Aurora – It seemed to be one of the more dramatic turnarounds in the upper echelon of the Centennial League, yet is becoming the norm for Grandview.
The Wolves, as they have been prone to do in 2006, spotted Overland an early lead and looked lethargic before gathering themselves and easily handling the Trailblazers 45-14 on Saturday afternoon at windy Legacy Stadium.
In improving to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in league, Grandview, ranked No. 4 in The Denver Post/9News Class 5A poll, knocked the sixth-ranked and younger Trailblazers (4-2, 3-1), who dropped their first game of the season in Colorado, from a first-place tie with Mullen.
On Overland’s first offensive play, Justin Cooper motored 47 yards for a touchdown.
But that was about it for the Trailblazers as it quickly turned into an all-Grandview affair. The Wolves ran 25 plays from scrimmage to Overland’s one through nearly 11 minutes of the first quarter, dominated the line of scrimmage, shut down the Traiblazers’ veer attack and tallied the next 38 points.
The Wolves also did it early behind backup quarterback Lloyd Bias, ordinarily a wide receiver who started in place of Jared Schlehuber, a two-year starter who was nursing a sprained ankle.
Grandview gave up 21 points early in its only loss, to Mullen, and fell behind 9-0 to Eaglecrest before rolling to a 29-9 victory.
“Yeah, we have a habit of coming out flat in games for some reason,” Wolves junior running back Bo Bolen said. “We knew if we stepped it up we could win. We just need to work on it. We always come out flat, (the opposition) gets quick scores, then we come around.”
Said Grandview coach John Schultz: “(Overland) is a good team. Give it to our offense, which reacted to that adversity on the first play. We did the same thing against Eaglecrest … (both are) so good, you can’t do that.”
With so many Trailblazers playing both ways, it didn’t help Overland that its offense ran only four plays from scrimmage during the game’s first 12 minutes. It eventually took its toll as Grandview, which scored on a 33-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-11, then caught the Trailblazers napping by recovering an onside kick, scored on five consecutive possessions, rolled to a 24-point second quarter and had an interception returned for a TD by senior defensive back Keenan Molet.
The Wolves also took command up front as their defense had a big day running to the ball.
“They won the whole line of scrimmage and that was key,” Overland coach Tony Manfredi said. “Our defense was out there for a long time.”
Bolen, who ran for 142 yards on 19 carries, rushed for two touchdowns – one a 56-yarder. Kyle Burgoyne added two touchdowns rushing, and Bias had the touchdown toss to Kyle Hewitt, who added six conversion kicks and a 43-yard field goal. Schlehuber eventually entered midway through the second quarter.
“Our defense was great after that first mess-up and it worked out all right,” Schultz said. “Our first seven games (the Wolves next get Cherry Creek) have been the toughest I’ve ever seen.”
Other than Cooper’s 47-yarder, the Trailblazers managed only 31 yards on offense in the decisive first half.
Overland 7 0 0 7 – 14
Grandview 14 24 0 7 – 45
O – Cooper 47 run (Moran kick). G – Hewitt 33 pass from Bias (Hewitt kick). G – Burgoyne 1 run (Hewitt kick). G -FG Hewitt 43. G – Bolen 56 run (Hewitt kick). G – Bolen 4 run (Hewitt kick). G – Molet 35 interception return (Hewitt kick). G – Burgoyne 21 run (Hewitt kick). O – Campbell 9 run (Moran kick).
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
