LAKEWOOD — The Arvada West Wildcats must be bathing in gasoline.
A week after jumping all over rival and then-No. 2 Pomona, the third-ranked ‘Cats caught fire early Friday and burned Bear Creek 49-26 in a Class 5A Big 8 League rout at Jefferson County Stadium.
Quarterback Gavin Glanz was masterful, throwing for 255 yards and three touchdowns, while running back Isaac Fairbairn ran for 147 yards — in the first half — and scored three TDs.
“It starts with the O-line, period,” Glanz said. “I think at the beginning of the year we didn’t have faith in them, but right about now we have 100 percent faith in our line. They finally got their stuff together. They didn’t know how good they could be.”
And the Wildcats (7-1, 5-1 in league) have suddenly emerged from a stacked league needing a victory over Chatfield to wrap up the league’s top postseason seed.
The Bears dropped to 3-5, 2-4.
Arvada West made the first quarter look like a PlayStation game as it did anything it wanted, and did it with style. The ‘Cats scored 29 points on 11 plays and racked up 199 yards on four possessions.
“That’s a good night,” Fairbairn said with a laugh. “I think we’re in a zone. We’re starting to come together real well, offensively (and) defensively. We’re playing for each other now.”
Fairbairn scored on a 59-yard run to light the fuse and tacked on a 63-yard screen pass and a 30-yard touchdown run 54 seconds before halftime as A-West led 39-14 at the break.
Justin Castor hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass and booted a 41-yard field goal, and running back Chris Boachie scored on a 10-yard sprint up the middle as the ‘Cats dominated the Bears on the line and with their downfield blocking.
Arvada West let up a little in the second half but still tacked on another chip-shot field goal by the Kansas- bound Castor and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Glanz to Alex Turner. The Bears, who were coming off a resounding victory over rival Columbine, were down 22-0 with 5:55 left in the first quarter.
“We came out flat,” said senior quarterback Zach Thenell, who ran for two scores and threw for 331 yards and two touchdowns to Armoni Brewington.
Running back Lukas Lockett carried the ball just three times in the second half and finished with 99 yards rushing.
