BOULDER — It has taken 16 new starters. A defensive coordinator who didn’t come on board until late July. An extra game. And just about every second of the regular season.
But here are the Fairview Knights, entering the Class 5A football playoffs undefeated.
“We did believe in ourselves,” coach Tom McCartney said in recalling his team’s first preseason practice.
The Knights (9-0) have won 18 consecutive regular-season games. They needed a two-point conversion with 15 seconds to play last week to edge Legacy to end the regular season and capture the Front Range League championship.
Last year, they were 8-0 when entering the postseason, top- seeded and made it all the way to the championship game before getting pummeled by Valor Christian.
Their performance in completing consecutive perfect regular seasons leads to two questions as the postseason begins.
Can Fairview win a championship that has eluded them since 1987, and do it with virtually a new cast?
And can the Knights become one of the few teams not from the parochial and Centennial and Jefferson County league ranks that have dominated big-school championships for the past 34 years?
McCartney said leadership and effort have made a difference for this year’s Knights, as well as having Johnny Feauto at quarterback. (He played in the secondary in 2013.)
“Surprised? We definitely had goals and believed in our guys,” McCartney said. “But we knew we had something special with Johnny at quarterback.”
Feauto has completed 66 percent of his passes for 2,901 yards, 31 touchdowns and only five interceptions.
Fairview has scored 40 or more points seven times. Jason Harvey has contributed 730 yards rushing. Tim Ryan has 62 catches for 972 yards. Steve D’Epagnier and Carlo Kemp have been two of the state’s better two-way players and leaders.
If it sounds like the Knights have been here before, they have.
“We’re working hard in practice and the weight room, and constantly taking repetitions,” Ryan said. “We knew this could happen. We’re not surprised. We’re just looking to turn it up for the playoffs. We saw the bracket, and we’ll be playing some good teams.”
Despite joining Grandview and Ralston Valley as the only undefeated teams, the Knights earned a No. 2 seed. They will open at home Friday against Castle View, from Castle Rock, and are opposite Denver East and Overland in the quadrant.
“We knew we would be a target, and the kids have handled it,” McCartney said.
As for winning another championship, the Knights would join Douglas County (2005) and Ponderosa (2003) as the only programs not with Centennial, Jeffco or parochial ties to win the big-school championship since Denver’s Thomas Jefferson in 1989.
Can the Knights or someone like them still do it?
“Sure, they can,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “I just think you never know. It’s as wide open as it has been since before Mullen had its three-year run (from 2008-10). There are probably eight legitimate teams out there that can win it.
“You have to get some lucky breaks. But it could happen, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”
Ryan agreed, saying: “Yeah, I mean, we believe we have a chance. We just need to play and practice, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
McCartney, who led the Knights to consecutive finals showings in the early 2000s — one team based on rushing, the other pass-happy — points back to the days of Knights coach Sam Pagano, who oversaw three titles based out of the Centennial.
“He put Fairview on the map with Cherry Creek as the major rival,” McCartney said of the father of NFL coaches Chuck Pagano and John Pagano. “You set your goals very, very high and that’s what you want, getting back to (Sports Authority Field at Mile High), to get back there.
“Absolutely, it’s possible.”
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
Join the club
Over the past 24 seasons, only Douglas County (2005) and Ponderosa (2003) have won the state’s big-school championship without ties to the Centennial League, Cherry Creek and Jefferson County districts or parochial. Here are the year-by-year winners:
1990-91: Cherry Creek
1992: Boulder
1993: Overland
1994-96: Cherry Creek
1997: Arvada West
1998: Mullen
1999-2000: Columbine
2001: Chatfield
2002: Columbine
2003: Ponderosa
2004: Mullen
2005: Douglas County
2006: Columbine
2007: Grandview
2008-10: Mullen
2011: Columbine
2012-13: Valor Christian
