Football roundup: La Junta beats The Classical Academy on a Hail Mary

It was a top-2 game, and it was a wild one.

La Junta, newly-minted as the No. 1 team in Class 2A, beat No. 2 The Classical Academy 26-21 on a Hail Mary to end the game.

La Junta grabbed a 6-0 lead with 5 minutes left in the first quarter, and things that way until midway through the third quarter.

TCA went up 7-6 with 6:36 remaining in the third, and expanded the lead to 14-6 early in the fourth quarter after recovering a bad snap on a punt.

That’s when things got wild.

La Junta made it 14-12 in with six minutes to play, but had a two-point conversion called back because of a penalty. The Tigers took an 18-14 lead with 1:20 play, and that lead turned out to be brief. That’s because TCA drove down the field to go up 21-18 with 37 seconds to play.

All of this, of course, just served to set the stage for La Junta’s game-winning Hail Mary.

This was the Tigers’ second huge win in a week. La Junta beat then-No. 1 Kent Denver last week in another top-2 showdown.

3A: (10) Longmont 46, (7) Holy Family 35

Longmont scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to put this back-and-forth game away.

The team teams were tied at 8 after the opening frame, and Longmont held just a 23-21 lead at halftime. After a Trojans’ field goal, Holy Family went up on a passing score from Stone Samaras to Kyle Helbig.

The Tigers pushed it to 35-26 on the first play of the fourth quarter, but that’s when Longmont turned it on and scored the game’s final 20 points.

“We knew that if it came down to the fourth quarter, we were going to do the right things this time that we needed to do to get the win,” Longmont linebacker Austin Hassler told BoCoPreps.com after the win.

3A: Skyview 11, Lincoln 5 (OT)

This was a weird one.

Skyview grabbed an early 2-0 lead on a first-half safety. Lincoln then went up 3-2 on a field goal with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter.

The Lancers expanded that lead to 5-2 with a safety of their own with 1:57 remaining in the third, only to see Skyview tie it on this field goal with 44 seconds left:

:44 sec left #Skyview ties score 5-5 with Lincoln #copreps pic.twitter.com/BQ0dwgaySq

— Coach Kemm (@Coach_Kemm) October 1, 2016

The game went to overtime, where Skyview won the game with this touchdown:

What a Finish in OT, #Skyview #22Montoya hits #2Musch in end zone for game winning TD OVER #Lincoln @9Preps #copreps pic.twitter.com/iqVZibOG5g

— Coach Kemm (@Coach_Kemm) October 1, 2016

3A: Skyline 28, Niwot 0

Skyline is now 5-0, and off to its best start in more than a decade after a 28-0 win over Niwot.

The Falcons were already receiving votes in this week’s 4A rankings, and could slide into the poll on Monday.

It’s quite the turnaround for the program: Skyline has won five games in a season just once since 2014.

“We’ve got great kids, and they’re coachable, and they buy into the mentality and the scheme and the system, and once you get buy-in, good things happen,” Skyline coach Michael Silva told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “That’s what they’ve done and they’ve showed that they have the mentality, regardless of the situation, that they’re going to find a way to win. That’s tough to do, because of our history.

“These guys have managed to find a way, and trust in me and my staff, and it’s been a fun ride so far. And we don’t want it to stop.”

Notables

Sand Creek broke a 20-game losing streak with a 14-8 win over Air Academy. That had been the longest drought in the state. It was the Scorpions’ first win since Sept. 19, 2014, which also came over Air Academy. That was a wild 68-62 win which set all kinds of records.
On the other side of the coin, 2A No. 8 Weld Central has now won 10 consecutive games, the longest such streak in the state. The Rebels, now 5-0 this season, beat Valley 28-21.
An update on the all-time wins list: Kent Denver beat Elizabeth 39-20 in an afternoon game. That gave coach Scott Yates his 308th career win. West Grand and coach Chris Brown beat Hayden 53-18. That’s Brown’s 310th career win.
Berthoud connected on a Hail Mary at halftime of its game with Thompson Valley. But TV won, 28-13, to notch its first win this season (1-4).
There was also a first-half Hail Mary in Rangeview/Gateway. Rangeview’s Jaelin Odegard hit Josh Hollins from near midfield (video here). Rangeview went on to win 52-7.
Pueblo East beat Pueblo South in the Cannon Game, 21-14. Check out this cool timelapse from the Pueblo Chieftain’s Nick Jurney.
Dayspring Christian had another wild game. This time, 8-man’s No. 2 team beat No. 8 Haxtun 55-53.
A big game in 8-man: No. 3 Sedgwick County took care of No. 4 Akron 46-8.
In 6-man, No. 3 Stratton/Liberty beat No. 5 Arickaree/Woodlin 54-28.
Another top-10 6-man game: No. 8 Cotopaxi upset No. 6 La Veta.
Eaglecrest is now 5-0 after a 42-20 win over Bear Creek. The Raptors, No. 4 in 5A, are off to their best start in more than a decade.
Fairview, ranked No. 7 in 5A, is also 5-0 after beating Arapahoe 48-7.
In 1A, No. 2 Paonia beat No. 7 Cedaredge 35-21.
Florence upset 2A No. 10 Salida 22-13. That is actually the lone upset of an unranked team over a ranked team so far in Week 5. Ranked teams are a combined 34-1 against unranked opponents through Friday’s games this week.