Chatfield football plows past Rock Canyon in playoff opener

LAKEWOOD — Chatfield football piled up the points Saturday night at Trailblazer Stadium.

The No. 10-seeded Chargers (8-3 record) advanced to the second round of the Class 5A state tournament with a 36-9 victory over No. 23 Rock Canyon (4-7).

“It was an interesting week with the snow, (practices) indoors and outdoors,” Chatfield coach Kris Rosholt said of the Class 5A playoff opener that was eventually shifted to a 3:30 p.m. start Saturday due to the 3-day snowstorm that blanketed much of Colorado. “There was a lot of adversity. I’m proud of the flexibility that our boys had to show. They came ready to play and we executed at a high level early.”

Plenty of Chargers got into the scoring action. Sophomore quarterback Cash Williams threw a pair of touchdown passes. Seniors Hunter Balderston, Jude Smith and Brock Narva all had rushing touchdowns to open up a 36-2 lead late in the third quarter.

Chatfield’s defense was stellar. Rock Canyon’s lone touchdown came on a 90-yard touchdown run by senior Tyler Meyer early in the fourth quarter to end 29 unanswered points by the Chargers.

“We came out here hungry after last week where it didn’t go our way,” Chatfield senior linebacker Caleb Espinosa said referring to the Chargers’ 42-13 loss to rival Columbine in Chatfield’s regular-season finale. “We were full of energy tonight and just dominated.”

No. 7 Fairview (10-0) is next up for Chatfield. The undefeated Knights got a first-round bye with the top-8 seed.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Espinosa said of facing the Knights. “I think if we keep our heads up and go in there knowing we can win it. If we play with a chip on our shoulder we’ll get the job done.”

Fairview suffered a first-round exit last playoff season losing at home to Fountain-Fort Carson, but have rebounded being one of only two undefeated 5A teams heading into the postseason.

“Historically (Fairview) has been an Air-Raid team, but I think as they have been more successful the last five to eight years, but you can’t always throw the ball in Colorado during the playoffs,” Rosholt said. “I think they tried to switch their identity a little bit to run the football. They are more balanced than they ever have been before. We’ll be up to the task.”

Fairview sophomore quarterback Ki Ellison had thrown for over 2,000 yards, but the Knights also have over 2,000 yards on the ground. Senior Jordan Rechel has led Fairview’s rushing attack with over 700 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns on the ground.

Chatfield wrote a Cinderella story into the 5A semifinals last season. The Chargers were the No. 14 seed a year ago, but scored upsets over No. 3 Arapahoe and No. 11 Grandview before having their run ended in the semis with a loss to rival and eventual state champion, Columbine.

“The special part about last year’s team is they just had a will and desire to win that no one could take from them,” Rosholt said. “This crew has it too. We are about to see it during playoffs. We have a really good senior class that is going to show what we are capable of.”

Espinosa believes last year’s semifinal loss to Columbine is a huge motivating factor heading to Boulder next week attempting to start another playoff run.

“The team last year kind of showed us the way,” Williams said as the Chargers prepare to go on the road, likely for the remainder of the postseason.