LONGMONT — Sean Blackmer doesn’t do it all for Greeley West, but he does a lot. So when the senior quarterback was knocked out of Thursday night’s game against Longmont, the top-ranked Spartans were forced to turn to fellow senior Jordan Gomez.
No problem.
Gomez threw for two touchdowns and had the help of running back Steffen Bunting’s 184 yards and four scores as the Class 4A top-ranked Spartans rallied past the No. 8 Trojans 48-24 at Everly-Montgomery Field.
Despite just six previous pass attempts, Gomez finished 15-of-19 for 211 yards. And having a running back like Bunting didn’t hurt, either.
“It’s too easy. I give him all the credit,” Gomez said of the senior tailback.
The fact that Gomez played as well as he did wasn’t a shock to head coach Mark Roggy.
“Jordan is a very accomplished quarterback in his own right,” Roggy said. “I think he showed tonight what he’s capable of doing.”
Blackmer, who had thrown 13 TDs against just two interceptions, injured his left knee after a 9-yard scramble midway through the second quarter.
After the game, Roggy wasn’t sure of Blackmer’s prognosis.
Ranked No. 1 all season in The Denver Post/9 News poll, Greeley West took its first lead late in the first half on Gomez’s 27-yard pass play to Jordan Rockwell for a 20-17 lead. The Spartans (8-0, 6-0 Northern Conference) never trailed again.
Bunting scored on runs of 11 and 14 yards in the third quarter, and Greeley West outscored the Trojans 28-7 in the second half. Bunting, who came into the game with 1,112 rushing yards, ran 27 times for his 184 yards, and Greeley West rolled up 509 total yards of offense.
“We had some good adjustments made at halftime, both on offense and defense,” Roggy said. “We’re a team that’s played in a lot of big games and has a lot of experience. I think they can play real big in big games like this.”
Longmont (6-2, 5-2) was looking for a share of first place in the conference and seemed to be in position after quarterback Jake Johnson scored on runs of 21 and 3 yards in the first quarter for a 14-7 lead. But the Trojans, despite a third rushing TD from their senior quarterback, didn’t have an answer for Greeley West’s high- powered offense.
Said Longmont head coach Doug Johnson: “A couple of offensive series we had a bad play call or a missed executed play, it cost us a drive and it just snowballed on us.”
Greeley West 7 13 14 14 — 48
Longmont 14 3 7 0 — 24
L — Johnson 21 run (Cinea kick). GW — Bunting 2 run (Olivas kick). L — Johnson 3 run (Cinea kick). GW — FG Olivas 27. GW — FG Olivas 24. L — FG Cinea 49. GW — Rockwell 27 pass from Gomez (Olivas kick). GW — Bunting 11 run (Olivas kick). GW — Bunting 14 run (Olivas kick). L — Johnson 54 run (Cinea kick). GW — Bunting 3 run (Olivas kick). GW — Rockwell 17 pass from Gomez (Olivas kick).
