ARVADA — Danny Spond’s first game back from injury began with him tripping over his own feet for a 6-yard loss.
The Columbine senior quarterback would put the game out of reach with a 31-yard touchdown run where he hurdled a would-be tackler, shrugged off two more and outran another Pomona defender to the corner of the end zone.
“I realized that this could be the last game, so you got to lay it on the line and see how it feels,” he said.
Spond, who was recovering from a shoulder injury that flared up early in Columbine’s loss to the Panthers in Week 9, was all grins Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex after the Rebels rolled the Panthers 23-8 to advance to the Class 5A state semifinals.
The No. 5 Rebels (11-1) got touchdown runs from Phillip Romero and Demetrius McDondle and their defense forced four turnovers to knock the No. 4 Panthers (10-2) out of the playoffs for the third year in a row.
“We’ve been wanting to play Pomona again since the day after they beat us,” said Rebels defensive back Jacob Wright, who recovered a fumble on the Columbine 5 early in the fourth quarter. “We got some guys back, and everyone has really been wanting to play again.”
The Rebels get No. 9 Cherry Creek (10-2) next.
Romero rushed for 74 yards and Spond ran for 72, but the Rebels’ decision to use the speedy McDondle in the fullback position proved to be the X-factor. Running through the A-gap rather than off-tackle, McDondle tore into Pomona’s defense for 124 yards on 12 carries.
“That’s what stinks having to play a team from your own league is that they know you so well,” Panthers coach Jay Madden said. “I mean, they’ve got 18 tapes on us.”
The Panthers stuffed Columbine’s first two drives but turned the ball over on the Rebels’ 20 on their second possession to give Columbine a jolt that would lift it to a 16-0 halftime lead.
“Momentum carried us — all game,” Spond said. “We kept charging and kept charging and they kept going our way.”
Donovan Bowens ran for 126 yards for the Panthers, who cut the deficit to 16-8 when quarterback Nathan Grimes bootlegged 6 yards for a touchdown and then ran the same play to the other side for the two-point conversion.
But the Rebels responded with a 58-yard scoring drive capped by Spond’s 31-yard run that appeared stopped at least three times.
Grimes completed eight passes for 81 yards but was intercepted three times, including a one-armed grab by Rebels senior Nathan Wiggins with 8:43 remaining.
Columbine 0 16 7 0 — 23
Pomona 0 0 8 0 — 8
C — FG Link 29. C — Romero 5 run (Link kick). C — McDondle 38 run (kick failed). P — Grimes 6 run (Grimes run). C — Spond 31 run (Link kick).
