a long time,” Shultz said. “We also got some great play out of Gentry tonight. He threw the ball well, so we have to continue to do that.”
His winning formula isn’t broken. So he has no desire to fix it.