Football roundup: Stratton/Liberty pulls off massive comeback

Stratton/Liberty pulled off one of the biggest comebacks of the 2016 football season on Friday night.

The Knighted Eagles trailed Cheyenne Wells 41-8 at one point in the second quarter, but scored the game’s final 41 points to rally and get a huge top-5 win in 6-man, 49-41.

“A win like this could carry a team a long way,” Stratton/Liberty coach Toby Kechter told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “It’s just the belief that they can do anything. They stay together as a team, don’t doubt each other or get mad at each other.”

The Knighted Eagles scored just before halftime to cut it to 41-16, and then really came out firing in the third quarter.

“They had the momentum the whole first half, and we got it back and our guys started believing and it just snowballed after that,” Kechter said. “There wasn’t no stopping us.”

The game, Kechter said, was a “tail of two halves. I mean, we couldn’t do anything right the first half, and they couldn’t do nothing wrong. Then it switched the other way in the second half.”

Stratton/Liberty tied the game up at 41 with a safety in the fourth quarter. It then held Cheyenne Wells and got the ball back.

“We were just going to try and kick a field goal to win, but we snuck her in on a fullback dive, and we got the win,” Kechter said. “It was pretty exciting.”

3A: (4) Pueblo East 24, Durango 20

Josh Tellez scored the go-ahead touchdown in the final minute of the game to help the Eagles avoid an upset.

Pueblo East led 10-0 at halftime, and pushed it to 17-0 with 6:56 to play in the third quarter.

Durango then went on a tear and rallied to take the 20-17 lead by scoring 20 unanswered points. Its last score came with 3:02 to play, but then Pueblo East had a clutch drive to go take the lead and secure the win.

4A: Monarch 24, (10) Skyline 13

The Coyotes handed the Falcons their first loss of the season after jumping out to a 17-0 halftime lead.

Skyline did cut it to 17-7 early in the third quarter, but Monarch responded to go back up by 17 points.

“We had quite a few offensive snaps,” Monarch coach Phil Bravo told the Scoreboard Show. “When we know we can do that, we’re going to keep someone’s offense frustrated and off the field.”

Monarch moved to 3-3 with the win, while Skyline is now 5-1.

“We’ve been talking about it all week long, about … playing a team that just doesn’t know how to lose. They really haven’t,” Bravo said. “At 5-0, I mean, they just don’t understand what that loss column is all about. And a team that doesn’t know how to lose refuses to lose.

“All in all, we played really well against a good football team,” Bravo said.

5A: (7) Regis Jesuit 36, Legacy 8

Regis Jesuit scored the game’s final 29 points en route to a 36-9 win over Legacy.

The seventh-ranked Raiders, now 5-1, had a monster second half to come back to beat the Lightning, who dropped to 4-2.

Legacy had leads of 3-0 and 9-7 in the first half, with the second lead holding up at halftime.

But Regis Jesuit came out firing in the second half, including an early TD which game the Raiders a 15-9 lead, as well as a long interception return that pushed it to 22-9.

With the win, Regis moved to 1-0 in the new Mt. Antero Conference.

6-man: Hi-Plains/Flagler 82, (7) Arickaree/Woodlin 16

The Patriots ran out to a hot start, and never really looked back in an upset performance that made a few dents in the record book.

Hi-Plains/Flagler led 48-16 after the first quarter. The 48 points were the fourth-most in a single quarter, and the 64 combined points were the second-most in a quarter by two teams.

At halftime, it was 64-16. The 64 points were tied for the sixth-most in a half by one team.

In the end, the Patriots cruised to the 82-16 win.

Notables

After an 0-3 start, 2A No. 10 Sterling won its third game in a row, beating Platte Valley 27-18. “They bounced back nice off the bye and we were able to take that week to get back to the basics, get back to some fundamentals, and just back to believing in ball again,” coach Rob Busmente told the Scoreboard Show. “The kids have responded really well.”
Holyoke upset 1A No. 6 Limon, 21-14.
In 8-man, No. 2 Sedgwick County rolled past No. 8 Haxtun, 56-6.
Another top-10 showdown in 8-man turned out to be pretty one-sided as No. 6 Akron beat No. 4 Merino 45-0.
In 3A, Evergreen is now 4-2 after beating Skyview 33-7. “I was very happy with the defense. We played physical,” coach Rob Molholm told the Scoreboard Show. “The defense played very consistent tonight, and very aggressive.”
Defending 1A champion Buena Vista has responded to a two-game losing streak with two straight wins. The Demons beat Colorado Springs Christian 34-29. “We gave away a few games, and now that should be far away from them,” Buena Vista coach Matt Flavin told the Scoreboard Show. “With this younger team, they just need to go out there and play and enjoy it and have fun. That’s kind of what we pushed this week.”
West Grand beat Plateau Valley 30-6, giving Chris Brown his state-leading 311th career win.
Kent Denver and coach Scott Yates (308 wins) play Ridge View Academy on Saturday.
5A’s Cherry Creek, now 3-3, answered a few doubters about their No. 10 ranking with a dominant 42-7 win over Fossil Ridge (now 4-2).