AKRON — While the line to unseat Akron isn’t getting any shorter, the Rams’ latest streak is only getting longer.
Behind yet another stellar, all-around performance Friday night, Akron outlasted Limon, its main nemesis in one of Colorado’s storied runs, 31-14 in The Denver Post game of the week that had more top hits than the Rolling Stones.
After all of the head-banging, shoulder-pad-popping and muscle-aching collisions, Akron’s Class 1A nonleague victory pushed the top-ranked team in The Denver Post/9News poll to 4-0 in 2009 and 43-0 since the beginning of 2006. The three-time defending state champion Rams have the fourth-longest winning streak in state history.
They also have the fifth-longest (38 games, from 2001-03), but the only run of note they’re interested in is going 1-0 in the next game.
“I guess if you can live to see the next day, you get a chance to improve,” Rams coach Brian Christen-sen said. “Every week, everyone’s out to get you. The thing we keep telling the kids is that the past happened, it’s over, so we have to worry about right now.”
And right now the Rams are the story in in-state play, even if they refuse to dwell on it.
Senior Byron Guy, symbolic of a do-everything, work-hard Akron team — he intercepted two passes, scored a touchdown, and kicked a field goal and four extra points.
“The coaches tell us what to do, then we go out and execute,” Guy said. “It’s not the streak. We’re 4-0 right now.”
And cruising — Akron, which next gets Holyoke to open the North Central League, has been challenged through 2009’s first month. Weld Central, which fell 30-22, and Burlington, which was nipped 24-21, didn’t go easily and certainly had their chances.
So did second-ranked Limon (3-1), which ended Akron’s 38-game run from 2001-03, then went on a 50-game roll from 2003-06, tops in state history.
“We’ve been tested,” Christensen said.
Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer, who runs the program that leads Colorado with 17 football championships, said he was “tickled” with Friday’s effort from his Badgers, and can see “that (the Rams) do the things that will get you on the road to winning that many games.”
One is not blinking early. Limon led 7-3, but the Rams were patient and ground out yardage and clock with their single-wing offense. They also never got flat on defense.
Another is create turnovers. Check. The Rams managed five, including four interceptions of Badgers top-flight quarterback Matt Brown.
“Our kids played their butts off, but you can’t make that many mistakes against that kind of football team,” O’Dwyer said.
Still another is leadership — Guy’s all-around effort was backed by Kendall Monasmith, who was relentless on defense. He returned the second-half kickoff 71 yards for a touchdown to give the Rams breathing room at 17-7 and earlier scored to give the Rams their first lead on a 14-yard scoring run 1:37 before halftime.
Brown and brother Jason Brown each had big, two-way games — such is frequently the case in Colorado small schools — but the Rams’ offensive line and ball protection also loomed large. And while their defense has yet to approach the high-end group of the past two seasons, it has been there when needed.
“If we start worrying about a streak, our mind gets off what we want to do,” Christensen said. “And then we take on a whole lot of pressure.”
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
