ENGLEWOOD — When a coach has a running back like Tyler Jackson, who rushed for 2,072 yards and 27 touchdowns during the regular season, he needs to feed him the ball.
Kent Denver coach Scott Yates stuck to that script, especially with Saturday’s first-round 2A state playoff game against Erie in the balance.
In the game-clinching, nine-minute drive, Jackson carried the ball 11 times for 57 yards, his last touch a 4-yard touchdown run to secure a 20-7 victory.
“It was a great feeling,” Jackson said. “We knew that if we could go down and score again and close it out that we’d have a huge deal. We knew what we had to do, and today we just came out on top.”
While Jackson was slicing his way through the Tigers’ defense for 236 yards rushing, it was Kent Denver’s defense that gave him the opportunity to send the Sun Devils on to next week’s quarterfinals against defending state champion Olathe (11-0), a 52-7 winner over Salida on Saturday.
Kent Denver (9-2) forced three turnovers, including an Alex Ortega fumble that jump-started the Sun Devils’ backbreaking drive. Not only that, but Kent Denver kept the Tigers, the 2A state runner-up last year, out of the end zone in the first quarter after Levi Hammett’s 49-yard run set up an Erie first-and-goal at the 6. Four more plays netted only 4 yards, with Ortega being stopped on fourth down from the 3.
Then Chase Badzik’s interception of Erie quarterback Kallston Ortega with 1:29 left in the first half set up Kent Denver at the Tigers’ 17. Three plays later, Jackson scored from 2 yards to give the Sun Devils a 13-7 halftime lead.
Kent Denver appeared ready to add to its lead in the third, but Jackson was stopped for a 6-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the 3. On Erie’s ensuing drive, Kent Denver defensive back Richard Yates, who missed most of the regular season recovering from knee surgery, forced the Ortega fumble, which Jacques Bristow recovered at the Sun Devils’ 26.
Erie (8-3) tied the game at 7-7 on a Billy Ilko TD, but it couldn’t overcome Jackson or the three turnovers.
“It’s kind of hard to have a ball-control offense when you’re putting the ball on the ground,” Erie coach Larry Gartrell said. “They did exactly what we needed to do. They had the ball for nine minutes. You can’t score if you don’t have the ball.”
Erie 0 7 0 0 — 7
Kent Denver 0 13 0 7 — 20
KD — Bristow 34 pass from Florence (Brugioni kick). E — Ilko 7 run (Ilko kick). KD — Jackson 2 run (kick blocked). KD — Jackson 4 run (Brugioni kick).
