Second-half surge sends No. 4 Windsor past No. 7 Broomfield
BROOMFIELD – Trailing Broomfield by two points at halftime Friday night, Windsor football coach Chris Jones had a feeling something special was in store for his team.
It didn’t take long for that intuition to become reality.
The Wizards, ranked fourth in Class 4A, took the opening drive of the second half in for the go-ahead score. Windsor tacked on two more touchdowns and dominated on both sides of the ball on its way to a 36-14 victory over the No. 7 Eagles at Broomfield High School.
“We talked in the offseason. Some of our goals were to be a better second-half team,” Jones said. “That’s what we did. I told them, this is going to be a very memorable second half. You’re going to remember this game.'”
Windsor (2-0) rushed for 352 yards on the night, with junior quarterback Brad Peeples leading the way with 166 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Jake Shields added 118 yards and a TD, and Landon Schmidt rushed for a score and caught a 30-yard touchdown pass from Peeples in the first half.
“I think our mentality changed a lot,” Peeples said of the final two quarters. “We came out confident and we came out ready to play.”
Broomfield (0-2) took the lead into the locker room at halftime thanks to a pair of touchdown passes from senior Jack Burgesser. Windsor failed to convert after its own two touchdowns, but quickly rectified the situation on the opening possession of the third quarter.
Shields capped a six-play drive with a 5-yard touchdown run to put the Wizards back on top. The Eagles appeared to be on their way to matching Windsor’s score once again, but a high snap out of the shotgun formation was recovered by linebacker Tapia Corte.
Peeples’ 35-yard run on the ensuing drive helped set up his own 2-yard score.
“It’s a great scheme. It’s always worrisome when someone runs option and does it as well as they do,” Broomfield coach Gary Davies said. “We figured we’d give up some points and we would need to match that. That didn’t happen in the second half.”
After a Broomfield punt, Windsor’s Brandon Ramirez reeled off a 33-yard run, and Peeples broke loose for a 19-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“They physically kicked our tail,” Davies said. “Plain and simple, they physically just decided they were going to kick our tail and we let that happen.”
Burgesser finished the night 23-of-43 for 232 yards and two touchdowns. Nate Lehnerz continued his strong start to the season, hauling in 10 catches for 132 yards and a score.
But Windsor’s defense forced three turnovers, and Ben Gallagher had a key sack on fourth down in the red zone in the final quarter to help thwart another scoring opportunity.
“We came out and did our job,” Jones said. “People are always going to gun for us – they know that. We stepped up to the challenge.”
