With his players surrounding him near midfield on the Invesco Field turf, coach Jeff Ketron delivered a reminder for his new 5A state champions.
They had heard it before.
They would hear it again.
“If you can dream it, you can do it!” Ketron yelled. “Don’t ever let anybody tell you you can’t do something!”
It was a message for tomorrow but it worked Saturday afternoon and for 12 consecutive Douglas County games before this one. Beating Mullen 35-13 and winning a state football championship for the first time in Douglas County’s 108-year history qualified as a Huskies’ dream fulfilled.
Douglas County won it all after losing its season opener 28-27 to Legacy. It won 13 straight after that loss, including the title match in which it jumped up early and stayed up throughout.
Many of the 11,423 fans who came to see this championship looked first for Mullen running back Phillip Morelli. He had helped push Mullen into this game with a seven-touchdown outing a week ago.
What would Morelli do on this stage for these stakes?
Douglas County running back Andy Muns wondered the same thing.
“I did realize he scored five touchdowns rushing and two receiving last week and that he could blow this championship game open,” Muns said. “But I remembered our first game against Legacy. Their running back outplayed me. Since then, I promised myself and the team it wasn’t going to happen again.”
No, it was not.
Muns entered the game having rushed for 2,609 yards and 36 touchdowns. He finished with 31 carries, 239 rushing yards, an average of 7.7 yards gained per carry and two rushing touchdowns.
Morelli managed 17 carries for 70 yards and one rushing touchdown. “He is a very tough kid, very strong,” Morelli said of Muns. “He runs with all his might. He does not stop until he gets that extra yard.”
Classy praise from the guy who was supposed to be the star back of this game. Muns has a way of leaving his mark.
He is listed as 5-feet-7, but standing next to him he looks more like 5-6. He weighs 190 pounds. “It’s rock,” he said. “I’m known for my work with the weights.”
He can scoot and he can pound. He hits holes quickly and can run away from defenders. He did it early to Mullen, busting loose for a 72-yard scoring run midway through the second quarter that helped Douglas County build a 21-7 lead. The Huskies would lead 28-7 at halftime.
“Mullen tried to play him like everybody else does, stacking the line and going after him, but all he needs is a crease,” Ketron said. “Our running back, he’s a competitor, a survivor.”
Muns is a senior back who has not let his size determine his contribution.
A player who admits that as a sophomore his football attitude was poor and who as a junior suffered in silence when his parents divorced.
A hungry, smart back.
Yale is showing interest.
Other colleges will jump in and find a spot for this back. He can take a program places. Look where he has brought Douglas County.
“He is everything we thought he was,” Mullen coach Dave Logan said. “He is hard-nosed and very tough. You don’t run for 2,600 yards at this level without being special.”
Playing in this place where the pros play was like being part of a movie, Muns said. With the lights shining overhead, Muns, one of the shortest, stood the tallest.
He outplayed Morelli.
He made long-overlooked Douglas County a champion.
And he proved to himself once again that his desire triples his size. That he could dream it. That he could do it.
“We are the state champs,” he said, as the lights dimmed on the field and fireworks began blasting overhead.
Muns is the name, the word.
His Douglas County legacy will easily last another 108 years.
Staff writer Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
