(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Heading into Friday night, a span of 15 years separated Rampart’s two most recent league football titles.
After the Rams beat Vista Ridge 14-7 at District 20 Stadium, Rampart alum Rob Royer is now responsible for winning league championships in consecutive years.
Rampart and Vista Ridge played a ground and pound game that saw a lot less scoring than what many – including the participants themselves – thought there would be. At the end of the day, it was the Rams (8-2 overall, 5-0 Class 4A Pikes Peak) who emerged victorious.
“I knew this wasn’t going to be a first half game,” Royer said. “We knew that this was a game that you would have to battle through in the first and the second and come out and try to answer the bell in the third and the fourth and try to win that thing at the end.”
That’s nearly the exact formula that it took.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
After stalling on its first drive, Rampart punted the ball away, putting it into the hands of Vista Ridge quarterback Jaylen Thomas. The dual-threat athlete showed off his arm early, dropping a perfect pass into the hands of Jeffrey Crittendon to give the Wolves (6-4, 3-2) an early 7-0 lead.
Early on, it looked like Vista Ridge was going to get those deep threat shots early and everyone on that sideline thought they would be there.
“Yeah, we did,” Wolves coach Jerimi Calip said. “We took a couple of them, missed one down the sideline. At the end of the day, we had our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them.”
But Rampart wasn’t exactly moving the ball at will either. The Rams remained consistent with their heavy dose of rushes from seniors Keion Cross, Jared Behm and Jackson Beale.
Ethan Spendlove got into the end zone with a one-yard run that tied the game early in the second quarter.
“It was huge,” Cross said. “They had that momentum, they had that first quarter. But we got some good play calling and we punched it in.”
For the majority of the game from there on out, it was the defenses for both teams that rose to the occasion.
The big difference maker for Rampart was Jake Pavlica who recovered a fumble with 6:13 left in the first half and then struck early in the third quarter, picking off a Thomas pass that was looking to put the Wolves deep in Rampart territory.
“At first it felt unreal,” Pavlica said. “At the end of the day, it just about the team.”
Just before the end of the third quarter, Cross broke free for a 28-yard run to get to the Vista Ridge 12-yard line. On 3rd and 4, he got around the edge for a five-yard gain, giving the Rams 1st and goal at the one.
He handed the ball off to Spendlove who crossed the goal line for what ended up being the game-winning touchdown.
The win guarantees that Rampart will remain at home during the first week of the 4A state tournament. As league champions who sit inside the 16-team RPI field, they are promised a home game.
The future is less clear for Vista Ridge. They sat at No. 14 in the 4A RPI late Friday night. The ratings will be finalized Sunday prior to the release of the state tournament field.
While the Wolves wait, Rampart will take 24 hours to celebrate Friday’s win appreciate the difficult task that they accomplished.
“We’re glad we did it back-to-back,” Cross said. “This senior class said we could do it back-to-back. We’re happy.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)