Loveland – Loveland found itself in a win-or-lose situation late in the fourth quarter Saturday against Montrose.
So Loveland decided to draw.
The Indians twice ran a delayed draw to fullback Daniel Freismuth, the latter a 14-yard touchdown run with no timeouts and 17 seconds remaining to give Loveland a dramatic 28-24 Class 4A state quarterfinal victory.
Freismuth’s rumble up the middle capped an 80-yard, seven-play drive that sent the faithful at Ray Patterson Stadium into raptures after having watched Loveland trail by scores of 17-7 and 24-21 early in the fourth quarter.
“That play has been in our book since the beginning of the year and we haven’t used it that much,” said Freismuth, who picked up 72 of his 91 yards rushing after halftime. Freismuth’s first draw play went for 17 yards.
Between two teams with nearly identical rough-and-tumble styles, Loveland got enough big plays early to overcome a sluggish first half and got a crucial stop on its own 37 to get the ball back with 2:59 remaining.
“The defense rose up and made some big plays and got them to punt,” Loveland coach John Poovey said. “That’s what we wanted, one more shot.”
Loveland (9-3), seeded 15th, will get one more shot at Northern League rival Greeley West after the Spartans knocked off two-time defending champion ThunderRidge. Greeley West defeated Loveland 13-6 in Week 8.
Junior running back Jesse Lewis kept Loveland afloat early with an 86-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and a 42-yard run in the third quarter to set up Freismuth’s 7-yard touchdown rumble.
Lewis, at 5-foot-6, 159 pounds, finished with 171 yards on 11 carries.
“It was a good team effort to come together at the end when it was looking kind of shady,” Lewis said.
Seventh-seeded Montrose (9-3) got 182 yards from workhorse running back Quentin Haynes, 72 yards rushing from Noel Nocas and 69 yards passing from Kirk English and was forced to punt just once – which proved costly.
“You got to give them the credit. I thought they did a nice job in that situation with no timeouts,” Montrose coach Todd Casebier said. “At the same time, we had the ball late in the game and didn’t chew up enough clock.”
Montrose dominated the first half statistically but had just a 17-14 lead at halftime thanks to Lewis’ 86-yard touchdown run around the left side with 1:39 left before the break.
Montrose ran 42 plays in the first half compared to just 14 by Loveland, outgained Loveland 245-154 and had a 16-4 advantage in first downs.
Montrose 7 10 0 7 – 24
Loveland 7 7 7 7 – 28
M – Haynes 8 run (Stevens kick). L – Knight 6 run (Miller kick). M – FG Stevens 38. M – English 1 run (Stevens kick). L – Lewis 86 run (Miller kick). L – Freismuth 7 run (Miller kick). M – Nocas 2 run (Stevens kick). L – Freismuth 14 run (Miller kick).
