LITTLETON — The Arapahoe student section was hitting the Heritage student section with the “LITTLE SISTER” chant all game Friday night at Littleton Public Schools Stadium in the latest rendition of the Battle for the Brookridge trophy.
And after a closely contested first half, Arapahoe’s tight defense and acquisition of game-changing turnovers enabled the chant to stick, as the Class 5A Warriors defeated 4A Heritage 28-13 for their third straight win over their crosstown rival and seventh victory in the last eight Milk Jug games.
“We left a lot of points out here tonight, and they probably think the same thing,” Arapahoe coach Mike Campbell said. “But the difference was they had a couple deep drives where we got picks in the red zone, and we were able to get the running game going when we needed it in the second half as our defense settled in on the other side of the ball.”
Senior quarterback Joe Weigang threw a 55-yard pass to senior wideout Josh Martin on the Eagles’ first play from scrimmage to put Heritage in the red zone, but Arapahoe junior free safety Cade Segura came up with an interception in the end zone a few plays later to eliminate the early scoring threat.
Arapahoe also had its chances during a first quarter in which each defense continually answered the bell.
A promising first drive following Segura’s interception featured several third-down conversions before the Warriors sputtered out near the 50-yard line. Later in the first quarter, junior quarterback Kevin Lukasiewicz drove Arapahoe down the field but senior Nathaniel Rapue’s field-goal attempt of 42 yards was wide left.
The game remained scoreless late into the second quarter, when Heritage was again knocking on the door of a touchdown only to be stymied by another timely Arapahoe interception by junior Bobby Baltzer at the goal line.
“That was huge,” Campbell said. “They were about to take control of the game, and our defense made a clutch play.”
On the next drive, Arapahoe marched the length of the field and, set up by a 45-yard scamper by senior Matt Phelan, scored the game’s first points with a 5-yard Alex Smith touchdown run to give the Warriors a 7-0 advantage with 1:29 to play in the first half.
“We made some adjustments before that drive on the sideline with our schemes based off what Heritage was doing,” Kevin Lukasiewicz said. “We cleaned up our counters and zones, and those little tweaks made a huge difference to finally get us the lead.”
The Eagles then responded with a scoring drive of their own, nickel-and-diming down the field with efficiency to set up a 32-yard field goal from Christiano Palazzo that made it 7-3 heading into halftime.
The Warriors regained momentum in the third quarter. Arapahoe stalled on its first drive of the second half, but a muffed punt by Heritage senior returner Tyler Zoesch set up the Warriors for a 20-yard Phelan touchdown run the next play to give them a 14-3 advantage.
Heritage fumbled the ball away inside its red zone on its next possession. But Arapahoe couldn’t capitalize as Rapue missed his second field-goal attempt of the game, this time from 26 yards.
The next series, Heritage responded with the biggest offensive play of the night as Weigand’s 72-yard touchdown run fired up the Eagles’ fans and cut their deficit to 14-10. But Arapahoe struck back with another score on the next drive, Phelen’s second rushing touchdown giving Arapahoe a 21-10 lead with 4:05 left in the third quarter as the Warriors’ ‘Swarm’ defense started having its way.
“We had as many defensive penalties as I’ve seen in a long time — including a lot of 15-yarders that we’ll take a look at on film — but we were playing hard, playing aggressive and we were finishing to the ball,” Campbell said. “That was the point of emphasis this week from last week’s loss, so I’m pleased with that.”
Palazzo’s 30-yard field goal with a few ticks left in the third quarter made it 21-13, but the Warriors cracked down on defense in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Smith’s 8-yard touchdown run, his second of the night, iced the game late in the fourth quarter over an Eagles team that is down, but not out.
“That’s a tough loss to a good football team, but we’re not going anywhere — that’s a 5A football team and we play a 4A schedule from this point out,” Heritage coach Tyler Knoblock said. “Our longest winning streak since I’ve been here came after an 0-2 start, so I believe in our staff and our players that we’ll be okay in the long run.”
Arapahoe (1-1) hosts No. 4 Cherry Creek next Saturday, while Heritage (0-2) hosts Brighton on Thursday.
