Greenwood Village – Not many linebackers are presented with the opportunity to return kickoffs.
Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson of the Dallas Cowboys comes to mind. Then there’s Mullen senior Kyle Theret, who has been doing it for a while.
On Saturday, Theret returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown as top-ranked and top-seeded Mullen continued its winning ways with a 49-21 thumping of heated rival Cherry Creek at the Stutler Bowl in Class 5A’s second round.
In another wild, lopsided victory in which they cruised to 619 yards of offense and remained undefeated at 11-0, the Mustangs rocked in another rout, this one full of penalties in a television-influenced marathon that took three hours.
Mullen will host Chaparral next weekend in the quarterfinals. Cherry Creek ended its season 6-5.
“I kind of cut left and had to make a couple moves,” Theret said. “It was nice to get into the end zone.”
Said Mullen coach Dave Logan: “Not many 180-pound linebackers can do that.”
Mullen followed with a 22-point second quarter and easily weathered Cherry Creek’s moves. The Bruins finished with zero yards rushing on 20 attempts, and junior quarterback Jack Elway, who finished 14-of-36 for 284 yards and two touchdowns, had early moments of being wild high. He also had a half-dozen attempts dropped.
Meanwhile, Mullen got its rushing game going. The Mustangs piled up 431 yards rushing, 249 on 25 attempts by senior Phil Morelli, who added touchdown runs of 17, 2 and 5 yards.
“We wanted to get the rushing game going,” Logan said, “and Phil had another great game.”
So did wide receiver Devin Aguilar, whose 36-yard reception set up Morelli’s first touchdown, then added a 44-yarder in which he outfought a defender for the ball before waltzing infor a touchdown. Aguilar later added an ESPN-replay-quality block on a 62-yard run by Mike Goldy.
“That’s a very good team, well-coached and it’s hard to stop those guys,”‘ Cherry Creek senior Karl Heimbrock said. “They just have a lot of great players.”
The Bruins were able to intercept three passes by Mullen quarterback Clint Brewster, and two of them were interesting. Brewster threw what appeared to be a 24-yard touchdown pass to tight end Steve Watson late in the second quarter that would have made it 35-0, but it was ruled an interception despite a simultaneous catch with a defender.
And when pressured in the pocket in the third quarter, Brewster was hit and the pass was intercepted in the backfield by Matt Johnson, who returned it 72 yards for a touchdown.
No matter.
Mullen took ensuing possessions and marched in for touchdowns. Goldy added a 37-yard scoring reception and Watson nabbed a 12-yarder in traffic.
“We’re a little undersized on defense, but we all run to the ball very well,” Theret said. “Our defense works really hard because we know we want to get the ball back for our offense.”
Brewster was 8-of-18 for 188 yards with the three scores and three picks.
However, Mullen also had penalty problems, 15 for 149 yards.
“That can be corrected, but I thought our kids played hard,” Logan said.
Said Theret: “We’re on a mission. We want another championship.”
Mullen 6 22 14 7 – 49
Cherry Creek 0 7 14 0 – 21
M – Theret 98 kickoff return (kick failed). M – Morelli 17 run (Pavy kick). M – Morelli 2 run (Morelli run). M – Aguilar 44 pass from C. Brewster (Pavy kick). CC – Heimbrock 49 pass from Elway (Boryla kick). M – Goldy 37 pass from C. Brewster (Pavy kick). CC – M. Johnson 72 interception return (Boryla kick). M – Watson 12 pass from C. Brewster (Pavy kick). CC – M. Johnson 80 pass from Elway (Boryla kick). M – Morelli 5 run (Pavy kick).
