Welcome to another edition of the Colorado Prep Football Rewind as we recap a Week 5 that had more than a few notable moments as the season’s mid-point approaches.
Here’s a rundown of some of the biggest stories, highlights and tidbits from across the state, including Palmer Ridge getting tested, signs of something building in Aurora and the growing legend of Sam Beers.
Find all the scores here on The Post’s prep football scoreboard.
Bear down
Through the first 12 quarters of Class 3A No. 1 Palmer Ridge’s season, the Bears had given up just eight points.
Then came Friday night’s trip to third-ranked Pueblo South, where the Colts scored 13 less than 15 minutes into the game to race out to a 13-3 lead.
Finally, some stress for head coach Tom Pulford’s squad. His Bears handled it just fine.
A little more than two quarters and three Raef Ruel touchdown runs later, they were back in control and on their way to a 24-19 win.
“We’re interested in how our kids respond to adversity and tonight was a good taste of it,” Pulford told .
“Pueblo South is extremely well-coached. … They had a great game plan for us and we were fortunate we could make some adjustments and put our kids in position to win.”
The Bears can expect even more adversity next week when they host 4A No. 1 Pine Creek (3-1), a team they’ll see a lot of in the future after they move up a classification.
“We’re just going to to look at film from tonight,” . “We’ll take a look at Pine Creek after that.”
Blazing a new trail at Overland
Don’t look now, but DaVaughn Thornton’s Overland Trailblazers might be building something.
A year after winning just one game, the Trailblazers have won three in a row under their new head coach after beating a banged up Fountain-Fort Carson squad 29-21 Friday in Fountain, .
Thornton, a former CU tight end, vowed during the preseason that, “we want to dominate.”
While that might be a difficult proposition once 5A Metro League play begins next week against Cherry Creek (5-0), Thornton’s Trailblazers (3-2) at least appear to be laying some serious groundwork in his first season at the helm.
Even with star Fountain-Fort Carson running back Q Jones out with a leg injury, the Trailblazers were impressive in jumping out to a 21-0 lead late in the first half.
Jaheim Roper had a pair of rushing touchdowns, and quarterback Mark Thrower added two touchdown passes, the last a 20-yarder to Jawan Lacour for a 29-7 third-quarter advantage. Camwrin Harris’ interception on Fountain-Fort Carson’s final drive sealed things late.
Saturday showdowns
If you like to reserve your Saturdays for college football, maybe consider taking a week off.
There’s plenty of prep action to wet your gridiron whistle, not the least of which is a 1-vs-2 clash in Class 1A between unbeatens Strasburg and Limon.
A little closer to the I-25 corridor, Smoky Hill (4-0) takes on Far Northeast (3-1) at 1 p.m. at Evie Dennis Stadium in a game that could very well decide the 5A Metro 10 League title. At the same time, Castle View (4-0) faces Legend (4-0) at EchoPark Stadium in a battle of emerging 5A powers.
Bon-appetit.
4th-and-10
10 things that turned heads on Thursday and Friday nights…
+ 5A No. 1 Columbine (5-0) remained unbeaten after traveling across the plains and beating Olathe North 24-21 on its own turf. North is the second-ranked team in Kansas’ largest classification.
+ Does anyone have a chance against Pine Creek in Class 4A? The top-ranked Eagles (3-1) cruised past 4A No. 3 Pueblo West 41-13 in Pueblo. Pine Creek RB David Moore III ran in four first-half TDs as the Eagles scored on their first seven possessions in a nice rebound win following last week’s 24-14 loss to 5A power Valor Christian.
+ Eaglecrest continues to play with fire. A week after rallying from 17 points down to beat Legacy 27-24, the Raptors were once again behind the eight ball Friday night, trailing Arvada West 23-14 late in the second quarter. Langston Williams came up with a pair of big plays — a pick-6 and blocked punt scoop-and-score — to put Eaglecrest back on top. And Max Marsh added a pair of second-half rushing TDs as the Raptors (5-0) surged ahead for a 55-30 win. Next up: A date with fellow 5A unbeaten Grandview (5-0), a 42-12 winner over Mullen, on Thursday.
+ Whoever put together Highlands Ranch’s non-conference schedule must be a masochist. After five weeks, the Falcons have played five ranked teams. After five weeks, the Falcons have lost to five ranked teams. This time, it was 5A No. 9 Pomona (2-3) who took down the Falcons 30-20 at Shea Stadium. The others to hand Highlands Ranch an L: No. 1 Columbine, No. 4 Grandview, No. 6 Regis Jesuit (5-0) and No. 7 Eaglecrest.
+ Chatfield still hasn’t lost to a team from Colorado this season. The 4A No. 6 Chargers outlasted Greeley West 21-15 on Thursday night to move to 4-1. Their lone loss came against a team from Florida.
+ All hail Sam Beers, who can’t stop serving up touchdowns. The Air Academy freshman followed up last week’s seven-touchdown performance with on Friday.
+ The Dakota Ridge defense came to play Friday night in Parker, holding No. 7 Ponderosa to just one score in a 20-6 win at EchoPark Stadium.
+ In a classic directional Denver matchup, North took down West 28-6. The 3A Vikings are 4-1 midway through their schedule with a trip to Holy Family (2-2) coming up next. The Tigers scored a .
+ Upset of the night: Unranked Lamar knocked off the 2A No. 7 Alamosa Mean Moose 48-25.
+ Lamar’s win one of only two unranked-over-ranked victories Thursday or Friday. The other: Mountain View over 4A No. 10 Silver Creek.
Number of the night — 30
According to Skyline coach Mike Silva, the Friday night, 34-0, with running back Michael McKrola running for 107 yards and his first career touchdown.
