The Denver Post Prep staff looks at Saturday’s football playoffs:
Andrew Loudenback threw four touchdown passes Saturday as Chaparral crushed Fruita Monument in the preliminaries 48-14.
Chris Page added 128 yards rushing for the Wolverines (8-2), who next face Palmer. Fruita Monument ended 4-6.
Elsewhere, Arapahoe scored six consecutive touchdowns in easily handling South 56-28. Alec Gieser threw for three touchdowns.
And Grand Junction became the first Western Slope program to win a 5A postseason game since the classification format switch in 1994. The Tigers whipped Northglenn 63-26.
Class 1A preliminaries
Top-seeded Wray opened the first round with a 42-0 thumping of visiting Rocky Ford.
The Eagles (10-0) will highlight quite the road show in the quarterfinals. They’ll travel 347 miles to Hayden, which beat Monte Vista 48-21.
Paonia (5-5), which beat Rye 48-24, will have Limon make a 316-mile trip for the next round.
Hotchkiss waxed Lutheran (Parker) 47-8 and will hit the road for 263 miles to next play at Lyons.
Here’s the nearest one — Burlington, which handled Wiggins 49-0, will be at Byers, a 45-12 winner over John Mall, in a 122-mile jaunt.
Class A 8-man quarterfinals
Top-seeded Caliche moved to 9-1 as the Buffaloes ripped Kiowa 57-6.
Bigger news is that defending champion Merino, which beat La Veta 61-6, will meet Dayspring Christian, which had to work to slip by Cheyenne Wells 30-26, in next weekend’s semifinals. The two programs have decided the last three titles.
Elbert (a 32-27 winner over Springfield), Norwood (downed Sanford 54-18) and Walsh (58-15 over Sedgwick County) were other winners.
Class A 6-man quarterfinals
The Idalia juggernaut continues.
The defending champion Wolves (10-0), who have won 23 games in a row, blasted Cotopaxi 80-31.
Landon Shaffer threw three touchdowns and five other Wolves rushed for scores, including two each by Will Helling and Tylur Wade.
Next up: Otis in the semifinals. The Bulldogs were able to outlast Bethune 42-41.
The other two quarterfinals were one-sided — Eads had little trouble with Deer Trail, winning 66-18, and Fleming crushed Hi-Plains 52-0.
