Arvada – Ralston Valley football coach Matt Loyd was not lost Saturday afternoon, nor was he confused about the score, the situation or the clock.
He was teaching, though.
With the lead and the ball midway through the fourth quarter against Fruita Monument, Loyd had his run-happy Mustangs throwing.
“I realize we want to win games, but they are nonleague and we’re going to be ready to go,” Loyd said. “We’ve got to be able to throw the ball back here in our own end.”
The Mustangs didn’t pass their way to safety in the end, but their defense and ground game eventually held as Ralston Valley defeated Fruita Monument 26-14 at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Of course, one could argue the Mustangs’ passing game had done enough before the fourth quarter. Junior quarterback Cameron Wright celebrated his second varsity start by completing 13 passes for 227 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown strike to Payton McLachlan.
Mark Losowski caught four passes for 45 yards and senior tight end Tyler Gauthier had three catches for 86 yards.
So when was the last time the Mustangs, ranked No. 2 in The Denver Post/9News Class 4A poll, threw for so much?
“Year 1,” said Loyd, who started the program in 2000.
The Mustangs (2-0) rushed for 151 yards among five players, led by fullback Blake Rice, who ran for 58 yards and a touchdown early in the second quarter as Ralston Valley built a 16-0 lead.
When Ralston Valley finally decided to kill the clock with 3:45 left, its senior-laden line took over. Josh Meneses and Jacob Perry ran with fresh legs to eat up the remaining time.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that know what to do and can play a lot of positions,” said running back Sam Bierbrauer, who scored on a 5-yard run to put the Mustangs up 26-8.
The 5A Wildcats (0-2) didn’t get a first down until 9:26 in the second quarter and had just 100 yards of offense by halftime. A short-field situation late in the second led to a 5-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hunter Martin, who also completed a 58-yard bomb in the fourth quarter to Zac Barger.
But the rally never gained steam, with Ralston Valley’s defense having its way at the line of scrimmage, limiting the Wildcats to 83 yards rushing.
“We need to be able to run the football and we were not able to run the football today,” Wildcats coach Bill Moore said.
Fruita Monument 0 8 0 6 – 14
Ralston Valley 3 13 3 7 – 26
RV – FG Mihalcin 33. RV – Rice 1 run (run failed). RV – McLachlan 52 pass from Wright (Mihalcin kick). FM – Adleman 5 pass from Martin (Adleman pass from Nankervis). RV – FG Mihalcin 27. RV – Bierbrauer 5 run (Mihalcin kick). FM – Barger 58 pass from Martin (pass failed).
