Castle Rock – The Arapahoe Warriors rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a second-half lead by the narrowest of margins, and then they had to cross their fingers as Chaparral drove down the field in the final moments.
But, as they say, football is a game of inches, and mere inches allowed Arapahoe to sneak by with a 13-12 victory over Chaparral on Friday night at Douglas County Stadium.
The Wolverines marched down the field in the waning minutes of the game under a misty rain, lined up for the game-winning field goal from 22 yards out and watched as the ball wobbled high enough to reach the crossbar, but not go over it.
“Yes, I was (crossing my fingers),” Arapahoe coach Mike Campbell said.
Arapahoe running back Bill Mercer was a workhorse, carrying 27 times for 174 yards, and quarterback Matt Johnson started hot before finishing 8-of-17 for 109 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
The Wolverines opened the game with a 42-yard touchdown from quarterback Kawika Searle to T.J. Gallagher, but Chaparral couldn’t get a clean exchange from the long snapper to the holder on the extra-point attempt. That would be some dark foreshadowing for the Wolverines.
In the second quarter, Courtney’s first interception led to a 2-yard scoring run by Wolverines running back Tyler Matthies. But it was the inside running by Danny Lanskey (82 yards on eight carries) that took Chaparral down the field.
Down 12-0, Arapahoe put together a seven-play, 77-yard drive that ended with Johnson finding Derrik Overton for a 5-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute left in the first half.
Arapahoe opened the second half by throwing a pick, but the defense took care of things. Chaparral’s next four drives ended with a punt, turnover on downs, a fumble and a punt.
That fumble set up the Warriors for the go-ahead score. With time winding down in the third quarter, Searle fumbled the snap from center and gave Arapahoe the ball 15 yards away from the end zone. Two plays later, Mercer broke off the left tackle for a 9-yard scoring run.
“We lost to them last year, so we wanted a little revenge,” Mercer said.
But it wasn’t over.
Chaparral got the ball on its 15 with 8:05 remaining in the game, and backup quarterback Joey Widhalm, in for the injured Searle, ignored the cold rain and drove his team down to the 5.
With 57 seconds left on the clock, Mike Pruetter lined up for a 22-yard field goal that would have won the game.
The holder lost his grip on the ball and, with Arapahoe bearing down, Pruetter managed to get the kick off. But it came up inches short.
Arapahoe 0 7 6 0 – 13
Chaparral 6 6 0 0 – 12
C – Gallagher 42 pass from Searle (run failed). C – Matthies 2 run (pass failed). A – Overton 5 pass from Johnson (Shortall kick). A – Mercer 9 run (kick failed).
