Football roundup: Mountain Vista gets statement win over Valor Christian

Dating back to 2008, it’s hard to find a Colorado team that had a better showing against Valor Christian than the one Mountain Vista had on Friday.

Quarterback Austyn Modrzewski picked the Eagles secondary apart, giving the Golden Eagles an early lead that they rode to a 62-21 win. This was an historical result in so many ways. It was the first win over Valor in program history for Mountain Vista and it is the most points Valor surrendered to an in-state opponent since Aug. 29, 2008 when D’Evelyn scored 56.

Vista put together a sound offensive game plan with a good balance between the ground and air attack that kept Valor off balance.

“We hear the noise that we can’t do anything but throw the football,” coach Garrett Looney told Kevin Shaffer on the Scoreboard Show. “Our kids took that personal and we were going to run it. We kept them off balance by throwing in a lot of screens and short passes then throwing over the top when we needed to.”

Mountain Vista has been sitting at No. 2 in the Colorado Preps football rankings and a dominant win over No. 4 Valor might be enough to push the Golden Eagles over the top of Cherry Creek.

“I’ll let you guys figure that out,” Looney said with a laugh.

Up next for Mountain Vista is a home game against ThunderRidge. Valor will look to rebound when it hosts Castle View on Friday.

(6) Basalt topples (2) Delta in key 2A matchup

Basalt may have taken a big step in establishing itself as one of the top dogs in 2A. Up 16-14 at halftime, the Longhorns wore down the defending 2A champions and got a 30-14 road win against Delta.

“We started to grind down on them a bit with the ground game,” coach Carl Frerichs said on the Scoreboard Show. “The offensive line played great and our defense didn’t give up any big plays.”

Heading into the game, Basalt’s ground game was well-known as Will Daniel rushed for 137 yards per game heading into Week 6.

This is the first loss to a 2A team for Delta. The other loss on their record was their opener against 3A’s Palisade.

Mead starts trick or treating early

Twenty-seven days was too long of a wait for Mead. The Mavericks threw some trickery into their game plan as a halfback-option pass from Noah Vroman to Josh Gonsalves resulted in a game-winning score. A little trick ended with a big treat in the form of a 22-15 win over Holy Family.

Mead (5-0 overall) remains one of the two unbeaten teams in the 3A top five with Thompson Valley being the other.

Top-end 4A teams leaving everyone guessing

Montrose looks dominant. Dakota Ridge can go toe to toe with anyone. Pueblo West is a legit No. 1.

That’s about the best way to sum up the top half of the teams ranked in the 4A football poll. Pueblo West and Montrose were big winners over Doherty and Falcon, respectively and Dakota Ridge thumped an always competitive Ponderosa team 36-7.

With the first week of league play nearly complete, there are legitimately six 4A teams that could be classified as championship contenders. Three of them play in the same league.

Everything will eventually work itself out, but the 4A field of teams is tough, physical and could provide the most entertainment state-wide.

Notes:

• • Rumors of Eaton’s demise have been greatly exaggerated as the Red beat No. 3 University 14-7.
  • 3A No. 1 Lutheran edged No. 9 Green Mountain 21-19. Deacon Downing scored the touchdown to make it 21-12, putting the game out of reach for the Rams.
  • The top four teams in the 8-man rankings won their games by a combined score of 251-6. Haxtun beat Merino 70-6, Byers shutout South Park 78-0, McClave rolled over Swink 55-0 and Mancos thumped Dove Creek 48-0.