AURORA — It was one of those Friday nights when 3 yards was starting to look like a big play. Then Bobby Toliver grabbed the ball — and a Cherokee Trail win — out of midair.
Toliver’s acrobatic third-quarter reception was good for 49 yards. On the next play, quarterback Thomas Singleton plunged in from 1 yard to finally break a scoreless tie. It boosted sixth-seeded Cherokee Trail to a 14-2 win against No. 3 Ralston Valley in the Class 5A quarterfinals at Legacy Stadium.
“It was a great grab,” said Singleton, the Cougars’ quarterback, who scored both touchdowns and rushed for 101 yards. “I threw it up and gave him a chance, but it was underthrown. He saved me on that, because it should have been a pick.”
Toliver caught the ball near the 25, then spun off a defender and darted toward the goal line.
“I saw the guy coming, but I jumped up and grabbed it even though I knew I was going to get hit,” Toliver said. “It didn’t matter, because I knew it could have been the season right there.”
In winning its ninth in a row, the Cougars (10-1) put and end to Ralston Valley’s undefeated campaign and earned a berth in the semifinals against Regis Jesuit. Singleton scored his second TD on a 23-yard run early in the fourth quarter to put Cherokee Trail up 14-0 — it was one of only three plays of longer than 12 yards for the Cougars — and the defense made it stand up.
In fact, the only thing preventing the Cougars’ “D” from earning its fifth shutout of the season was the decision to have punter Jordan Smith take a safety with less than two minutes to play to avoid a blocked punt. Ralston Valley (10-1) had advanced to the Cougars’ 3 but was stuffed on four running plays.
“I don’t know what it was, but we didn’t play to our full potential,” Mustangs running back Reilly Hauptman said. “We started off kind of slow and didn’t get off the ball that well.”
Ralston Valley was effective with the pass — quarterback Nathaniel Wiemers completed all 12 of his attempts before a spike to stop the clock — but the run-oriented Mustangs might have waited too long to resort to the passing game. They punted on their first six possessions, then turned the ball over on downs and fumbled on their final two.
“The only way we can win is with our defense,” Singleton said. “They set the tone.”
