Football roundup: Central (G.J.) ends its 21-game losing streak

It had been more than two seasons since Central (Grand Junction) had won a football game. Friday night, the Warriors ended a 21-game losing streak with a 41-32 win at Vista PEAK in Class 3A.

The Warriors led 20-8 in the second quarter, but it quickly turned into a back-and-forth game. Vista PEAK took a 32-27 lead in the third quarter, but Tonka Littlefawn scored on a 36-yard run to give Central the lead for good at 34-32 with 9:54 to play in the game.

Central then sealed it five minutes later when Littlefaw added a 15-yard score to make it 41-32 following a bad snap on a punt.

Littlefawn finished with three scores. Justin Eller and Kian McAdam also had touchdowns.

The Warriors’ last win came 46-26 at Hinkley on Nov. 3, 2011. It was on the same field — at Aurora Public Schools Stadium.

5A: (8) Regis Jesuit 48, Mullen 40

Regis Jesuit, for the second week in a row, found itself locked in a battle late in the fourth quarter. This time, the result went the Raiders’ way.

A week after losing 27-14 to No. 2 Cherry Creek, Regis Jesuit had to put away rival Mullen, a team that refused to go away. The game featured seven ties or lead changes.

Mullen led 21-20 at halftime and 34-27 late in the third quarter, but Regis Jesuit tied it at 34 with less than a minute to play in the third.

Alex Barnes then scored on a 14-yard run to give Regis the lead at 41-34 with 10 minutes remaining in the game, and the Raiders added another score six minutes later.

But Mullen wasn’t done. Jovan Tafoya hit Ryan Manning on a 40-yard pass for a touchdown with two minutes to play, and the Mustangs drove down for one final chance in the final minute but couldn’t convert on fourth-and-12 from inside the 20.

3A: (9) Roosevelt 20, Loveland 15

Loveland seemed to have pulled the upset — but Roosevelt scored the winning touchdown with 14 seconds left.

Loveland led 15-14 at the half, and it stayed that way for nearly the entire second half. But Roosevelt got the ball with 3:18 to play, and slowly marched its way down the field. Then, with 19 seconds left and facing third down and goal at the 1, the Roughriders’ Christian Majzack scored the winning touchdown.

Adrian Pastrana then had a game-sealing interception on Loveland’s ensuing drive.

The two teams combined to fumble 15 times, according to the Loveland Reporter-Herald.

2A: (5) Florence 13, (2) Faith Christian 7

This one came down to a goal-line stand at the end. Florence held firm, and held on to win.

Faith Christian had four shots at the end zone from inside the 10, but Florence didn’t bend. The last stop came with one second remaining.

“We took a timeout just to regroup them,” Florence coach Jeremy Nix told ColoradoPreps.com‘s Scoreboard Show. “The boys … just bowed their necks and got after it. We rode the ‘D’ that far, so we were at the point where we could’ve called a timeout to try to save some time, but we had confidence in them and they showed up at the end there.”

3A: (6) Discovery Canyon 44, (4) Holy Family 28

Discovery Canyon rallied from a 20-17 deficit at halftime to pull off the upset on the road.

“Tonight was a little bit of a heart-attack game,” Discovery Canyon coach Shawn Mitchell told the Scoreboard Show afterward.

The Thunder actually led 14-0 early before surrendering the lead in the second quarter. But they then reeled off 28-straight points in the third quarter to seize control of the game.

“It was a little bit of a roller-coaster ride for the coaches, to say the least,” Mitchell said.

The third quarter scoring spree was sparked by Blake Lawrie’s touchdown return on the opening kick of the second half.

“Boy, that really helped us,” Mitchell said. “That kind of got spirits back up again, because I think at the end of the second half, they were wondering, ‘Oh, what just happened?’ I think it was, ‘OK, we’re back where we need to be.'”

It was the second-consecutive big win for Discovery Canyon, which beat Silver Creek in Week 1.

8-man: (9) Springfield 36, (4) Hoehne 6

Springfield pulled off the upset at home.

“Both of us grounded and pounded against each other, just kept hitting and hitting and we knew one of us was going to wear out,” coach J.J. Quick told the Scoreboard Show after the game. “We knew our game was to do what they normally do: just keep pounding and banging up front.”

Notables

Cedaredge upset 2A No. 10 Olathe on Friday night. The final was 2-0, and no it wasn’t a forfeit. Weather played a role, with the lone points coming on a safety from a snap through the endzone.
Rifle, No. 5 in Class 3A, beat Jefferson 64-6. The Bears have outscored their first three opponents by a combined 182-19.
Lakewood, a 5A team, knocked of 4A No. 2 Montrose 47-35 on the road. Montrose kept trying to creep back into the game, but Lakewood seemingly scored a touchdown to answer each score. We’ve got photos of the game here.
Fountain-Fort Carson beat Legacy in overtime, 20-14.
Durango trailed 14-0 but then scored 34 unanswered points en route to beating Aztec (N.M.) 34-28 on the road.
Montrose and Grand Junction exchanged leads five times before the half on Friday night. The Tigers trailed 22-20 at the break, but would go up 50-22 with 10:42 to play. They’d have to hold on, though, in winning 58-45. At one point, Fruita cut it to 50-45 with 2:25 to play.
Aspen running back Ryan Fitzgerald had 343 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries in his team’s 23-14 win over Steamboat Springs.
In 8-man, No. 6 Merino beat No. 5 Simla 18-16.
Alameda edged Skyview in overtime, 56-55. Nick Wotton had five touchdowns and 297 yards in the losing effort.
2A No. 8 Lamar beat 1A No. 2 Centauri, 20-8.
Valley’s Victor Delgado rushed for three touchdowns as his team beat Fort Lupton 31-0.
Rocky Mountain Lutheran’s Zach Schlittenhart had 231 yards and four touchdowns rushing on just 11 carries as his team beat Justice 64-28.
Lutheran beat Frederick 52-7. Quarterback James Willis threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns. Eight of his passes went to Joshua Clausen, who had 157 yards and two touchdowns. Through two games, Clausen has 376 receiving yards. It’s very early, but he’s on pace to break the single-season receiving yardage record, set just last season by Fairview’s Sam Martin (1,860).