After spending a year on the east side of Pueblo, the Cannon will once again boom black from the south side of town. Pueblo South played a controlled, disciplined game to beat rival Pueblo East 26-13 at Dutch Clark Stadium on Friday.
The win returns the cannon to Pueblo South after East claimed it in a shortened game a year ago.
Looking to turn the page, the Colts merely focused on the task at hand and coach Ryan Goddard saw the most fight from his kids than he had seen up to this point.
“It’s been 365 days and we were on the short end last year,” Goddard said. “That’s something that we take a lot of pride in with our program and our community. It was a lot of fun to be part of such a team effort.
And it was a team effort.
Caeden Herrera threw touchdown passes to Jake Pisciotta and Armando Manuel and also rushed for one. Chace Hurley also snagged a rushing touchdown in the effort.
The Cannon Game is one of two major rivalry games in Pueblo and tends to spark emotion between the two programs. The key to this year’s win for the Colts was to not let emotion play a factor. So heading into it, Goddard was focused on preaching discipline to his team.
“That’s a cornerstone of our program,” Goddard said. “Discipline and doing things the right way and handling yourself with class. When we talk about these thing and believe in these things and teach these things every single day, you don’t have to put any special focus on it this week.”
With the win, the Colts move to 42-19-1 all-time in the series with Pueblo East.
(2) Roosevelt 34, (3) Holy Family 26
A game worthy of the Game of the Week attention it got from our friends at 9News and BoCo Preps, this clash between the No. 2 and 3 teams in the Colorado Preps Select Media Poll was everything it was cracked up to be.
Bronco Hartson got the show started with a touchdown pass early in the first quarter.
Between 3A No. 2 @RHSRIDERS and No. 3 @HF_Athletics, Roughriders score 1st. A dime from @BroncoHartson. 7-0 1Q@BoCoPreps @coloradopreps
— Brent W. New (@BrentWNew) September 23, 2023
The Tigers answered right back with a long touchdown run from Dom Gabriel and that set the tone for the remainder of the night.
Holy Family took a 10-7 lead until Hartson connected on another touchdown pass to put Roosevelt back in front and the two teams traded scores one more time before halftime.
Xavier Ramirez extended the Roughriders lead to 27-17 in the third before a field goal got the Tigers back to within a touchdown. They got that score on a Rylan Cooney touchdown run, but failed to convert the extra point to pull even.
Here we go: @HF_Athletics QB @CooneyRylan runs it in but PAT is missed. 27-26 @RHSRIDERS with 10:02 remaining. https://t.co/Hir2kkHRrV
— Brent W. New (@BrentWNew) September 23, 2023
The Roughriders added another touchdown before time ran out to remain undefeated on the year and pass perhaps their toughest test of the season. They’ll open up league play next week against another top-10 program in Resurrection Christian.
Holy Family still has another non-league game and heads to Conifer next week before opening its league slate against 3A’s current No. 1 team in Lutheran.
(4A 3) Montrose 36, (3A 1) Lutheran 14
It’ll be interesting to see if voters keep Lutheran at No. 1 in 3A after the Lions had a tough road test at Montrose. The Red Hawks having seemingly faced a top team every other week in this season and they finally got the better of one.
Montrose got on the board midway through the first quarter and followed up the touchdown with a successful 2-point conversion. They never looked back.
“It was quite a night for us,” coach Brett Mertens said. “It was homecoming for us and our stadium was standing room only. It was on fire, just the whole environment.”
Blake Griffin scored four touchdowns while Aiden Grijalva scored the fifth. Alonzo Trujillo snagged an interception on Lutheran’s final drive of the game which allowed the Red Hawks to kneel on the ball and runout the clock.
Class 5A
(1) Cherry Creek 47, (7) Regis Jesuit 28
The Bruins are still the class of 5A football after dispatching another top-10 opponent on Friday. Jordan Herron rushed for three touchdowns in the first half and Cherry Creek pulled away from the Rangers in the second half.
Heading into their league opener against Cherokee Trail next week, the Bruins have outscored their opponents 200-61 this season.
(8) Fountain-Fort Carson 42, Doherty 0
The Trojans once again claim the shield as they jumped out to an early lead over the rival Spartans. With the win, this marks the third straight Shield Game that has gone to FFC.
The Spartans last won the game on Nov. 1, 2019 in a 35-28 game.
(6) Grandview 35, Pomona 14
Pomona held a 14-7 lead at halftime, but much like Fountain-Fort Carson a couple weeks ago, the Wolves battled back. Liam Szarka ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put Grandview ahead for good.
Class 4A
(2) Erie 40, (8) Windsor 8
What was a close battle in the first half turned into a track meet in the second with the Tigers leading the sprint. The big win over the Wizards
Class 3A
Lewis-Palmer 27, Falcon 7
With the game tied going into the second half, Jayden Pagano got the Rangers ahead with a 5-yard touchdown run. From there it was all LP as the Rangers improve to 4-1 on the season.
Class 2A
- (1) Delta 48, The Academy 0
- (2) TCA 44, Sand Creek 24
- (5) Berthoud 26, Lamar 0
Class 1A
- (7) Strasburg 39, Bennett 8
- (9) Gunnison 40, Coal Ridge 0
- (10) Banning Lewis 46, Rocky Ford 8
8-man
- (2) Simla 55, (10) McClave 14
6-man
- (2) Otis 56, (10) La Veta 0
- (5) Walsh 59, Kit Carson 0