Football roundup: No. 2 West Grand takes down No. 5 Caliche

Almost 250 mile separate West Grand High School and Caliche. For the West Grand Mustangs, it was 250 miles well traveled.

The No. 2 team in the 8-man polls hit the road Friday and came away with a 38-20 win over No. 5 Caliche in a game that could prove to be West Grand’s best win of the year.

“We had great senior leadership and a great week of practice,” coach Chris Brown told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We played well and were without one of our better linebackers and receivers, but they rose to the occasion.”

Brown noted that the Mustangs (2-0 overall) had been bit by the injury bug, but had overcome some depleted players to come away with a win over a very tough Caliche team.

The offense was powered by quarterback Luis Dominguez. The senior did enough for his coach to sing his praises to anyone within earshot.

“He played fantastic,” Brown said. “They did everything they could to take him out of the game and it didn’t work.”

The Mustangs return home next week for a showdown against South Park. The Burros will come into the game at 1-1 after grabbing a 30-15 win over Del Norte.

Radio highlights from the game:

1A: (4) Centauri 38, (6) Paonia 0

No. 4 Centauri took to the road and pitched a shutout over Paonia.

Chris Quintana got the scoring effort started with a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. But the strength behind the Falcons’ win was the swarming defense.

“They did a great job,” coach Kyle Forster told the Scoreboard Show. “A few weeks ago I said the defense was going to be our key this year.”

Centauri is in for a battle next week when it heads to Pagosa Springs.

3A: (1) Erie 35, (10) Pueblo South 14

Noah Roper was briefly knocked out of the game from an injury, but responded by coming back and running for over 100 yards in the first half.

It turns out that Roper broke his nose on the second play of the game while playing defense.

The newly-crowned top team in 3A cruised in the second half to knock off last year’s 4A champs at Dutch Clark Field.

Here’s a full story from the Pueblo Chieftain.

4A: Palmer 21, Mitchell 12

A stretch of losses dating back to Oct. 13, 2016 came to an end for the Palmer Terrors. And in turn, it was the first win in 12 tries for coach Tom Reber.

The Terrors were down 12-0 at the half and rallied in the final two quarters to come away with an emotional win at Gerry Barry Stadium.

5A: (10) Mullen 35, Doherty 28 (3 OT)

It took three overtimes, but No. 10 Mullen defended its home field in a thrilling win over Doherty.

The Spartans had a chance to tie the game in the second overtime, but a fumble at the goal line ended any chance for Doherty to walk away with its first win of the year.

6-man: (8) Arickaree/Woodlin 26, (7) Fleming 20

In a low-scoring matchup between two top-10 6-man teams, it was Arickaree/Woodlin who started the season off with a win.

The Broncos host Kit Carson next week.

Notables

2A No. 2 La Junta battled from behind to beat Pagosa Springs 24-14.
5A No. 6 Grandview edged Highlands Ranch 28-21 to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Clint Buderus got his first win as the coach at Pueblo West as the Cyclones beat Pueblo County in the Pigskin Classic 20-0.
Pine Creek endured eight lightning delays and came away with a 45-23 win over Rio Rancho (N.M.).
In 4A, No. 4 Windsor beat No. 8 Vista Ridge 21-0.
4A No. 10 Skyline handled 3A No. 5 Mead 41-21.
In 1A, No. 6 Resurrection Christian beat No. 5 Faith Christian 28-7.
Sedgwick County pushed its winning streak to a state-best 24-games by beating No. 4 Hoehne in 8-man.
Another top-10 matchup in 8-man: No. 8 Akron beat No. 3 Holly 8-6.
And another one in 8-man: No. 9 Sargent beat No. 6 Fowler 46-28.
6-man No. 1 Stratton/Liberty beat No. 4 Prairie 66-23.
No. 3 Kit Carson handled No. 10 La Veta 73-6 in 6-man.

Other coverage

Radio Highlights

This week’s radio lineup included coverage of Loveland’s win over Broomfield, Rifle getting a big win over Eagle Valley and Eaton’s 37-25 win over Sterling. Audio courtesy of The Team 1340 and KFKA 1310.