ARVADA — Conditions were deplorable.
Colorado’s legendary wind near the foothills was roaring like weekend traffic on I-70. Every pass, punt and kick proved to be an adventure. Most anyone with a hat either had to chase it or put it in a pocket just like the game officials, who also kept the ball between their feet between downs so as not to lose the line of scrimmage.
“Perfect day for a game,” Ralston Valley coach Matt Loyd deadpanned.
However, for all of the substantial gusts that made watching miserable and playing challenging, it came down to a basic play: a form tackle.
Trae Russell buried Fountain-Fort Carson’s Trae Bankston at midfield in the final minutes Saturday to preserve Ralston Valley’s 14-12 victory at the North Area Athletic Complex in Class 5A’s second round.
The Mustangs will take a 10-1 record into next weekend’s quarterfinal matchup against Grandview at Legacy Stadium in Aurora. The Mustangs have won 21 of 23 games since moving to 5A and undoubtedly could have flown into the next round if they had decent kites.
“We couldn’t do much,” Loyd said as both teams had to live offensively on the ground.
But Russell did. With Fountain-Fort Carson, which ended 8-3, driving and facing fourth-and-1 at the 50-yard line with 4:02 to play, Bankston ran right, only to have Russell meet him head- on, lift him and plant him like a shrub for no gain.
“I didn’t know it was coming my way,” said Russell, a senior linebacker. “But I just did my job and did my responsibility. . . . I just ran straight through him.”
The Mustangs took over, ran off three minutes and kept the Trojans from making any kind of final move.
The game’s flow, hindered by the wind, basically was Ralston Valley settling for a few yards per play and clouds of wind-aided dust. Behind a line that kept working, Reilly Hauptman (129 yards rushing and a touchdown), and Jake DeGrace (104 yards) kept the chains moving. Colton Loyd added a 10-yard scoring throw to Jakob Buys.
Conversely, the Trojans, bottled up for most of the game, relied on bigger, speedier plays, and they got two of them on touchdown runs by Anthony Davis (46 yards) and Bankston (57), but they botched both conversions.
Coach Mitch Johnson acknowledged that his Trojans had ample chances, “and that’s what playoff football is — stepping up, making plays.”
Fountain-Fort Carson 0 0 6 6 — 12
Ralston Valley 0 7 7 0 — 14
RV — Hauptman 1 run (Root kick). FFC — An. Davis 46 run (kick blocked). RV — Buys 10 pass from Loyd (Root kick). FFC — Bankston 57 run (run failed).
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
