3A football: Roosevelt defeats Lutheran to capture first title in program history

PUEBLO – For the Roosevelt Roughriders football program, the fourth time was the charm.

With a 34-24 victory over No. 3 Lutheran (11-3) Saturday afternoon at the CSU-Pueblo ThunderBowl, No. 1 Roosevelt (14-0) captured its first football state title in program history in their fourth championship game appearance.

“We’ve been thinking about this for a really long time,” Roosevelt head coach Lane Wasinger stated. “We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but when it got tough for these kids, all they did was stick to the course, trusted each other and believed in each other, and good things happen when you do that.”

“This is wild,” Roosevelt senior Tucker Peterson exclaimed. “We’ve been dreaming about this since we were little kids. Being able to achieve this goal with these guys that we’ve been around with for our entire lives, it’s just so special.”

The game itself was a year in the making, as Roosevelt was the No. 1 seed in 2021, Lutheran the No. 2 seed, looked to be on a collision course before both fell in the semifinals. This year, the much-anticipated match-up was a barn burner, featuring a comeback from Roosevelt, and four lead changes.

For the Roughriders, who got down 10-0 early on, it was only the second time trailing all season, the other in a 25-22 win over 5A Highlands Ranch.

The rocky start was due to, going three and out, and then muffing a punt deep in their own territory to set up the Lions with prime field position. The defense held tough, though, forcing a short field goal to make it 3-0 early on. The next drive, Trey Ciccio picked off a Roosevelt pass, and housed it to give the Lions a 10-0 advantage.

“When you’re giving up free points early in a game, it got me a little nervous,” Wasinger added. “I just had to trust that we could do what we do and remember that they still have to play us for 48 minutes. We believed that we’re the best team in the state, and we came out as the state champion.”

The Lions had a chance to go up more, but a big sack by Elizar Valencia forced the Lions to punt from their own endzone, giving Roosevelt a short field. They proceeded to run the ball on every single play on their way to a Ryan Doucette seven-yard touchdown to close the gap to 10-7 at the end of the first.

Early on in the second, Lutheran was faced with a fourth down from the Roosevelt 10, when Ryken Duagaard found Chace Sorenson for a touchdown pass to up the Lutheran lead to 17-7.

Late in the second, Roosevelt looked like it would enter halftime with the 10-point deficit, but Peterson and the Roughrider offense had other plans. Facing a long third down, Peterson took a jet sweep, and almost picked up the first. After converting on fourth down, a long pass to Bowie Schmitz set up Roosevelt deep in Lion territory. A few plays later, Bronco Hartson found Peterson in the endzone for a score, cutting the deficit to 17-14 into the half. It was the 51st TD reception of career, which is a new Colorado High School state record, the previous being 49.

“I that was a big momentum pusher for us,” Peterson explained. “I was able to show our guys that we’re still in this and I’m not giving up, and the rest of the guys around me aren’t giving up. I think the adversity we faced throughout the year is what prepared us for that moment, and that’s what got us through being down 10-0.”

Roosevelt flipped the script to start the second half, recovering a Lutheran fumble deep in Lion territory, setting up a five-yard Xavier Ramirez TD rush, giving the Roughriders their first lead, 21-17, early on in the third.

After trading possessions, Lutheran started a drive around midfield midway through the third. With back-up QB Sorenson in, he led the offense down the field, eventually scoring himself from 11 yards out to put the Lions back on top, 24-21, with 2:46 left in the third.

Leading into the fourth, Roosevelt embarked on a long drive, which was capped off by a Hartson QB keeper to swing the tide back in favor of Roosevelt, 28-24, with 7:48 left to play.

The defense then stepped up, forcing a Lutheran punt with under six minutes to play. On the ensuing drive, Milo Pascual reeled in a long catch and run on third down to set up Roosevelt in Lutheran territory. Then, Ramirez scored his second TD to put the nail in the coffin, 34-24, with 1:33 to play. A Peterson interception sealed the deal, and the 10-point state championship victory.

“After back-to-back years of coming so close, winning this game became an addiction, we became obsessed with trying to get over that hump” Wasinger said. “Not only me, but this staff, these kids and this community. It was a privilege to have that pressure, and these kids rose to the occasion, and they are bringing the first football gold trophy back to Johnstown.”

Ramirez was named the National Football Foundation Most Outstanding Player following the game for his two TD performance.

For the Lutheran Lions, who were making their first championship game appearance in school history, the loss was their only in the 3A classification all season, as their prior two defeats came out of state, and to 4A Montrose.