Perfection is a slippery subject in football. Especially around Holy Family.
This time last season, the Tigers were “perfect” – 12-0 and facing rival Faith Christian in the Class 2A championship game. But the Eagles pounded the Tigers 34-7, avenging a Week 1 defeat and continuing a win streak that would reach 20 games.
That streak ended last week when Holy Family stuffed its Metropolitan League counterpart 10-7 to avenge a 42-14 loss in Week 9.
“It goes to show, even though you’re perfect, you can lose,” Tigers receiver and cornerback Mike Langfield said.
Now the Tigers (9-3) are in their third state championship game in four years and one victory from capping a “perfect” season Saturday if they can find a way to knock off Tri-Peaks League force Buena Vista (12-0).
“Being 12-1 is not good when you lose the last game,” Tigers standout running back Koehler Anderson said. “We’re more desperate (this season). I like it. I’d much rather be the underdog.”
Although some believe parochial schools never are underdogs when competing against public adversaries, longtime Holy Family coach Mike Gabriel remembers when the Tigers were easy targets for any team.
“We were the stepchild of the Metro League,” said Gabriel, who has been coaching at Holy Family for 30 years, 10 as head coach. “The hardest part was teaching the kids how to win. Once they got the taste, they don’t want to go back the other way.”
The “other way” trails back to north Denver, the longtime location of the Catholic institution founded in 1922. Since moving to their sparkling new facility in Broomfield in 1999, the Tigers have enjoyed a renewed sense of pride while reaffirming their commitment to better athletic programs.
Although Gabriel says the new location has helped bring in good athletes, Holy Family still draws heavily from its 32 parochial schools. By Gabriel’s count, only 5 percent of Holy Family students come from public schools.
Langfield is “the 43rd or 44th” person in his family to attend Holy Family. Anderson is from Niwot, while others are from as far away as Fort Collins and Castle Rock.
“It’s more cyclical than most people would like to admit,” Gabriel said of athletic success at private schools.
Although budget concerns cut into the kind of weight room Gabriel imagined, the Tigers have used it year-round. For players such as Anderson, sacrificing time in the summer has given the Tigers more reason to fight for a season that seemed in jeopardy following a surprising loss to Platte Canyon in Week 4.
Platte Canyon proved itself down the stretch and lost to Buena Vista by only one point in the quarterfinals.
“They’re a pretty resilient team,” Platte Canyon coach Mike Schmidt said, a compliment he would give both Buena Vista and Holy Family. “When I think about both teams, they are mirror images.”
The Tigers run a ball-control offense behind the bruising style of Anderson and the quick feet of Tim Stockhausen while the Demons run a variable attack with Caleb Graff, Jake Fickle and Vance Ray.
The Tigers expect to make the most of their home-field advantage after a vocal crowd helped them last week against Faith Christian. Winning on that home field would be even more special for Gabriel, for whom the stadium was named last season.
“These kids have dedicated themselves for four years,” Gabriel said. “If we could win a state championship, it would be like the icing on the cake.”
