Our look at the 4A football schedule this week includes five games where both teams involved won conference openers last week.  The best of the bunch may be the Jeffco contest between Golden and Chatfield as both enter the game with five game winning streaks.  Another features defending state champion Loveland who has picked up three consecutive wins.
 

Top Five

Golden (5-1) at Chatfield (5-1)
A couple of teams with nearly identical seasons as both teams dropped openers to out of state teams and haven’t lost since.  The Demons fell to a Minnesota club has since reeled off five straight victories including close wins over Mountain View (22-20) and Denver South (21-20).  Chatfield came up short in Florida but has since won their last five including narrow wins over Rampart (35-26), Fruita Monument (22-21) and Greeley West (21-15).
With 1,009 yards passing and 954 on the ground, Golden features a very balanced offensive attack.  That balance has carried through to scoring with 10 TD’s rushing and 12 passing.  Joey Mancuso has thrown for 984 yards and 12 scores against just two interceptions.  Matt Elliott, with 370 yards and 4 TD’s, paces a ground game that also features two other backs with at least 200 yards.  Kevin Mulligan has 20 catches for 270 yards with eight TD’s.
Chatfield can also move the football in both manners.  Matt Canino has 742 yards passing for six touchdowns with a top target in Darren Nickels.  He has 22 catches for 269 yards and three scores.  Malcolm Boyd is the top rusher with 504 yards and five TD’s.
On defense, the Chargers have forced 12 turnovers including two interceptions and two fumble recoveries from Shane Compton.  Colin Simcox (54) and Landon Phalen (53) are the top tacklers.  Golden has three players with two interceptions including Dylan Maddox who has also deflected four other passes.  Campbell Thompson has 49 tackles and Carter Thompson 45.
Loveland (4-2) at Fort Collins (2-4)
The defending champs are starting to play good football as they’ve posted three straight wins since the loss to Ralston Valley.  They’re coming off a 28-7 win over Monarch in the league opener where they ran for 313 yards including 147 from QB Zack Ratowsky.  He also threw for 31 yards and sits just two yards shy of 11-hundred yards of total offense on the season.
Ian Loomis (16) and Jadyn Tafoya (10) combined for 26 tackles as they limited Monarch to just 3.4 yards per carry and 98 for the game.
With two overtime losses, Fort Collins’ 2-4 mark could easily be reversed.  They opened league play by thrashing Greeley Central 45-6.  Hayden Iverson had a huge game as the QB ran for 134 and threw for 152.  He was involved in four TD’s overall.
Ponderosa (3-3) at Gateway (2-4)
The overall records are not glittering but both teams opened conference play with wins and they sit tied with Montrose atop the Metro standings.  Ponderosa led Denver South just 3-0 at halftime but used a strong second half in beating the Rebels 29-15 last week.  It was their second straight win.  Gateway snapped a three-game slide by hammering Aurora Central 51-0.
Calvin Silvius and Ben Breecher topped the Pondo defense with 14 tackles apiece and the offense got a big effort from QB Jack Hanenberg.  He tossed two touchdown passes and finished with 135 yards passing.  He also added two TD’s on the ground and picked up 83 of the team’s 248 yards.  Mikee Barber led the running game overall with 98 yards.
This game starts a brutal three-game stretch for the Olympians as they meet Montrose and Heritage next.  QB Erick Covington combined for five touchdowns and 247 yards of offense in last week’s win.  The defense recorded four sacks and forced two turnovers.
Mesa Ridge (4-2) at Pine Creek (5-1)
The records are close but Pine Creek remains heavily favored as they’ve scored more wins than the fourth teams that Mesa Ridge has beaten this year.  The Grizzlies have moved past Coronado, Widefield, Palmer, and Canon City who have a combined record of 3-21 this year.  Losses are against Vista Peak (40-20) and Pueblo West (40-0).
Kyle Gaster and Elijah Ross must play for Mesa Ridge to stay in this one.  Gaster has thrown for 701 yards and eight TD’s against just two interceptoins.  Ross has scored six times and leads the ground game with 322 yards.
The Grizzlies defense will likely get an early dose of David Moore.  He’s averaging 220 yards per game on the ground and has scored 17 touchdowns.  He needs just 152 yards this week to reach 6,500 for his career.
Pine Creek is second in RPI and trail first place Montrose by just .033.  Making that ground up may be difficult as the Eagles may drop a bit with their conference schedule.  The last three games are against Palmer, Grand Junction Central and Vista Ridge who have a combined record of 5-13.
Standley Lake (2-4) at Hinkley (5-1)
It will be interesting to see how Hinkley responds from their first loss of the season.  They lost a battle of unbeatens with Vista Peak (27-21) last week and now sit 0-1 in league play.  The T-Birds though remain 9th in the RPI standings and are still in the running to host a first round playoff game.
Standley Lake opened the conference with a 25-0 shutout of Thornton.  The win ended a four-game slide that included quality losses to Broomfield, Golden and Green Mountain.  They’ve been over 186 yards rushing in each of the last three games and may try to exploit a Hinkley defense that gave up 283 yards on the ground to Vista Peak last week.  Kevin Starns leads the Gators with 338 yards and two touchdowns.
Hinkley also looks to cut down of turnovers as they lost four to Vista Peak.  Xavier Starks threw for two touchdowns but also lost two fumbles and threw an interception.
 

Others to Watch

Dakota Ridge (5-1) at Grand Junction (3-3)
The Eagles need a win to keep pace with the Chatfield-Golden winner in the Jeffco.  They responded well to a tough 48-27 loss to Vista Peak by blanking Bear Creek 35-0 last week.  They held Bear Creek to just 39 yards on 23 carries and will again face a run-dominated attack.  Grand Junction ran for 260 yards in their 42-20 loss to Golden including 144 yards and three scores from Carson Loveridge.  The defense though allowed 471 yards of offense in the loss.
Longmont (4-2) at Windsor (1-5)
This should be a much better game than the records indicate as the Wizards could be the best 1-5 team in the class.  They led #2 Broomfield much of the game last week before the Eagles scored a fourth quarter TD to survive 20-16.  Still the loss dropped Windsor to 36th in RPI so they may have to win out the rest of the way to have any post-season chances.  Longmont sophomore QB Keagan Patterson had the best game of his young career has threw for 300 yards and ran for 100 in the win over Greeley West.  He was involved in three TD’s overall as the Trojans tallied 18 second quarter points and 13 in the fourth.
Skyline (4-2) at Monarch (2-4)
The Falcons joined Fort Collins and Loveland as week one winners in the Longs Peak so they need a win here to stay tied with that winner in first place.  They’re playing good football as their 52-8 blowout of Silver Creek was their third straight win.  They generated 467 yards of offense including 201 yards and 3 TD’s through the air from Chase Silva.  Mike McKroal (87) and Finn Torello (83) were also effective in the running game.  Monarch must rebound from the 28-7 loss to Loveland.  They’ve dropped three of four and now sit 24th in RPI.  They face a defense that gave up just 19 yards rushing and 91 passing to Silver Creek.