3A Football: Holy Family Comes Away With First 3A State Title, Third Overall

PUEBLO – The wait is over for Holy Family High School’s football team.

For the first time since 2005, the Tigers are celebrating a state championship.

Holy Family muscled its way to a 33-8 decision over Lutheran in the Class 3A state championship game on a chilly Saturday at the ThunderBowl on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus.

HF’s QB Rylan Cooney, who threw three TD passes and ran in a score, was chosen the National Football Foundation’s Most Outstanding Player.

“This is awesome,” Cooney said. “We have all wanted this for the last four years and we have all worked so hard. I can’t thank my team enough. The chemistry that we have built, my O-Line, my wide receivers. Then, the defense holding them to eight points. This feels great. I have never felt so happy.”

Holy Family finished the season 13-1 and on a 10-game winning streak. This is Holy Family’s third state football title in school history and first since 2005, when it won the 2A title. Lutheran finished the season with an 11-3 record.

Holy Family also was 2-0 against Lutheran this season as the Tigers claimed a 35-28 victory over Lutheran on Oct. 6. In that game, Cooney was in top form, completing 17-of-25 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

And Cooney was on his game again Saturday.

“We knew we had to come out firing (Saturday),” Cooney said. “We had to be the more physical team. We knew they were bigger than us and we had to be more physical than them and that’s what we did. We’re making history and this feels great. I’m so happy to be a Tiger.”

The QB got the scoring going with a 24-yard pass to Ashton Erickson at 5:31 of the first quarter to put Holy Family up 7-0.

Lutheran countered with a solid drive toward the end of the first quarter. Freshman running back Evan Holdridge capped the march with a 6-yard scoring run and then added the two-point conversion to put the Lions up 8-7 at 11:10 of the second quarter.

The lead was short-lived.

Holy Family answered on its next drive and regained the lead at 13-8 with an 11-yard pass from Cooney to Monte Samaras with 8:51 left in the second quarter.

Holy Family was back in business again when Cooney scored on a 1-yard sneak with 25 seconds left until intermission to make the score 20-8. The drive was highlighted by a 24-yard reception by Monte Samaras down to the 1-yard line.

HF kept its momentum going in the second half, upping its advantage to 27-8 following a 4-yard scoring run by Dominic Gabriel at the 9:05 mark of the third quarter.

That’s where the score remained heading into the fourth quarter and Holy Family never backed down.

Holy Family set up another score with a 52-yard pass from Cooney to Anderson Osburn. The drive ended with a 1-yard TD reception from Cooney to Jaxon Grable, making the score 33-8 with 8:14 left in the fourth quarter.

“We kept our foot on the pedal, and we knew what the last game should have been,” Gabriel said. “We have had winning season after winning season and we have never been able to get to the (state championship). It is amazing that this group of guys were the ones who were able to do it.

“We battled all game, and we worked through our injuries, the pain and suffering. We worked through everything and came out on top. This feels incredible.”