Englewood – So, Andrew Preston, do you make it a point to score four touchdowns on every new field you play on?
“Yeah,” the Arapahoe senior running back said. “I like to leave my mark on the field.”
Preston was kidding, but he and the Warriors were serious Thursday night in a 40-13 whipping of Doherty in National League play at Englewood.
The Warriors’ home game was actually on the road because of a scheduling problem within the Littleton District, but they played like they had been there before.
Arapahoe, ranked No. 6 in The Denver Post/9News Class 5A poll, reached midseason at 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the National. The Warriors were thorough in dropping the Spartans to 3-2, 0-1, by playing big defense against Doherty’s Lamarr Houston, who entered the game leading 5A in rushing.
In all, Houston, the running back-linebacker who has orally committed to Texas, smashed and turned a few heads on the way to piling up a dozen tackles, 101 yards rushing and a touchdown, but was held in check.
“That’s what we wanted to do,” Preston said.
Ultimately, it was all about the Warriors. After Doherty’s Josh Archer returned a punt 81 yards for a touchdown, Arapahoe took over behind Preston, sophomore quarterback Matt Johnson, a deep receiving corps and solid defense.
In the second quarter, Preston scored from 11 yards and Johnson hooked up with Blake Menter on a screen pass that he turned into a 75-yard scoring reception.
Preston’s 12-yard touchdown early in the third quarter made it 20-6 and Doherty’s only other serious sign of life was set up by Archer’s 76-yard run to the Warriors’ 4-yard line – he was sprung on a crushing block by Houston, who later scored from the 1.
But Arapahoe put it away with three interceptions and two more touchdowns by Preston in the quarter.
“We can still be better,” Arapahoe coach Mike Campbell said. “We’re still young at quarterback, but we were good on third and fourth downs.”
Johnson threw for 176 yards and connected with six receivers.
The Warriors have three toughies coming up: Lewis-Palmer, at Chaparral and against Douglas County.
Meanwhile, Doherty wants to regroup.
“That’s a good football team,” Spartans coach Mike Sirko said. “Give their quarterback a lot of credit. They shut us down and we made a lot of mistakes.”
Doherty 6 0 7 7 – 13
Arapahoe 0 14 19 7 – 40
D – Archer 81 punt return (kick blocked). A – Preston 11 run (Coulter kick). A – Menter 75 pass from Johnson (Smith kick). A – Preston 12 run (kick blocked). D – Houston 1 run (Bobb kick). A – Preston 1 run (kick blocked). A – Preston 1 run (Smith kick). A – Mercer 44 run (Smith kick).
