(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Valor Christian held the ball for less than four minutes in the first half on Friday night. But it was an efficient four minutes as the Eagles put four touchdowns on the board.
Whether it was Blake Stenstrom running the ball or Luke McCaffrey throwing it to Joshia Davis, the Eagles’ quarterbacks had no problem leading touchdown drives.
Valor Christian won the game 48-7, in perhaps its most crucial victory at a point in the season where the playoff picture is starting to clear up.
The Falcons (6-2 overall, 2-1 Mt. Lincoln) sat at No. 3 in the Class 5A RPI heading into the contest. But neither the RPU rating or Highlands Ranch’s standing in this week’s CHSAANow.com poll was going to help slow the attack of Stenstrom and McCaffrey. And any thought of McCaffrey playing as just an athlete and Stenstrom being the passer went out the window.
It was Stenstrom who got the Eagles (8-0, 3-0) rolling early, taking the first offensive snap 75 yards for a touchdown.
“I think throughout the season it would help tremendously if Blake could break off some 80-yard touchdown runs,” McCaffrey said.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Highlands Ranch tried to play ball control my running with a healthy dose Dominic Bettini, but the Valor defense was able to bottle him early.
The Eagles then built a two-score lead on a Stentstrom quarterback sneak for his second rushing touchdown of the night.
But then it was McCaffrey’s turn to have a little fun.
First he found Davis on a 36-yard bubble screen that went for the third touchdown for the night for Valor.
“I wouldn’t use the word explosive to describe our offense this season,” Valor coach Rod Sherman said. “I would describe it more as methodical and I was really excited about the way we were able to create some big plays tonight.”
The next drive, McCaffrey found Davis who came down with a 33-yard reception despite excellent coverage from the Falcons’ secondary.
That reception set up an eight-yard touchdown run from Jadin Watson.
Highlands Ranch avoided the shutout with some trickery as wide receiver Allison Lucas found Konor Lanthrop for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
The Falcons had their chances to generate a lot of offensive momentum, but that would be the only drive where they could capitalize on it.
“We did some good things,” Highlands Ranch coach Dave May said. “But there are a lot of things that we can go back and look at on film that we can learn from.”
Overall, it was just too difficult for the Falcons to contain a versatile Valor Christian offensive attack and the Eagles’ ability to contain Bettini.
A number of playmakers on the offense could be singled out as a reason for the team’s overall success on Friday, but those guys know that ultimately it’s the grunts that are responsible of the productivity.
“It’s definitely our offensive line,” Stenstrom said. “They’re brick housing up there and creating giant lanes for our guys to run though.”
The Eagles have two regular season games remaining. They’re at home next week against Poudre and they travel to Fountain-Fort Carson to wrap up the regular season on Nov. 3.
The Falcons go to Legend next week and close out the season against Poudre.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)