Video: Santino Marchiol (Cherry Creek) highlights vs. Valor Christian
League championships were decided in the regular season, but the Class 5A semifinals undoubtedly have a league-championship feel.
Jeffco League stalwarts
Columbine (Littleton) and
Pomona (Arvada) will clash in one semifinal while Centennial League beasts
Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch) and
Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) will meet in the other. Plenty of intrigue exists in each, considering the recent history surrounding the matchups.
Top overall seed Columbine (12-0) breezed through the schedule for the most part, but the Rebels' matchup with Pomona on Oct. 16 was the most dicey. Columbine trailed 35-28 in the third quarter before quarterback
Jake Lowry threw an 80-yard touchdown pass to
Jon Cole and later ran for the winning touchdown.
"Pomona is physically big and strong, and their skill kids are fast," Columbine coach Andy Lowry said. "They're very well coached and very disciplined. All four teams are really good right now, so if you're going to make it, you're going to have to play the best."
Jake Lowry is the nephew of Andy Lowry, the son of the elder Lowry's brother. Jake Lowry has thrown for 13 touchdowns without an interception and has run for 13 more as a complement to Rebels workhorse
Mikey Griebel (1,395 rushing yards, 28 total touchdowns).
"Jake came over to Columbine his freshman year and he's had to earn everything he's ever gotten," Andy Lowry said. "Our senior class is really close and Jake is a big part of that. I'm just really proud of the whole senior class."
Pomona (9-3) has been buoyed by the efforts of junior running back
Cameron Gonzales, who has produced 28 touchdowns to go with 15 from sophomore
Max Borghi. Coach Jay Madden's Panthers played each of the other three semifinalists in the regular season as part of a rigorous schedule.
The Valor Christian-Cherry Creek matchup is surrounded by lore, and not because of Valor's 10-0 home win last month. This is a rematch of last season's championship game in which Cherry Creek triumphed 25-24 and ended Valor's run of five consecutive titles spanning three classifications.
Valor Christian (10-2) will have to go on the road this time, but is cresting behind the efforts of junior quarterback
Dylan McCaffrey (25 TDs, four interceptions). Cherry Creek (10-2) allows just under 11 points a game with a defense fronted by
Santino Marchiol and
Jonathan Van diest.
In Class 4A, top-seeded
Pine Creek (Colorado Springs) will put its 37-game winning streak on the line at
Loveland against a surprising Indians group that is peaking late. The No. 13 Indians have demolished No. 4 Vista Ridge (Colorado Springs) and No. 5 Durango after a pedestrian 5-5 regular season in which they barely cracked the bracket.
Quarterback
Ayden Eberhardt has been a fantastic dual threat for Loveland, with a combined 2,737 passing and rushing yards. He has thrown 16 touchdowns and run for 11, and running back/linebacker
Charles Dunkelman has been a terror on each side of the ball.
Pine Creek (12-0), naturally, possesses an abundance of standouts. While Nebraska-bound
JoJo Domann has received much of the acclaim,
Jack Wibbels has been an unstoppable pass rusher with 19 sacks. The Eagles' balanced offense has put up nearly 500 points this season.
Longmont and
Windsor square off in the other semifinal in a rematch of one of the most memorable games of the regular season. Longmont defeated the Wizards 8-7 on Oct. 15 after scoring on a bomb from freshman backup quarterback
Oakley Dehning to
Eli Sullivan in the final seconds. The Trojans (12-0) went for broke, and
Conlan Berger successfully ran in the two-point conversion.
That accounted for the only loss for Windsor (11-1), which held nine consecutive foes to single-digit scoring outputs until defeating Palmer Ridge (Monument) 20-14 in overtime last week. The Wizards and standout quarterback
Brad Peeples will return to Everly-Montgomery Stadium to face a Longmont group that will have its starting quarterback,
David Speidel, back in the fold. Speidel endured a separated shoulder early in the first matchup.
In 3A, the bracket held to form, as the top four seeds remain alive.
Fort Morgan remains the classification's lone unbeaten squad, but the No. 4 Mustangs (12-0) face a stout test this week at top-seeded
Pueblo East.
"Pueblo East is an outstanding program that is well coached," Fort Morgan coach Harrison Chisum said. "They are balanced on offense. They are big, fast and physical on both sides of the ball. We will need to play assignment football and win the time-of-possession battle."
Chisum notes that his Mustangs will have to avoid the emotional highs and lows that accompany such a high-profile contest and will need a workhorse mentality. That is epitomized by fullback/tight end
Toby Mcbride, a Colorado State-bound senior who has been a beast on both sides of the ball.
McBride has registered 31 tackles for a loss and four interceptions, and has bulled into the end zone 11 times on the offensive side of the ball. But Fort Morgan's primary offensive threat this season has been junior running back
Tate Kembel, who has rushed for 1,707 yards and has scored 32 total touchdowns.
"Tate Kembel has had a solid year for us, and he obviously credits running behind our O-Line and behind Toby," Chisum said. "Tate has been our breakaway back that has the speed to break a long run. He has 1,700 yards and, most of the regular season, only played in the first half of the games with the scores that they were."
Pueblo East counters with a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in quarterback
Daniel Martin (1,306 yards, 24 TDs) and
Bryson Torres (1,204, 21 TDs). Martin also has tossed 13 touchdowns, including eight to big-play threat
Luke Padula on the outside.
Coach Lee Meisner's Eagles (11-1) have run the table after an opening loss at 4A semifinalist Longmont. The winner of this one will take on the
Roosevelt (Johnstown)-
Delta winner, as the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds meet at Roosevelt.
Carlos Ortega and
Cameron Hurtado each have topped the 1,000-yard rushing barrier and have run for 18 TDs apiece for the host Roughriders (11-1). Delta is led by
Jonny Ponce, who has rushed for 1,453 yards and 12 scores.
