With all four quarterfinal games in the books, the state semifinals matchups are set for the Class 4A football playoffs.
Next week, No. 3 Pine Creek will take on No. 7 Chatfield and No. 1 Montrose will go up against Erie to decide which two teams will compete for a state championship.
(5) Erie 28, (4) Palmer Ridge 18
MONUMENT – Vengeance. Statement win. Just another game.
There were several ways that those prowling the Erie sideline described the feeling when the final buzzer at Don Breese Stadium sounded.
There are those that remember a December afternoon at the Falcon Stadium at the Air Force Academy, an 18-mile drive from Don Breese, where Palmer Ridge downed Erie to claim the Class 3A state football title.
There are those who understand that Palmer Ridge has been a dominant football program for the last several years and beating the Bears at any point, especially in the playoffs, is an indicator that Erie is a legitimate threat in the postseason.
And there are those that simply saw this game as the next challenge in the quest to complete a goal. Either way, Erie’s 28-18 win over Palmer Ridge in the 4A football quarterfinals was a crucial win for the Tigers. For then, for now, for the future.
“I can give all the coach speak, right,” Erie coach Jeff Giger said. “It doesn’t matter, wer’re in the semis and all that. But they’re a great program. When you’re playing in 4A those are one of those programs that you want to play, you want to beat and you want to measure yourself against.”
By setting the tone early, it felt as though the Tigers (12-0 overall) wanted Palmer Ridge to have to be the one doing the measuring. The first drive of the day resulted in a 3-and-out, but the second drive was capped on a 16-yard touchdown run from quarterback Blake Barnett.
He finished the day with 99 rushing yards and three rushing scores, but it was that first one that turned out to be a major turning point in the game.
“Everybody was able to take a deep breath,” Barnett said. “We’re in it. We’re up. It was a big touchdown for sure.”
His second score came on a 1-yard sneak early in the 2nd quarter to put the Tigers up 14-0. But the big story had to be the Erie defense slowing down a potent Palmer Ridge offense. The Bears (10-2) were held scoreless in the first half and quarterback Derek Hester threw for a total of 62 yards in those first 24 minutes.
The Bears were without wide receiver Anthony Costanzo, major loss in terms of a player who can help boost production at any point of the game. Instead, the focal point of the offensive game plan was running back Conner Cook who finished the day with 24 carries for 97 yards and a touchdown.
But his counterpart for the Tigers ended up being better. Caleb Theisen was the standout performer of the day as he ran for 138 yards and a score. That score was timely as it came after Rhett Armstrong got the Bears on the board with a 28-yard field goal. Theisen broke the through the Palmer Ridge front and blazed down the sideline for a 49-yard run.
“Our game plan today was to take whatever they gave us,” Theisen said. “We can throw the ball really well and we can run the ball really well so it was just what the defense allowed us to do. They had to give somewhere.”
The Tigers will get the benefit of staying home for the semifinals and they’ll host No. 1 Montrose next week. A win there will get the Tigers into a state title game for the first time since they lost to Palmer Ridge back in 2017.
(1) Montrose 48, (8) Fountain-Fort Carson 14
MONTROSE – On a chilly night, the No. 1-seeded Montrose football team hosted eighth-seeded Fountain-Fort Carson in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
Montrose won, 48-14, to move one step closer to the team’s first title since 1950.
“Another great night to be a Montrose Indian,” Montrose head coach Brett Mertens said. “What an amazing crowd again and I thought the boys played a great. We are super happy to get a victory and look forward to the challenge in the semifinals.”
Both teams struggled on offense early but Montrose righted itself first, driving down the field and scoring on a 27-yard run by Ethan Hartman to put Montrose on the board in the first quarter.
The Indians would go on to score five second-quarter touchdowns. Hartman scored from 42 yards out, Blake Griffin scored from one, two and 11 yards out and Hartman’s third touchdown of the game was a 16-yard run that gave his team a 42-0 lead at halftime while the Montrose defense held the visiting Trojans without a first down in the first half.
“We came out and hit them right off the bat,” Montrose senior Luke Barney said. “Best first half I’ve been a part of. We were super ready to play a tough football game and we were super prepared to stop their offense. We played our hearts out and played for each other. I’m so thankful to be a part of it.”
A touchdown pass from Dezmen Oliver to Isaac Logo put Fountain-Fort Carson on the board and a Montrose fumble led to a touchdown by Tai Faavae and it was 42-14. With about 20 seconds left in the game, Austin Zimmer went 70 yards for a touchdown.
“Montrose is a well coached team, they were well prepared for us on both sides of the ball,” Fountain-Fort Carson head coach Jake Navotny said. “Their size was hard for us to handle and they play aggressively. Coach Mertens did a great job preparing his team and all the credit to them”
Montrose will play Erie in the semifinals next week.
(3) Pine Creek 10, (6) Loveland 7
COLORADO SPRINGS – Normally Cam Cooper’s job as a punter is to willingly surrender the ball to the opposing team. At an unexpected time, at the most pressure-filled time of the season, he was thrust into a new role. As quarterback, he had to generate enough offense to ensure that he couldn’t do his primary job for Pine Creek.
And he did just enough.
An injury to starting quarterback Josiah Roy late in the first half, put Cooper under center with the Eagles trailing by a touchdown. He stayed calm, cool and collected – all while handing the ball to Zion Hill as often as he could – to lead Pine Creek to a 10-7 win over defending Class 4A state champion Loveland in
the state football quarterfinals.
“It (is tough to put him in there), but you don’t talk about it,” coach Todd Miller said. “You don’t game plan for it. He’s had snaps all season, he knows what we’re doing and he knows the game plan. We didn’t hesitate.”
When Cooper entered the game, the Eagles (10-2 overall) had zero points on the scoreboard and Roy had been the dominant rusher for the team with 75 yards. The Red Wolves (10-2) had taken a 7-0 lead thanks to a Garrett Harstad 10-yard touchdown run.
Cooper’s first play was a handoff to Hill which went nowhere and a field goal attempt was pushed wide right.
The Eagles got on the scoreboard late in the third quarter on a 38-yard field goal from Ian Johnson. But the offense was still struggling to move the ball against a physical Loveland defense. The only way for the Eagles to stay in the game was put up a defensive fight of their own.
They got a big stop on fourth down near midfield and felt like they had a chance to finally make something happen on offense. Cooper ran left on a little speed option play that went for 22 yards and put the Eagles in the red zone.
“He was supposed to pitch that,” Miller said. “Him keeping it was all him.”
Then Hill kept chipping away at yards and getting closer to the goal line. He find broke into the end zone from the 1-yard line to give Pine Creek its first lead of the game with 7:40 left on the clock.
“(The Red Wolves) were dogs, man, and they kept playing until the bitter end,” Hill said. “We had a game plan, we just had to switch it up. Keep pounding, keep doing what we were doing.”
With the lead in hand, the Eagles turned to the defense, the very unit that had held Loveland to just 7 points when they had come into the game averaging over 37 points per game. On the drive, Harstad suffered an injury of his own and had to leave the game.
Backup Trey Olsen then found Brandon Hensel on a 61-yard pass to put the Wolves deep in Pine Creek territory. A first down put them at the 4-yard line, giving them four shots at the end zone with under 2 minutes left on the clock.
The first two rushing attempts went for a total of 2 yards. On 3
rd down, sophomore linebacker Jaiden Anetone broke through the line to stop Drew Foley short. On 4
th down, a jet sweep to the left side was sniffed out by Brett Alvey. He tackled Tyson Williams at the line of scrimmage giving the ball back to the Eagles and effectively sending them into the semifinals.
“That’s a stop of all-time right there,” Miller said.
It was a comeback of all-time. After losing Roy, the spark of the Eagles offense, winning seemed far-fetched. But the Eagles believed in their freshman quarterback to come in and keep the offense effective enough to get points on the board. He couldn’t produce many, but he stuck to the plan and what he did produce was enough to get the job done.
“It was just pounding the rock and that’s how we got this game done,” Cooper said. “It was amazing. I want to thank my teammates for building me up for this and believing in me.”
Only time will tell if Roy will be healthy enough to take the field next week. But should the Eagles be forced to call on the freshman again, the confidence of beating the defending state champions will be a hard rush to bring him down from. The Eagles head to Jeffco Stadium next weekend to take on Chatfield in the 4A semifinals.
(7) Chatfield 42, (2) Dakota Ridge 31
LAKEWOOD — The tide turned in a hurry Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.
No. 2 Dakota Ridge appeared to be in control having scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24-7 lead with 2:37 left in the third quarter against No. 7 Chatfield. Even Chargers’ coach Bret McGatlin likely figured the playoff run would come to an end in the Class 4A state quarterfinals and he would be heading to Florida for Thanksgiving Break.
Change of plans.
Chatfield scored five touchdowns from late in the third quarter through midway through the fourth quarter to take an unthinkable 42-31 victory against its south-Jeffco rival. The Chargers (9-4 record) will host Pine Creek (10-2) likely at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27, back at Jeffco Stadium.
The three minutes of offensive fury jumpstarted the comeback for Chatfield. Junior Mason Lowe had a 39-yard touchdown run. Senior Jake Marschall scored on a 3-yard touchdown run and Lowe threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to freshman Brock Narva to turn a 24-7 deficit into a 28-24 lead with 11:11 left in the fourth quarter.
“That went a lot better than last year I’ll say,” Lowe said of his halfback touchdown pass to Narva that put the Chargers ahead. “It was clutch. I’m glad Brock caught it. It really changed the momentum.”
After coming up empty on four straight offensive drives after Marschall’s 80-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage, the Chargers kicked it into high-gear.
“That two-play drive gave us a little energy. Then the 3-and-out. Then another quick score. Then the turnover and another score,” McGatlin said of the three Chatfield touchdowns over 2 minutes and 44 second off the clock. “Just like that … I couldn’t believe we were in the lead right now. It was amazing.”
Dakota Ridge (11-1) had a 19-play, 70-yard scoring drive capped off with a 5-yard touchdown run by junior Noah Triplett to take a 17-point lead to start the second half.
“The wheels came off in a hurry right there,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said. “We had that great drive to start the third quarter to make it 24-7. Then all the sudden (Chatfield) scores three touchdowns in like two-and-a-half minutes. We just couldn’t figure out a way to get a stop on defense when we needed it.”
The Eagles did regain the lead 31-28 with 7:55 left in the fourth quarter with a 61-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Adam Graves to Connor Fitzhugh. However, Marschall answered with a 70-yard touchdown run less than 30 seconds later to give the Chargers the lead for good.
“It didn’t look great. I’m not going to lie,” Marschall said of the Chargers trailing 24-7 with 2:37 left in the third quarter. “This is what we train for, facing adversity. We knew what to do.”
Narva gave Chatfield’s its first 2-score lead of the game with a 53-yard touchdown run with 4:42 to make the final score 42-31.
“Our plan all the long was to get it to our athletes,” McGatlin said. “I know we have some special athletes and they did some amazing things.”
It will be Chatfield’s first trip back to the 4A state semifinals since 2016. Pine Creek actually defeated the Chargers 28-14.
“I knew this group was special,” said McGatlin of his team that had several injuries this year but has finally gotten healthy. “We just needed to get them together.”
Dakota Ridge was attempting to make its the third straight trip to the 4A state semifinals under longtime Coach Woitalewicz. Dakota Ridge was edged by eventual state champion Loveland in the semifinals in 2020 and lost on a last-second field goal by Broomfield in 2019.
“I’m proud of our kids,” Woitalewicz said. “To go 11-0 and be back-to-back league champs with everything these guys have been through these last two years. It didn’t end the way we wanted, but what a great game.”
Three weeks ago Chatfield and Dakota Ridge squared off in a game that decided the 4A Metro 1 League champion. The Chargers led 28-19 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Eagles rallied with 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to take a 29-28 victory. Junior Landon Giebler kicked a 26-yard field goal with less than a minute to play for the game-winner.
Chatfield and Dakota Ridge both earned top-8 seeds and first-round byes for the opening round of the state tournament. The Chargers cruised past Ponderosa last week and the Eagles outscored Longmont to set up the south-Jeffco rivalry in the quarterfinals.
“Knowing that we are one of the last four teams left in it is the greatest feeling ever,” Marschall said. “I like Thanksgiving, but playing football makes it feel that much better.”