LAFAYETTE — Greeley West ran into an ornery Monarch on Saturday afternoon.
It was as if one of the Seven Dwarfs was unleashing his wrath.
“(The Spartans) caught us grumpy,” Coyotes coach Phil Bravo said of his team’s thorough 42-14 Class 4A nonleague victory at Warrior Field. “We were desperate and had a sense of urgency we haven’t felt in this program in a long time.”
It was interesting — Bravo, who instituted the program in 1998, and Monarch were coming off a 42-19 whipping at the hands of rival Broomfield. The Coyotes had been The Denver Post/9News preseason 4A No. 1. Then Greeley West, which was the 2008 state runner-up and made the quarterfinals a year ago, moved into the top spot and suffered its first regular-season loss to a 4A foe since 2007.
“We came out, played well, very pleased with the effort,” Bravo said.
Chief in the pleasing department was senior Ryan Muller, who was a force at linebacker and scored four rushing touchdowns. He ran off four straight scores of 7, 1, 61 and 5 yards. His 61-yarder was notable in that it was on fourth-and-1. He somehow managed to pinch himself through a Spartans defense that was cheating toward the line of scrimmage.
“Last week’s loss was really tough on us,” Muller said. “In practice, the whole time it was just nonstop preparing for this game; we were definitely a lot more into it.
“On that long run, it was all the line. Give it to them. I was able to get free.”
Muller’s first touchdown broke a 7-7 tie. His second capped a late first-half drive that led to some breathing room — he carried six consecutive times — and his third all but put it out of reach for Greeley West.
Of the Monarch offensive front, linemen Corbin Feenstra, Connor Fitzgerald, Michael Hattel, Andrew Richtsmeier and Joe Tyo and tight end Joe Kawoluk helped pave the way to 439 yards rushing.
Of course, in Monarch’s double- wing approach, passing usually is irrelevant, and it was — the Coyotes misfired on all three attempts.
As for Greeley West, which also was outhit, veteran coach Mark Roggy knew that playing catch-up against a ball-control rushing team isn’t the way to go. In fact, it was just the opposite of what he wanted.
“Hey, (the Coyotes) are a good football team, and today they played a lot better than we did,” Roggy said. “Kudos for Monarch. Their kids came out and played more physical than we did.
“We’re going to find out what we’re made of.”
Greeley West 7 0 0 7 — 14
Monarch 7 14 14 7 — 42
M — Blazon 4 run (Falloon kick). GW — Schmitt 26 pass from Gallatin (Buchanan kick). M — Muller 7 run (Falloon kick). M — Muller 1 run (Falloon kick). M — Muller 61 run (Falloon kick). M — Muller 5 run (Falloon kick). M — Meschke 4 run (Falloon kick). GW — Eddy 11 run (Buchanan kick).
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
