Playoff football roundup: Columbine runs over Grand Junction
Columbine ran Grand Junction right out of town.
The seventh-seeded Rebels got three rushing touchdowns from Jeremy Aparicio and easily handled No. 10 Grand Junction, 41-7, in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Aparicio had scoring runs of 58, 4 and 1 yards, while Michael Tait passed for a score and rushed for another. Austin Norton had a 30-yard touchdown run and caught Tait’s 28-yard scoring toss.
The Rebels will play at No. 2 Valor Christian in the quarterfinals. The Eagles exploded for 28 second-quarter points in pulling away from No. 15 Ralston Valley. Up just 14-6 after the first quarter, Valor scored on the first play of the second frame and never looked back.
It was 42-6 at halftime and a 49-20 final.
Valor quarterback A.J. Cecil was 19-of-23 for 278 yards and four touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey rushed 13 times for 121 yards and two scores and also caught six passes for 110 and two more touchdowns. The carries were the most McCaffrey has had since he rushed 11 times against Fountain-Fort Carson on Sept. 27.
Ralston Valley scored two late touchdowns after recovering three-consecutive onside kicks in the fourth quarter.
We’ll have at least two rematches in the 5A quarterfinals: No. 1 Fairview hosting No. 8 Pomona and No. 3 Cherry Creek hosting No. 6 Cherokee Trail.
Fairview topped No. 16 Douglas County 45-17 on Friday. Knights quarterback Anders Hill had five total touchdowns, four passing. He tossed scores to Steve D’Epagnier (twice), Cam Frazier and Sam Martin. Fairview also got a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown from Carlo Kemp.
Douglas County was in the game in the first half, trailing 14-10 after the first quarter, and 21-17 later in the second, but Fairview’s Jonathan Swartzwelter nailed a 47-yard field goal just before the half to give Fairview a spark heading to the locker room.
When the night ended, Fairview had scored the game’s final 24 points.
In the quarters, the Knights will get Pomona, a team they beat 33-30 on Oct. 18. Pomona beat Chatfield 49-35 on Friday. (Find a full recap of that game here.)
Cherry Creek, meanwhile, beat No. 19 Overland for the second time this season with a 49-14 victory Friday. The Bruins got 21 second-quarter points to make it a 35-7 halftime margin.
Cherry Creek plays Cherokee Trail in the quarterfinals. The two teams played a tight one on Oct. 4 — a 28-27 Creek win.
Cherokee Trail easily handled No. 11 Mountain Range, 41-7, on Friday. Quarterback Aric Johnson was 14-of-19 for 171 yards and two scores through the air. He also rushed for 84 yards and two more touchdowns.
Junior running back Cameron Smith had 163 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 5 ThunderRidge beat No. 12 Doherty, 56-35, on Friday. The Grizzlies could get a rematch, as well: No. 5 Regis Jesuit and No. 20 Grandview play Saturday. Should Regis win, it would give ThunderRidge a chance to avenge its only loss of the season, which came Sept. 27 to the Raiders.
Class 4A
Fifth-seeded Pueblo South was in trouble heading into the fourth quarter against No. 12 Longmont.
The Colts trailed 27-17 following a 15-point outburst from Longmont in the third quarter, but rallied with 21 fourth-quarter points for a 38-27 win.
Trailing 27-24 with 5:34 to play, South converted a fourth-and-6 and went on to score the go-ahead touchdown. The Colts stopped Longmont on fourth-and-13 on their ensuring drive, and sealed the game with a score a few plays later.
In other 4A games, No. 3 Pine Creek beat No. 14 Pueblo West, 35-18, and No. 2 Monarch handled No. 15 Vista Ridge, 62-28.
Class 3A
No. 7 The Classical Academy looked to be in control. But, late in the third quarter, a Conifer touchdown cut the Titans’ lead to 14-6. Then, with six minutes to play in the fourth, Conifer made it 14-12.
A stop of a two-point conversion attempt on the try gave TCA its first postseason victory in school history, 14-12, over the tenth-seeded Lobos.
In Friday’s other 3A game, No. 3 Roosevelt cruised past No. 14 Frederick, 47-13, to move to the quarterfinals.
Higher seeds were 13-0 in Friday night’s football playoffs.
