Mesa Ridge keeps rolling in Colorado 4A football playoffs

Mesa Ridge (Colorado Springs) is making up for lost time.

After not hosting a football playoff game in its existence, the 14-year-old school is doing so in successive weeks. The Grizzlies, the surprise of the Class 4A bracket, will take on Denver South in the semifinals (1 p.m., Saturday) for a chance to play in a different team's home stadium: The Denver Broncos.

That's right. If the 10th-seeded Grizzlies (9-3) knock off the No. 3 Rebels (11-1), they'll advance to Sports Authority Field to take on the Pueblo West-Monarch winner.

"We're playing some pretty good football right now, and that's the most important thing in the playoffs," Mesa Ridge coach Rob Braaten said. "You want to be playing your best football at the end of the year, and we think we're doing that."

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After traveling to Montrose and blasting the Indians 35-14 in the first round, the Grizzlies came home to C.A. Foster Stadium and shocked No. 2 Ponderosa 19-14. After jumping to a 19-0 lead, the Grizzlies allowed previously unbeaten Ponderosa to drive to their 1-yard line in the waning moments, prepared to score the go-ahead touchdown.

That's when Matt Rivera knifed through the line and stripped Mustangs running back Adam Lange. Defensive lineman Cameron Van De Casteele recovered, and the Grizzlies moved on.

With playoff home games on a rotational basis (and decided by coin flip for tiebreakers), the Grizzlies will be right back home for the meeting with Denver South.

"I love it," Braaten said. "We have great fans and a great band, and they'll all be there. It'll be a great atmosphere for my kids."

Denver South and Mesa Ridge met in Week 1, with South claiming a 42-34 win at All City Stadium. The Rebels have kept on chugging despite the early-season loss of standout running back Phillip Lindsay to a knee injury. Backup Pete Williams (1,474 yards, 17 touchdowns) has filled in admirably.

"I'm sure they've gotten a lot better," Braaten said. "I know losing that running back was a problem, but that backup is pretty solid and their quarterback (Malik Tollerson) has stepped up."

Mesa Ridge has played with a heavy heart all season after former lineman Jaleel John-Baptiste died in a car crash last winter. The Grizzlies bring his No. 64 jersey to midfield before every game, allowing John-Baptiste to serve as an honorary captain.

Quarterback Cody Groff (26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions) has been electric for Mesa Ridge this season, as has running back Tremell Stanley, who averages 99.7 yards a game on the ground.

In the other semifinal, Pueblo West (12-0) will put its unbeaten mark on the line against a Monarch (Louisville) (11-1) squad that hasn't lost since Week 2. Cyclones running back Derek Jackson registered his fifth-straight 300-yard game last week in a quarterfinals win against Windsor, and has crept to within 267 yards of the all-time mark.

The record of 3,416 was set by Myles Smith of 8-man Cheyenne Wells in 2003.

Monarch counters with a bruising defense and a solid 1-2 punch out of the backfield of Ethan Marks and Logan Soole. The Coyotes are aware of Pueblo West's penchant to onside kick virtually every time and have been preparing as such.

"It's tough," Monarch coach Phil Bravo said. "Fortunately for us, we work on defending the onside kick all the time. Do you anticipate a team doing it every time after they score? No. We haven't worked on it to that extent, so we'll make it our main area of focus later in the week."

In 3A, Conifer is gearing up for a challenging Silver Creek (Longmont) offense as the Lobos welcome last season's runner-up to Trailblazer Stadium.

Conifer has won its two playoff games in vastly different fashion. In the first round, the Lobos won a 38-31 shootout with Northridge. In the quarterfinals, they won a grind-it-out 16-10 battle with Eagle Valley.

If Conifer coach Larry Fitzmaurice had his druthers, he'd rather a more deliberate pace against Silver Creek.

"I don't think you want to get into too quick a tempo against them, because they like to go fast anyway," Fitzmaurice said. "If we can keep them off the field by running the ball, that's the biggest thing that will help for us."

The Lobos have the personnel to do so, as Matthew McClintock and A.J. Eleniewski each have topped the 1,000-yard barrier and are approaching a combined 2,500 yards.

The chief concern for Conifer in the battle of 10-2 teams will be stopping Silver Creek's multitiered offense, featuring quarterback Ben Sjobakken (23 TDs, one interception), receivers Trey Fleming and Zane Lindsey and top tailback Josh Quiroz.

"We feel pretty good overall on the defensive side of the ball," Fitzmaurice said. "We gave up some cheap ones there against Northridge, where the defensive backs came up because they thought the quarterback was scrambling. But it's going to be tough against Silver Creek, because they can throw it and they can run it both, and they're pretty good at it."

Classification-favorite Rifle (12-0) will take on Pueblo East (10-2) in the other semifinal, with Rifle coming off a rare contest that wasn't decided when the fourth quarter started.

After surrendering only 35 points all season, the Bears hung on for a 48-34 win against Roosevelt, sealed when star running Ryan Moeller made an interception from his safety position near the goal line and returned it for a touchdown as Roosevelt was driving for the tying score.

Moeller rushed for 188 yards, had 107 receiving, two interceptions and six total touchdowns in the contest.

Pueblo East held off Delta 35-24 behind 240 yards and three touchdown passes from quarterback Kurt Rode. Rode has passed for 24 touchdowns and only eight interceptions this season, complementing the efforts of running back Derion Ibarra, who surpassed the 1,300-yard mark for the season against Delta.