PARKER — Into Week 3 of Colorado schoolboy football, Chaparral has gone big.
The Wolverines earlier shut out Douglas County, the top program in recent years of the southern metropolitan area.
They played their first big game at the brand, spanking new Burt.com Stadium, the latest jewel in the Douglas County district that’s complete with assorted shiny bells and whistles.
And they used a variety of big plays Friday night to run past rival Mountain Vista 28-18 in the Class 5A Southern League to remain undefeated through three weeks for the first time since 2005.
“We can be a real good football team,” coach John Vogt said of his Wolverines, ranked No. 10 in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, and 3-0 overall and in league.
They were Friday — despite struggling to sustain drives, which is usually what the Wolverines do. They used quick strikes to lead all the way and remain in command of the Golden Eagles (1-2, 1-2).
“We just had a hard time grinding it out,” Vogt said.
But it was irrelevant for certain skill players such as quarterback Andrew Loudenback, running back Spencer Duran and wide receiver Jordan Serena.
After a 53-yard kickoff return by Mykel Morse to the Mountain Vista 38-yard line, Duran, who rushed for 168 yards, ran it in for a touchdown standing up.
Serena caught three passes, all for touchdowns, the longest of which was 63 yards. His second scoring reception was a 20-yarder as time expired in the first half and gave the Wolverines a 21-2 lead.
Loudenback completed only five passes, but three went for touchdowns.
Big, quick and that was it.
“Andrew came across when we needed it,” Serena said. “We were just working their coverage.”
Said Vogt: “No one in the league can cover Serena one-on-one.”
Duran, who withstood being worked by a Mountain Vista defense that was physical, said, “we got the big plays when we needed them, but we need to come out hot every game.”
It would help — otherwise, the Golden Eagles had more than a say about the game’s pace. They frequently stuffed the Wolverines, pressured Loudenback and threatened to make a game of it at the end before multiple penalties rendered an onside kick mute from their 20 with 4:35 to play.
“We ran out of game,” Mountain Vista coach Ric Cash said, “We’ve given up seven big plays (the past two weeks), that’s 49 points, which you can’t do.”
Defensively, the Chaparral defense played with the lead, but also limited the Golden Eagles to 63 yards and four first downs. Chaparral also took advantage of two turnovers.
Christian Thomas added two short scoring runs in the fourth quarter for the Golden Eagles.
But some Southern team soon will have to deal with the Wolverines.
“The kids are playing hard and believing,” Vogt said. “I like it.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
