Football roundup: Niwot ends 24-game losing streak

Niwot’s players celebrate Friday’s win. (Photo courtesy of Walker Bounds

Niwot put an end to a 24-game losing streak on Friday night with a 34-7 defeat of Frederick at home.

The Cougars hadn’t won a game since Sept. 20, 2013. They lost their final six games that season, went 0-10 in 2014, and had started 0-8 this season.

Niwot is in its first season under new coach Dylan Hollingsworth, who came over from Summit. The Cougars are showing signs of improvement aside from Friday’s win. They’ve lost three games by 14 points or less this season, something that only happened twice during the previous two seasons of the streak.

To make Friday’s win even better, the game was being played on senior night for the Cougars.

8-man: (1) Sedgwick County 22, (2) Akron 3

Sedgwick County returned the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown and never really looked back.

The Cougars led 16-3 at halftime, then added a scored in the second half to secure the win.

The kickoff return, though, proved to be the spark.

“You know, that turned out to be a really big part of the game,” coach Chris Michel told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We went up 8-0 right off the bat. It turned into a defensive battle after that.”

5A: Westminster 56, Boulder 16

Westminster football may have grabbed a little bit more of that respect it has been looking for. The Wolves beat Boulder to win the Flatirons championship.

The Wolves are now 9-0.

“It’s a fantastic feeling,” Westminster coach Kerry Denison told the Scoreboard Show. “The whole school was supporting us, out and about. We took it one game at a time, and the kids came through.”

On the league title, Denison said, “It was an unbelievable celebration.”

Looking ahead toward the postseason, “I believe we’ll probably get a 3-seed with the quadrants the way they are,” Denison said. “But you know, we’ll play anybody that they put us up against. That’s the reason we play this game.”

5A: (9) Ralston Valley 31, (8) Mullen 21

Ralston Valley jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime before Mullen started to claw its way back it. By the end of the third quarter, it was 17-14.

Then, as the fourth quarter opened, Ralston Valley quarterback Ethan Vowles threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to widen the lead, and RV added another score four minutes later.

Mullen scored with three minutes to play but wasn’t able to get any closer.

Shamond Hamilton had two touchdowns for Mullen.

3A: Discovery Canyon 40, (7) Lewis-Palmer 7

The Thunder controlled the game from start to finish, and actually led 40-0 at one point in the third quarter.

“It was a big win for us,” head coach Shawn Mitchell told the Scoreboard Show. “The defense was doing a great, great job … and containing what they wanted to do. Very impressed with the way those guys played tonight.”

Discovery Canyon started 0-4, but has now won five consecutive games to put itself back into the playoff picture.

“The beginning of the season was rough, absolutely. But we’ve always done that. We’ve always tried to schedule teams that we thought were going to be good football teams. … We lost late to Silver Creek, and late to Holy Family. We were in both of them. We could see flashes in there.”

Notables:

• The brackets for 5A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man playoffs will come out on CHSAANow.com on Sunday morning.
• Just three teams in 5A are unbeaten going into the postseason: Columbine, which wrapped up its season Thursday, Westminster — and Arapahoe, which beat Smoky Hill 42-0 on Friday night.
• Pueblo County nearly pulled off the upset of the season, but 3A No. 1 Pueblo East held on for a 31-24 win.
• Legacy knocked off 5A No. 10 Fairview, 36-29, in a game that came down to the final play inside the redzone.
• In a top-10 3A game, No. 8 Holy Family beat No. 9 Mead 37-23. But the news of that game was a possible knee injury to star quarterback Chris Helbig, who was closing in on the state’s single-season passing record.
• In a top-10 2A clash, No. 10 Brush beat No. 7 Eaton 18-13.
• 1A No. 3 Paonia beat No. 9 Cedaredge 48-7.
• Springfield knocked off No. 6 Granada in 8-man, 48-28. And Wiley took down No. 8 Holly, 40-20.
• In a crossover 6-man game, No. 10 Cotopaxi beat No. 8 Pawnee 63-12. Cotopaxi moves on to the 6-man state playoffs.
• Other 6-man crossover winners: Fleming (55-8 over Stratton/Liberty) and Arickaree/Woodlin (52-6 over Cheyenne Wells). Arickaree/Woodlin is the defending champion.

Other coverage

• Playing with heavy hearts following the death of a teammate, West Grand gave coach Chris Brown win No. 306, which ties the career mark.
• 5A No. 2 Valor Christian wrapped up the Centennial League title by beating No. 3 Grandview.
• 2A No. 2 Kent Denver took care of No. 5 Alameda.
• 4A No. 4 Windsor edged Thompson Valley thanks to a missed extra point.