ARVADA — Call it Jordan Schlehuber: Unleashed.
The Grandview junior quarterback was relatively quiet through 3 1/2 quarters Friday, but he turned the tables with three touchdown passes in the final 5:48 to lift the 21st-seeded Wolves to an improbable 35-22 win over No. 12 Pomona in the Class 5A preliminaries.
“I was seeing their coverage well, and it was just a matter of making throws,” a modest Schlehuber said after the game at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Grandview trailed 22-14 midway through the fourth before Schlehuber went madcap, completing 10 of his final 11 throws for 171 yards, with two touchdowns to Eli Williams and another to 6-foot-6 tight end Evan Baylis.
“He played Little League with my son, and I’ve been watching him since fourth and fifth grade,” Grandview coach John Schultz said. “Jordan’s clutch in the fourth quarter.”
After the Wolves (6-4) beat the Pomona defense for two long scores in the opening five minutes — a 62-yard run by Ryan Tasker and a 50-yard run by Schlehuber — Pomona clamped down. The Panthers (6-4) tied it at 14 at the half, then used a 65-yard run by Dylan Carter on the opening play of the second half to jump ahead 22-14.
It appeared that last year’s 5A runner-up was going to move on . . . then the onslaught happened.
“They couldn’t run on us, so they had to try something new,” said Carter, who rushed for 138 yards and two TDs. “They got a few lucky passes that led to first downs, then eventually to a touchdown.”
Schlehuber (17-for-24, 229 yards) first connected with Williams for a 23-yard touchdown to cut it to 22-20 after the conversion failed. After the Wolves forced a quick punt, Schlehuber found a wide-open Baylis down the seam for a 34-yard TD, and William Hewitt’s two-point run put the Wolves up 28-22 with 3:23 left.
Then, after a Pomona fumble, Schlehuber found Williams again for a 24-yard score.
“It was a gutsy call by Coach Schultz,” Schlehuber said of the final score, which came on a fourth-down play with 1:07 left.
“We had a feeling they were expecting run, so we threw it up to our best receiver and let him make a play.”
In three of Pomona’s four losses, the Panthers have surrendered a seemingly safe lead.
“That’s when teams come back to get you — when you let your guard down,” Carter said. “Next year we’ll work on that, and it won’t be an issue.”
Grandview 14 0 0 21 — 35
Pomona 7 7 8 0 — 22
G — Tasker 62 run (E.Williams kick). G — Schlehuber 50 run (E.Williams kick). P — Carter 3 run (Carter kick). P — Allen 6 run (Carter kick). P — Carter 65 run (Ryan run). G — E. Williams 23 pass from Schlehuber (pass failed). G — Baylis 34 pass from Schlehuber (Hewitt run). G — E. Williams 24 pass from Schlehuber (E.Williams kick).
