HIGHLANDS RANCH — Isaac Archuleta had his first punt blocked and it led to Mountain Vista quickly falling behind by 10 points.
No problem.
Archuleta didn’t blink and was one of several Golden Eagles who turned in their best games Saturday night as Mountain Vista regrouped and used a late surge to blast district rival Douglas County 40-20 at Shea Stadium in the Class 5A Southern League.
“Everyone just had that mentality that we were just going to go get them,” Archuleta said.
And get the Huskies they did — in improving to 3-2 league and overall, Mountain Vista had been run over by big plays and lacking on offense. But call it a reversal, as the Golden Eagles generated quick strikes, machine-like drives and appeared well-oiled on offense.
“The kids did some real good things offensively, just real methodical,” Golden Eagles coach Ric Cash said. “Our offensive had definitely been kind of under the gun.”
But not on Saturday. Archuleta ran for 94 yards and a touchdown and passed for two others. Fullback Jesse Geary had a big night running inside on the Huskies with 166 yards and three touchdowns, and caught another from Archuleta. Douglas County fell to 2-3 after winning two consecutive games.
Clarence Graham contributed 77 yards on the ground, and the Mountain Vista defense, the Golden Eagles’ strongest point heading into the key stretch of the season, turned in big hits and kept Douglas County from any kind of rhythm or rally.
Chief again among Golden Eagles disrupters was linebacker Brian Caggiano, who was better than a guard dog and led another crisp, all-around effort.
“We’re putting together a team mentality and a better confidence level, and that’s huge because it keeps our defense off the field,” Cash said.
Said Archuleta: “We just needed to execute. We’ve been able to bounce back all year. We’ll be fine.”
On the other side, Douglas County was poised to run away and hide early, but came unglued in multiple areas.
“Call it night and day, yin and yang,” said Huskies coach Jeff Ketron, whose team also failed on a key fourth-down attempt and seemed to deflate after a penalty late in the first half. “I need to do a better job of teaching them.
“(The Golden Eagles) did a good job of executing on offense. We’re young, but we’ll be all right.”
Douglas County 13 0 0 7 — 20
Mountain Vista 6 7 7 20 — 40
DC — Safety, Joy blocked punt out of end zone. DC — Malouf 6 run (Malouf run). MV — Wiscombe 20 pass from Archuleta (kick failed). DC — FG Moon 32. MV — Geary 1 run (Rightmire kick). MV — Geary 13 pass from Archuleta (Rightmire kick). MV — Geary 10 run (kick blocked). MV — Archuleta 5 run (Rightmire kick). DC — Hall 6 pass from Belk (Moon kick). MV — Geary 19 run (Rightmire kick).
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
