LAKEWOOD — Through the years, Columbine’s early-season victories haven’t been that much to look at, particularly when considering the Rebels’ smashmouth style.
On Thursday night, the Rebels’ 41-20 defeat of Thomas Jefferson in Class 5A nonleague play warranted even less of a glance in a two-hour, 45-minute struggle. Columbine will gladly take it on the way to trying to fix some of its problems while beginning new Big 8 League play next week.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Rebels coach Andy Lowry said of a slow start and a dozen penalties. “We played really solid defense, we made some plays on offense in the second half and the line played real physical, but not consistently. There are a lot of things to work on.”
The Rebels, ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, improved to 2-0 and were aided by five Thomas Jefferson (0-2) turnovers, including four on the first plays after taking possession. TJ not only played catch-up, but gave the Rebels short fields.
Columbine led 7-0 after a quarter, then bunched 34 points during the next two to seize command.
Junior quarterback Danny Spond, despite a 1-for-8 passing performance with an interception in the first half, threw two touchdown passes in the second half. He also led the team in rushing with 150 yards on 10 carries.
“(The Spartans) were a tough team, got off the ball real quick and we played our smashmouth game,” he said. “A win’s a win. Same thing with last week. We got it going, finally.”
Said Lowry: “The penalties hurt, and Danny was a little nervous throwing in the first half. We just have to work on the little things and be disciplined on every play.”
TJ hung tough on defense early, but the Rebels wore the Spartans down. TJ never recovered from the turnovers.
Short fields for Columbine led to shorter touchdowns for Spond (who had two) and Kevin Richards, plus a couple of field goals by Tyler Link.
The Spartans briefly showed life early in the third quarter on a mini-burst by Billy Sprague, He got behind the Rebels’ defense for a short pass that he turned into a 77-yard touchdown, then grabbed a loose ball on the next snap that Spond didn’t handle while in shotgun formation and ran it in for a 26-yard return.
But 27-13 was as close as TJ got, and it was frustrating.
“I don’t have much to say,” TJ coach Tim Owens said. “I really don’t, other than we need to get some confidence on offense.”
Richards had 136 yards rushing, and the Columbine defense held TJ to 54 yards on the ground on 25 attempts.
Thomas Jefferson 0 0 13 7 — 20
Columbine 7 20 14 0 — 41
C — Spond 56 run (Link kick). C — FG Link 32. C — Richards 2 run (Link kick). C — Spond 1 run (Link kick). C — FG Link 33. TJ — Sprague 77 pass from Baskerville (Moore kick). TJ — Sprague 26 fumble return (kick failed). C — Wiggins 27 pass from Spond (Link kick). C — Roberts 16 pass from Spond (Link kick). TJ — Lowe 27 pass from Baskerville (Moore kick).
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it had the wrong year for Danny Spond, a juunior at Columbine.
