FORT COLLINS — Remember, Jake Stewart is a baseball player.
The senior speedster on Rocky Mountain’s back-to-back Class 5A championship baseball teams is a pretty darn good football player too.
Stewart was on the receiving end of three Bryan Peters touchdown passes as the second-seeded Lobos earned a very workmanlike 28-14 victory over 15th-seeded Cherokee Trail on Friday night in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs at J. Ray French Field.
“It’s nice to get a little confidence back,” said Stewart, who finished with seven catches for 160 yards. “You’ve got to give all the credit in the world to (Bryan). He’s putting the ball right where it needs to be, and when he gets pressure, he runs. He’s just a phenomenal quarterback.”
Rocky Mountain (11-0) will play the winner of Saturday’s Chaparral-Mullen game in the quarterfinals. Cherokee Trail finished its first season in the Class 5A ranks a respectable 7-4.
The Peters-to-Stewart combination went to work early. Against single coverage, Stewart was two steps ahead of the nearest Cougars defender when he and Peters hooked up for the first score from 38 yards out.
The Lobos’ second drive was eerily similar to their first. Another five-play drive was capped when Stewart snagged a 34-yard pass from Peters for a 14-0 lead.
“The bottom line is our kids came out and made the plays when they had to,” Rocky Mountain coach Mark Brook said. “Early on, we made some plays to get the momentum, hit a little lull in the second quarter but regrouped in the third.”
Cherokee Trail clawed back to within 14-7 before the half behind the passing of Diamond Gillis and the legs of Austin Huff, who scored from 4 yards out. After receiving the second-half kickoff, the Cougars took just two plays to drive the ball into Rocky territory, only to have Antoine Jones get stripped of the ball after a 20-yard run. The ball popped right into the arms of Rocky’s Jeffrey Benedict and the Lobos capitalized.
An eight-play, 84-yard drive was capped by Peters’ 1-yard keeper.
Before the third quarter ended, the Peters-to-Stewart show put a nail in the Cougars’ coffin. With Jones fighting with Stewart — including hanging on to his facemask — for position on a fade pattern, Stewart made a brilliant diving grab for the Lobos’ last score.
“They are a tough team to match up with, they just have so many weapons,” Cherokee Trail senior defensive lineman Kendall Gregory-McGhee said. “That’s a great combination and you can tell they’ve been together for a while. It’s something we needed more time to prepare for.”
Cherokee Trail 0 7 0 7 — 14
Rocky Mountain 14 0 14 0 — 28
RM — Stewart 38 pass from Peters (Conti kick). RM — Stewart 34 pass from Peters (Conti kick). CT — Huff 4 run (Rogers kick). RM — Peters 1 run (Conti kick). RM — Stewart 12 pass from Peters (Conti kick). CT — Gillis 2 run (Rogers kick).
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
