Columbine football runs past Rock Canyon to open up new 5A Southwest Metro League play

LAKEWOOD — Four rushing touchdowns in the opening half powered Columbine to a Class 5A/4A Southwest Metro League opener win Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium.

“It is amazing,” Columbine senior Lijah Viapando said of the 42-point win in front of the Rebels’ large homecoming crowd.

The Rebels (3-1, 1-0 in league) grabbed their third straight win with a 51-9 victory over winless Rock Canyon (0-4, 0-1)

Junior Tavis McCatty had touchdown runs of 15 and 69 yards on the first quarter. Viapando capped off an 11-play, 80-yard touchdown drive with a 6-yard touchdown.

Columbine senior quarterback Lucas Gonzales capped off the scoring in the first half with a 51-yard touchdown run to give the Rebels a commanding 30-9 lead over Rock Canyon at the break.

“This was a pretty great night,” Gonzales said of his rushing touchdown and passing touchdown to senior Conan Williams in the second half go along with being crowned homecoming king. “We had a long time leading up to this game with the bye week. We put in the work in every day. Will do still have little things we have to fix.”

Rock Canyon’s lone touchdown in the opening half was a 43-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Sully Alexander to senior Avery Vasquez on the opening drive of the game to put the Jaguars up 7-0.

“I made a big mistake and let my guy get by me,” Gonzales said, who had coverage on Vasquez. “I knew I had to keep focused and not let one single play determine the entire game.”

Junior Colby Martinez opened up the second half with an 85-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter to give the Rebels a 37-9 lead. The 31-yard touchdown pass from Gonzales to Williams put Columbine up 44-9.

Senior Manny Casas made it a running clock late in the third quarter with a short touchdown run to push the lead to 51-9.

Despite the win, Columbine coach Andy Lowry did have some concerns.

“As a team we were really undisciplined as a team tonight,” Lowry said. “Penalties and stupid stuff. Getting through homecoming and getting back to practice on Monday is important for us.”

Columbine suffered a close 21-20 road loss to Fort Collins on Zero Week, but bounced back with a solid 21-13 victory over Mullen on Aug. 28. The Rebels headed to Hawaii for a non-league game against Kalani in Honolulu. Columbine made it a success business trip with a dominating 52-7 victory.

The Rebels has a bye last week to recover from any jet lag.

“To beat the people in our league we are going to have to play a lot better,” Lowry said of conference play starting up.

The newly formed 5A Southwest Metro League features four Jeffco programs (Arvada West, Chatfield, Columbine and Ralston Valley), along with three Douglas County teams (Rock Canyon, ThunderRidge and Mountain Vista).

Columbine faces rival Chatfield (1-3, 1-0) next week at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at Jeffco Stadium. The Chargers grabbed their first win of the season with a solid 36-15 victory at the North Area Athletic Complex against Arvada West (0-4, 0-1). Chatfield will be celebrating homecoming in the rivalry game next Friday night.

“That is the biggest game of the entire year,” Gonzales said of the cross-town rivalry game against Chatfield.

While Columbine will drop down to 4A for the postseason, Lowry clearing isn’t looking ahead.

“We haven’t even thought about 4A yet,” Lowry said of Columbine moving to the 4A state tournament at the end of the regular season. “We have such a gauntlet ahead of us now. Chatfield next week is what we’ve got.”

Despite the 3-game winning streak, the players know the bar is set high for any Columbine football team.

“I wouldn’t say we are happy. We know we can do better,” Viapando said of the 3-1 start. “We defintely want to do better.”