All they needed was Mel Gibson.
As Mullen prepared to play at Rockhurst Jesuit in Kansas City, Mo., the past weekend, head coach Dave Logan asked his assistants if they had heard anything unusual during pregame.
True, the Mustangs were playing for the first time at the Hawklets’ sunken field surrounded by a hill, but the Coloradans didn’t know what was to come. As the faint beat of a drum grew louder, the Mustangs looked up to see a long, shoulder-to-shoulder line of Hawklets supporters, some with painted faces, who promptly let out a war cry on the way to rushing their side of the bleachers.
“Straight out of ‘Braveheart,’ ” Logan said. “It was pretty cool.”
So was the Mustangs’ performance. In a rock-’em, sock-’em, old-fashioned Catholic school matchup, Mullen won 17-7 against the midwest power, easily the defending Colorado Class 5A champions’ most stringent test in 2009.
“It put us in a pressure situation to find out how our guys would react to it,” Logan said.
Consider the reaction positive. Mullen not only withstood a physical pounding, but gave one, too.
While it has been relatively quiet at Mullen in the first month of the season — it has beaten three Centennial League teams by a combined 122-14 and is idle this weekend — the Mustangs, top-ranked in The Denver Post/9News 5A poll, next get No. 9 Overland on Oct. 2.
Kicks.
Into eighth grade, Kip Smith’s parents, fearing injury, refused to let him play football, instead hoping he would land a soccer scholarship like his sister, Christy, who went on to Marquette.
By the time he reached Legacy, Smith was permitted to try his feet at placekicker. Inspired by former University of Colorado kicker Mason Crosby, Smith has made the most of it, as well as more than 20 career field goals (notably a 67-yarder off a free kick in Week 1 and another from 51 the past weekend).
“It’s coming together,” said the 6-foot-1, 220-pound Smith, who has committed to Minnesota and will play in the Under Armour Bowl in January.
Coach Wayne Voorhees said Smith gives his team advantages not usually seen on the prep level: “He’s such a weapon, field- position-wise . . . we feel like if we cross the 50-yard line, we have a chance to score.”
Footnotes.
Is this a great year for football names, or what?
Poudre has M Dick (yes, his first name is one letter and it’s not an abbreviation). Middle Park has — fittingly — Winter Gray. And Colorado Springs Christian has Matthew Bang. . . .
Grandview senior Chris Martin, the highly touted defensive end and out-of-state transfer who has committed to Notre Dame, is one of 30 national candidates on the watch list for U.S. Army player of the year . . .
Highlands Ranch has three sets of twins as starters: Eric and Grant Arthurs; Jared and Tyler Gomes; and Jeremy and Justin Klimczak.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
