Fort Collins – You’re going to be hard-pressed to find a team left in the Class 5A football playoffs that is smaller than Gateway.
What the Olympians lack in size, they more than make up for with speed, and coach Jeff Sweet’s team was too quick for Poudre on Friday night as Gateway cruised into the quarterfinals with a 34-15 victory over the Front Range League champions at J. Ray French Field.
Gateway (9-2) will meet the winner of Saturday’s Grandview at Montbello game in the quarterfinals.
“It’s always tough on the road, especially in a playoff atmosphere,” said Sweet, who has the Aurora-based Olys in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. “Offensively, it took us a little bit, but the more chances we get for (quarterback) Greg (Bolling) to read the option, the better he got as the game continued.”
Bolling and the Olympians looked comfortable for most of the game, but when the Impalas (6-5) took a 15-14 lead early in the third quarter on Tanner Ehrlich’s 24-yard run, they seemed to kick it up another gear.
An impressive nine-play, 70-yard drive ate up over four minutes on the clock and culminated with Brian McCarty’s second of three touchdown runs.
“We were comfortable the whole way, it was just sort of a continuous flow,” said McCarty, who rushed for 134 yards on 25 carries.
“Greg goes out there and checks the plays, and even if he didn’t have it he made big plays.”
Gateway was given a shot on its next possession after a bad snap to punter Dan Morgan put the Olys at the Poudre 23-yard line. Bolling made them pay four plays later, after a holding penalty, with a 25-yard scoring run.
“That changed the momentum of the game,” Poudre coach Rich Yonker said of the bad snap. “You can’t have specialteam breakdowns against a quick team like that.”
The Olys’ first score also came on special teams. After Poudre took a 3-0 lead on its first series, Derrek Gainey returned the ensuing kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
Poudre moved the ball efficiently on the ground, even without starting tailback Blayde Becksted, who missed the game after having his knee scoped earlier in the week. Ehrlich, not nearly the bruising back Becksted is, carried the ball 24 times for 168 yards. He also caught a 25-yard pass from Morgan.
McCarty put the game away late in the fourth with his third touchdown, a hard-fought 2 yards with Impalas hanging on.
“That was a hard, tough game,” McCarty said.
Gateway 7 7 6 14 – 34
Poudre 3 6 6 0 – 15
P – FG Buffington 25. G – Gainey 98 kickoff return (White kick). G – McCarty 8 run (White kick). P – Ehrlich 25 pass from Morgan (kick failed). P – Ehrlich 24 run (pass failed). G – McCarty 8 run (pass failed). G – Bolling 27 run (White kick). G – McCarty 2 run (White kick).
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
