GREELEY — Dayspring Christian sophomore Ben Sanderford will never forget his 16th birthday.
Not for the simple fact that he joins the ranks of the driving, but more for his 242 yards rushing and four touchdowns on his big day Saturday at Brinkman Field in the Eagles’ 41-35 victory against Plains League rival and defending Class A 8-man champion Merino.
The final 51 yards came with three seconds left on the clock, when Sanderford took a simple toss sweep all the way on fourth-and-2.
“It wasn’t anything special, just ’37 sweep’ outside. I was just trying to get the first down; I really wasn’t trying to score,” said Sanderford, who opened the scoring with a 25-yard defensive strip of Merino’s Ty Lebsock on the second play of the game. “It wasn’t designed to make a touchdown, but it worked out that way.”
The score capped off a brilliant fourth-quarter comeback for No. 2 Dayspring (4-0 overall, 1-0 league), which trailed the top-ranked Rams (3-1, 0-1) 35-21 with 12 minutes to play.
“Let’s be honest: When you’re down 14 points to the No. 1 team in the state, it looks bleak and it looks like there’s no hope,” said an emotional Dayspring coach Mick Holmes. “I’ve never seen that before in my entire life of coaching that spans 39 years.”
Merino, which played Dayspring in each of the last two state title games, built its lead after halftime behind the powerful running of Tuff Gibson. The bulldozing senior rushed for 137 yards and scored twice in the third quarter on runs of 2 and 41 yards.
Dayspring never panicked and went on a 13-play, 66-yard drive to start the fourth that was capped off by quarterback Eli Miller’s 1-yard keeper.
Then Miller tied the game with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Luke Figgs on Dayspring’s ensuing drive.
Merino had a chance to take the lead on its last drive, but Cody Propst’s 23-yard field-goal attempt lacked the height to clear the crossbar, setting up the Eagles’ game-winning drive.
“We tried a lot of things and wanted to see how they work,” first-year Merino coach Marlan Tramp said. “Some things worked very well, and we now know we have some things we need to work on.”
Merino 7 13 15 0 — 35
Dayspring Christian 6 15 0 20 — 41
DC — Sanderford 25 fumble return (kick failed). M — Propst 20 pass from Jole (Propst kick). DC — Sanderford 35 run (Sanderford kick). M — Gibson 2 run (Propst kick). DC — Sanderford 9 run (Miller pass from Morgan). M — Lebsock 19 run (run failed). M — Gibson 2 run (Jole run). M — Gibson 41 run (Propst kick). DC — Miller 1 run (Sanderford kick). DC — Figgs 15 pass from Miller (Sanderford kick). DC — Sanderford 51 run (kick failed).
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com
