Broomfield – In something of a fitting reversal of fortunes, the defending champion will not be playing in Saturday’s Class 2A state final.
What Faith Christian did to Holy Family last year, the Tigers did to the Eagles in a dramatic 10-7 victory Saturday, scoring the winning touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line with just 1:55 remaining in the game.
They did it with a perfectly executed reverse, faking an option run to the right, then pitching back to senior wide receiver Mike Langfield who cut inside to find an open lane to the end zone.
“It was a great call,” Langfield said. “I was really excited when they called my number because I knew it would work.”
That not only answered a courageous, into-the-wind, 71-yard drive that gave Faith Christian a 7-3 lead with less than five minutes to play, it put an end to the Eagles’ 20-game winning streak and put the Tigers into the title game against Buena Vista, a 17-14 winner over Kent Denver in the other semifinal. The championship will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Holy Family.
It also avenged a 42-14 loss that the seemingly unbeatable Eagles had hung on the Tigers in the last game of the regular season.
“That’s a great team we beat,” Holy Family coach Mike Gabriel said. “We knew we had to play a great game and we knew we had to do some things they hadn’t seen before.”
Faith Christian coach Blair Hubbard said: “We’ve seen that twice in two years now. Just a flip-flop from last year, almost the exact flip-flop. It’s hard to beat a team twice … especially on their home field. Holy Family played a great game. They defensed us well. They moved the ball when they needed to, especially there in the fourth quarter, and they deserve to be where they are.”
The touchdown was the third of three great plays the Tigers had to make to win the game. First, there was Jon Castillo’s 24-yard kickoff return that put the Tigers at the 46, then came a dramatic 34-yard pass from junior quarterback Patrick Chappell to wide receiver Andy Maul on third-and-10 that put the ball at the 19.
Before the dramatic finish, Holy Family had keyed its defense on Dustin Albright, the tough Eagles running back who had torched them for 290 yards less than a month ago. Albright was limited to 72 yards on 17 carries, but wouldn’t be stopped on the Eagles’ desperation touchdown drive, rushing for 45 yards to get the ball to the 2 for Jeremy Lewis to score.
“We knew Dustin was their No. 1 guy,” Gabriel said. “On some of those schemes, we had five guys on Albright.”
With senior running back Tim Stockhausen rushing for 82 yards on 22 carries (69 in the first half), “we moved the ball early, but it was tough,” Gabriel said.
“Then, that last drive, it worked and Patrick stepped up big. That play that got us down here, that was a great read by him.”
From there, Stockhausen got them to the 1, only to run into a stubborn Eagles defense that finally cracked on fourth-and-2.
“It looked like something we hadn’t seen before,” Hubbard said.
“That close to the goal line, kids are going to flow hard and we did, and he came around the corner and found a crease and it was wide open for him.”
Faith Christian 0 0 0 7 – 7
Holy Family 0 3 0 7 – 10
HF – FG Glynn 25. FC – Lewis 2 run (Bushaw kick). HF – Langfield 2 run (Glynn kick).
