Mike Griebel’s nerves remain intact.
Heritage’s football coach, who went for a two-point conversion in overtime Saturday against Monarch in a Class 4A semifinal to try to win the game instead of kicking an extra point, would do it again.
“Absolutely,” Griebel said Monday at Invesco Field at Mile High.
With his team trailing 35-28 at Littleton Public Schools Stadium, the Eagles got a 10-yard touchdown run by Josh Meyers to close within 35-34. Initially, Griebel was going to have his team kick the extra point, but he called time out and changed his mind. He calculated that trading overtime scores with Monarch, a run-oriented team that used four overtimes the previous week to defeat Loveland 38-31, would be to the Coyotes’ advantage.
So, quarterback Mitch Griebel threw a fade route to receiver Shane Opitz for the 36-35 victory, sending the Eagles to their first championship game. They play Longmont at 11 a.m. Saturday in Invesco Field.
“I didn’t want to give Coach (Phil) Bravo the ball back,” the elder Griebel said. “It was the right thing to do. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down in flames.”
Turning point.
After getting drubbed by Greeley West, the 2008 state runner-up, in Week 8, Longmont has turned into the offensive firepower their coach, Doug Johnson, envisioned. The Trojans, who started slowly, were whipped 48-24 by the Spartans.
“You either get better or get worse,” Johnson said. They got better. The Trojans have scored 189 points in their past five games.
Footnotes.
Pomona coach Jay Madden leads his team against Mullen in the Class 5A final. He coached the Mustangs in 2001 and 2002. . . . Longmont is in the championship game for the first time since winning three consecutive championships from 1989-91. . . . It will be the fifth final for Mullen since Dave Logan took over as coach in 2003. . . . Said Pomona offensive tackle Chris Stefo, “Mullen is a great team, but I don’t think they’ve faced anyone like us.” . . . Heritage is 21-3 since dropping to 4A but will return to 5A in 2010. . . . It’s the fifth Championship Saturday at Invesco. The 3A (Steamboat Springs versus Valor Christian) and 2A (Kent Denver against Faith Christian) finals are in their second year with Aurora’s Legacy Stadium as host. . . . Logan, a former receiver with Cleveland and Denver, on high school kids playing at an NFL venue: “Not only will they always remember it, but when you run on the field of an NFL stadium, there’s some juice to it.”
Neil H. Devlin, The Denver Post
