LAKEWOOD — Arapahoe quarterback Alec Gieser admits his hands were a little shaky Friday night as he began barking the signals.
Nonetheless, Gieser delivered a pass that fans of the Warriors will be talking about for years.
Executing a play-action pass on third down, Gieser found Taylor Schmidt for a 1-yard touchdown with 25.8 seconds remaining, capping a late comeback that lifted the Warriors to a 35-31 victory against Class 5A No. 4 Bear Creek in a Big 6 Conference showdown Friday at Jeffco Stadium.
“I was nervous. I was shaking,” Gieser said. “In the end though, it worked out. We’re a whole different team this year, and we proved that tonight.”
It was a back-and-forth affair even before Bear Creek running back Rajee Randolph gave the Bears a seemingly comfortable 31-21 lead on a 35-yard touchdown run with 9:23 remaining.
Things looked even worse for Arapahoe when they lost the ball on a fumble moments later, but after forcing a Bear Creek punt, the Warriors stormed back. Aided by a roughing the passer penalty on fourth down, Gieser found tight end Will Ratterman for a 39-yard gain to set up a 1-yard sneak by Gieser that trimmed Bear Creek’s lead to 31-28 with 3:19 remaining.
Arapahoe’s ensuing onsides kick went out of bounds, but an injury suffered by Randolph on first down proved costly to Bear Creek. With their best runner on the sideline, Bears quarterback Sean Flanagan threw incomplete on second down, stopping the clock. Lining up in a shotgun formation on third down, the snap sailed over Flanagan’s head and was recovered by Arapahoe linebacker Tyler Utsler at the 13-yard line with 2:36 remaining.
After moving inside the 5-yard line, Gieser was stopped on another sneak attempt on second down, and Arapahoe called its final timeout. Figuring they had time to set up a field goal, or perhaps even run another play, Warriors coach Mike Campbell opted to throw the ball.
“I told (Gieser) very specifically, ‘You don’t like it, throw it out the back of the end zone,’ ” Campbell said. “If you run it there and don’t get it, man, you’re trying to scurry your field goal team on. I think we made the right decision, obviously. To come here and get this win is huge for our program. They’ve been in these situations before, and they know how to respond.”
Arapahoe 0 14 7 14 — 35
Bear Creek 6 3 15 7—31
BC: Flanagan 47 run (kick failed); BC: Dalton 31 FG; A: Schmidt 6 run (Semin kick); A: Lindell 1 run (Semin kick); BC: Anna 10 pass from Flanagan (Burns pass from Flanagan); A: Ratterman 72 pass from Gieser (Semin kick); BC: Dalton 22 pass from Flanagan (Dalton kick); BC: Randolph 35 run (Dalton kick); A: Gieser 1 run (Semin kick); A: Schmidt 1 pass from Gieser (Semin kick).
Rushing
A: Lindell 30-98, Schmidt 2-12, Carrethers 1-5, Gieser 9-(-2); BC: Flanagan 7-92, Randolph 17-66.
Passing
A: Gieser 18-31-1 256; BC: Flanagan 14-29-0 210.
Receiving
A: Ratterman 9-185, Lindell 4-27, Schmidt 3-25, Escue 1-15, Bechler 1-4; BC: Anna 6-70, Dalton 3-73, Burns 4-56, Greenwood 1-11.
