Summit’s Hail Mary answered in big win over Wheat Ridge

LAKEWOOD — Summit remained undefeated on the season Thursday night after a successful trip down to Trailblazer Stadium.

The Tigers (4-0 record) defeated Wheat Ridge 55-14 in the non-league game.

“It’s awesome to come down here and play Denver (area) teams,” Summit senior quarterback Jack Schierholz said. “It’s cool to come down here and prove ourselves. Prove that mountain schools have something to offer too.”

Summit capped off a high-scoring first half with a 46-yard touchdown pass from Jack Schierholz to junior Jackson Archambault with 2.4 seconds left in the second quarter.

“I stayed in the pocket and tried to stay calm,” Schierholz said about the Hail Mary down the Tigers’ sideline. “I got hit as I was throwing it, but was able to get it off just in time. Jackson was able to come back to the ball and make the play. It was awesome. It was really electric.”

The Tigers and Farmers combined for 55 points in the first half with Summit leading 41-14.

“We practice that all the time,” Summit coach James Wagner said of the Hail Mary. “We run Hail Marys everything Thursday during practice. It is fun to see when we can execute it.”

Schierholz had a pair of touchdown runs and three touchdown passes in the opening half. The senior quarterback’s scoring runs were 14 and 21 yards, both in the first quarter. Schierholz has a total of a dozen touchdowns rushing and passing through four games.

All three of his touchdown passes came in the second quarter against Wheat Ridge. He flipped a forward pass to Archambault on a first-down and 30 from the Farmers’ 33-yard line. Archambault was able to weave his way into the end zone to extend Summit’s lead to 28-7.

After a Wheat Ridge fumble, Summit capitalized with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Schierholz to Tyler Hodges.

“He is a stud. No doubt about it,” Wagner said of Schierholz. “His freshman year he threw a pass over the middle while playing on the scout team. I knew then we had someone special. He isn’t just a good football player. He is an excellent human being. He is fun to watch.”

Wheat Ridge’s two first-half scores were both on passes from quarterback Sam Christensen. The senior connected with sophomore Isaac McCune for a 75-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. Christensen found McCune again for a 19-yard touchdown to cut Summit’s lead to 35-14.

Summit put a damper on any potential homecoming game comeback by the Farmers with the Hail Mary to end the half with the last second touchdown by Archambault to give the Tigers a 41-14 halftime lead.

With Wheat Ridge star running back Moses Archaleta sidelined with an injury during the first half, the Farmers couldn’t get much going on the ground. Summit shut out the Farmers in the second half.

“We were able to make some adjustment at halftime,” Wagner said of his defense shutting out the Farmers in the second half. “I’m proud of the way the kids finished.”

Junior Ben Elam had a 27-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter for the Tigers. Senior Will Koll put the icing on the cake with a pick-6 with 5 minutes to play to push the lead to 40 points.

Summit is back in action next week when the Tigers host Lincoln on Friday, Sept. 30.

“We are 4-0, but to me we are 0-0 going into next week,” Wagner said.

Wheat Ridge has already posted more wins than the pervious two seasons. Under first-year coach Brandon Wilkes the Farmers ended an 18-game losing streak that dated back to the 2019.

The Farmers defeated Fort Lupton on Week 1 and picked up another victory last week with a 27-22 road win over Sand Creek.

Wheat Ridge has a bye next week before starting conference play. The Farmers open up their Class 3A League 4 schedule against Conifer on Oct. 7 at Trailblazer Stadium.