So you want to play with fire, scarecrow?
The question going into Saturday’s Class 4A championship game at Invesco Field at Mile High was: How was ThunderRidge’s secondary going to slow, limit or stop what the Grand Junction offense liked to do, which is throw the ball?
Everything the Grizzlies needed to know, they learned on the Tigers’ first play. Grand Junction quarterback Isaiah Quigley showed off his arm, throwing the ball 50 yards in the air to a wide- open Justin Murray, who had beaten junior cornerback Shane Pickrill.
ThunderRidge coach Joe Johnson was quick to pull Pickrill off the field.
“(Coach) just told me I could not be in a bump coverage,” Pickrill said. “Murray has got a lot of speed on him, and we knew to watch the pass. From then on we gave them 5 to 8 yards off the ball, and we did a great job from there.”
Said Johnson, who watched his team struggle against the pass in the regular season against Golden, Wheat Ridge and Lakewood: “I just told him, ‘We have to do things better, and we just can’t let them run by us.’ We always feel like we’ve got to make teams show they can beat us with the short ball consistently and be able to drive. We just can’t let them throw it over our heads.”
The play after Pickrill was pulled, he was replaced by Eric Moats. Quigley went right after Moats but paid the price. Moats picked off a telegraphed pass and returned it 34 yards to the Tigers’ 4-yard line.
Pickrill and fellow cornerback Brandon Townsley returned to play great games against an offense that was forced to throw on a regular basis.
“Their kids were able to make plays,” Grand Junction coach Shawn Marsh said after the 51-21 setback. “When you get down big like that in the first half, it’s hard to come back and play your game.”
Pickrill finished with six tackles and broke up a pass. Senior safety Josh Schaner was vital behind his corners, accounting for 4 1/2 tackles.
“We’ve got a stronger secondary than most people think,” Townsley said. “We knew they were going to throw the ball, and we just came out and had the time of our lives, proving everyone wrong.”
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
MVP
ThunderRidge had a scrapbook’s worth of big plays, but Eric Moats certainly got things going. Grand Junction’s first pass attempt was inches from a touchdown, so Moats came in on the following play, read quarterback Isaiah Quigley and stepped in front of receiver Justin Murray for an interception. Moats’ pick set up ThunderRidge’s second touchdown. Offensively, Moats caught seven passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
