Doherty football hasn’t skipped a beat in Colorado in 2014

With four consecutive victories, the Spartans are picking up where they left off last fall.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Brian Miller
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Sep 23, 2014, 12:00pm
Doherty running back TeQuan Baker has been one of the standouts for the undefeated Spartans this season. Baker has rushed for 712 yards and 12 TDs in four games.
Doherty running back TeQuan Baker has been one of the standouts for the undefeated Spartans this season. Baker has rushed for 712 yards and 12 TDs in four games.
File photo by Paul DiSalvo
It's been said that the true character of a team will often shine through when its back is against the wall.

Faced with some true adversity for the first time this season, the Doherty (Colorado Springs) football team showed last Saturday what its program is all about. The Spartans fell behind Fruita Monument by two touchdowns in the first quarter and were in danger of being handed their first loss this season.

Instead, a first-half rally led to a fantastic finish. Junior TeQuan Baker put Doherty on top for good with a 67-yard touchdown run, and senior Vincent Davis did his best Terrance Knighton impression on a late goal-line stand. The defensive lineman knocked down a fourth-down pass from the 4-yard line, preserving a 35-28 victory.

"I think the way the team came through and showed how we stand up to adversity, it was a true testament to how Doherty plays," senior linebacker Justice Littrell said. "That goal-line stand was thrilling. Being there with my brothers and doing what we do, it was awesome."

That team-first mentality has been driving Doherty all season, and it really goes back further than that. The Spartans (4-0), who cracked the CHSAANow.com Class 5A poll at No. 10 last week (despite its victory over the Wildcats, Doherty fell from the top 10 this week and was replaced by Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins)), won eight games a year ago and advanced to the second round of the 5A state playoffs before falling to ThunderRidge (Highlands Ranch).

That came after winning only six games over the previous four seasons combined. First-year coach Jeff Krumlauf, who served as the defensive coordinator two years ago and as offensive coordinator in 2013 under former coach David Joyce, said everything started with last year's senior class.

"Success breeds success. Last year with the senior class … all those boys really bought in to what Coach Joyce and the rest of the coaches were trying to get across," Krumlauf said. "For them to buy in and then have the season that we did, it was a big stepping stone. It set the bar and they left their footprint on Doherty football the way we hoped they would.

"I really believe this year's senior class was like ‘we can do that, and then how do we improve on that?'"

Maybe the biggest question facing Doherty coming into this season was how to replace graduated all-state running back Zach Young, who rushed for 2,558 yards and 41 touchdowns as a senior.

Enter Baker. The 5-foot-11, 183-pounder has hit the 200-yard mark in three of the team's four games and has 12 touchdowns already. He rushed for 202 yards and two scores against Fruita Monument and also connected for an 85-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Carey.

Krumlauf said both running backs have great vision, and it's easy to see some of Young in Baker, especially when he makes an impressive cut on the field.

"We all knew TeQuan was going to be a star this year," Littrell said. "He has a nickname: TeQuan Baker the Touchdown Maker. That's just because of what he does on the football field. He's a beast and we all knew he was going to be."

Baker said he learned from one of the best last year while watching Young – now red-shirting for No. 2 Colorado State-Pueblo – go about his business.

"Just watching him in practice, he doesn't take any plays off. He goes hard 100 percent of the time," Baker said. "He always has something to say to his teammates that is positive."

Baker has been the catalyst, running behind a line anchored by senior Marcus Fotenos that has created a number of open lanes. Quarterback Sergio Gordillo has thrown for 613 yards and five touchdowns, and Carey has hauled in 26 passes for 368 yards.

The defense has made a number of its own big plays, as evidenced by Davis' knockdown Saturday. Littrell, who transferred from Fountain-Fort Carson, leads the team with 55 tackles and fellow linebackers Darrian Stickney and Chris Paxton are right behind him. It's a senior-laden group, and Krumlauf said they've led the team the way it needs to be led.

"It's a special group. There's a lot (of seniors) who have been playing together since they were young bucks," he said. "We really believe in a fast, pursuing defense. We coined the term the 9-5-9: nine players within five yards of the ball, 90 percent of the time."

Doherty claimed the now-defunct 5A Pioneer League title a year ago and is set to begin play in the newly-formed Continental-South League on Friday night at Castle View (Castle Rock).

With only five league contests on the schedule, Krumlauf said each one needs to treated like a playoff game. Getting ahead in a loaded classification isn't easy, but the Spartans plan to do it together – as a family.

"Even when Vince batted that ball down, it was ‘we' batted down the ball. We give recognition to everybody, from the people on the sidelines and in the stands," Littrell said. "It's really a family thing to where everybody knows when it comes down to it, look to the left and look to the right and know my brothers next to me are going to put their life on the line for me, as I will for them."

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