LAKEWOOD — Pomona coach Jay Madden looked more spent than his players following a 34-26 victory Friday night over Bear Creek at Jefferson County Stadium.
“It’s never easy playing Bear Creek,” Madden said. “There’s no relaxing. In fact, they love to play from behind. That way they can just wing it.”
The Panthers, ranked fourth in The Denver Post/9News Class 5A poll, withstood a 356-yard passing night by Bear Creek quarterback Zach Thenell that included 232 yards in receptions by senior wideout Armoni Brewington, who caught three touchdown passes.
But Pomona had a hot quarterback of its own. Senior Nathan Grimes connected on 12-of-14 passes for 271 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed nine times for 50 yards and a TD.
Pomona (4-0) never trailed.
“We practiced really hard all week, and we were ready,” Grimes said.
Leading 14-6 at halftime, Pomona took the second-half kickoff and came out firing. Grimes completed passes on the first four plays of the drive, moving the chains 57 yards before many fans had returned to their seats.
The 10-play, 84-yard drive finished with Grimes running from 9 yards on a naked bootleg around the right side.
Pomona then took advantage of a botched handoff by Bear Creek and converted the turnover into another touchdown. Senior tailback Tyler Pace did the honors with a 19-yard gallop off right tackle to give the Panthers a 27-6 lead.
But Bear Creek (1-3), ranked 10th in the 5A poll despite its losing record, wasn’t about to go away. Stunning touchdown passes of 69 and 34 yards from Thenell to Brewington pulled the Bears to 27-18. But Pomona did exactly what it had to do. The Panthers burned the clock with a long drive, and Pace put the game out of reach with a 6-yard scoring run.
Bear Creek’s high-powered offense managed just one touchdown in the first half. Two other long drives by the Bears that moved inside Pomona’s 10-yard line failed to produce points.
A first-quarter march ended when Thenell threw an interception in the end zone. A long drive in the second quarter bogged down in the red zone when a holding penalty proved costly. Bear Creek sophomore Nick Dalton tried a 43-yard field goal, but it fell well short.
The Panthers won last year’s meeting 41-31, knocking Bear Creek off the top spot in the Class 5A poll. This time, Pomona ruined Bear Creek’s homecoming.
“We play in the toughest 5A division (Big 8),” Grimes said, “so we just have to take one game at a time.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
