No. 1 Pine Creek football escapes No. 2 Vista Ridge comeback, wins 30th consecutive game
COLORADO SPRINGS — Pine Creek wasn’t able to escape the foggy conditions at District 20 Stadium, but the Eagles did escape with their winning streak intact.
And after battling through the elements, the Eagles emerged with the 28-18 win over Vista Ridge (4-1 overall), cementing their status atop the CHSAANow.com 4A football rankings for next week.
“We made some mistakes and we had to settle down and play some football,” Eagles coach Todd Miller said afterward. “We had to execute. We felt our defense could win it for us and they did.”
Pine Creek (5-0) got things rollings with a one-yard touchdown run by JoJo Domann on its second drive of the game. JoJo had a 40-yard run and his brother Brock had a 20-yard run on the drive that helped the Eagles get into the red zone.
After forcing a punt that went for zero yards, the Eagles went right back to work and it was Brock who found the end zone with his feet, giving each Domann brother a rushing touchdown.
With momentum clearly on their side, the Eagles continued to press on the offensive side of the ball and Brock Domann found Joseph Celestino in the end zone for a third Pine Creek touchdown. With the ball in the air Celestino reached over the head of a the Vista Ridge defensive back and hauled in the catch, taking away what looked like a surefire interception.
It didn’t help that in the first half, the Wolves had driven into Eagles territory three times and came away with nothing.
“I think if we play four quarters of football, this is a different game,” Wolves coach Jerimi Calip said. “Against the No. 1 team in the state, you can’t drop two touchdown passes.”
Near the end of the first half, JoJo Domann got tangled up and came off the field limping. Miller said later that it was a high ankle sprain and the loss of JoJo left the Eagles scrambling.
The second half of the game told a much different story than the first. As the fog thickened and settled more over the field, the Wolves found a spark that ignited the entire team.
Elway Tubbs found Louis Quinones who took the short pass for 53 yards and a touchdown to give the Wolves their first points of the game.
The Wolves defense came up with a big turnover that resulted in a quick touchdown to cut the Pine Creek lead to 28-12.
After lurking on the sidelines for the start of the second half, JoJo finally returned to the field, and on his first play back, Brock helped the Wolves by tossing an interception to Breon Michel. Vista Ridge found the end zone on the very next play making the score 21-18 and showing a now crazed Vista Ridge crowd that the Eagles are beatable.
“I think we just need to get things going and take care of business in the first half,” Calip said. “You can’t wait until the second half to get things going against the defending state champs.”
Vista Ridge was able to force another Eagle punt and got the ball back down only three points. But a snap over the head of Elway brought up a long 2nd down situation. The Wolves couldn’t gain the yards they needed and on 4th and long they faked a punt to try and catch Pine Creek off guard.
It didn’t work and after another short JoJo Domann touchdown run, the Eagles walked away as winners of 30 consecutive games.
“That is one heck of a team,” JoJo said. “They gave us everything we could handle today and I’m so happy that our guys stepped up.”
JoJo said that he hopes to get his injured ankle right for next week’s league opener against Air Academy. Miller said that his status is uncertain and they’ll re-evaluate during the week.
The Wolves look to rebound next week when they travel to Montrose for their first league game of the season as well.
But Calip and his team made one thing clear: They’re anxious to get one more shot at taking the Eagles, something no one has done in over two calendar years.
