LAKEWOOD — It was a successful homecoming for Forge Christian head football coach Dan Shaffer on Thursday at Trailblazer Stadium.

The Green Mountain High School graduate who was key during the Rams’ run to the Class 4A state championship in 1999. Shaffer went on to play football at the Air Force Academy and was an assistant coach at Chatfield prior to taking over the football program at Forge Christian a year ago.

“It feels good and it cool to be back here,” said Shaffer, who played several games at Trailblazer Stadium as a Ram. “We were talking about playing in the blizzard in 1998. Playing in a playoff game when I coached at Chatfield here in the playoffs. I’ll always remember Jeffco with fond memories.”

Another good memory came with Forge taking a 49-0 victory over D’Evelyn in the first game of a doubleheader at Trailblazer Stadium on Thursday.

Fury running back Raleigh Cleveland had a trio of touchdown run in the first half and a touchdown grab in the third quarter in the shutout victory that ended a 2-game losing streak for Forge (4-2 record, 1-1 in Class 2A Metro League)

Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools

“We had to win this game after the past two weeks with losses to Eaton and Elizabeth,” Cleveland said. “It was kind of get-back game to get us back on track.”

After punts on their first two possessions, Cleveland broke off a 24-yard run and then senior D’Angelo Marin had a 19-yard run to put the Fury on D’Evelyn’s 3-yard line. Cleveland ended the 3-play drive with a 3-yard touchdown to start the scoring.

“Our goal is always to run downhill and be physical,” Cleveland said. “We tried the pass, sometimes stuff goes certain ways. The run really worked today.”

Cleveland had a touchdown runs of 14 and 34 yards in the second quarter. Quarterback Hayden Hall also had a 9-yard touchdown run to give Forge a 28-0 lead at halftime.

“It felt good to come out and execute like we think we know how to do,” Shaffer said after the victory ended a 2-game losing streak for the Fury. “It is a long season. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint. We have big challenges ahead of us.”

Forge will celebrate homecoming next week and have a tough test against The Classical Academy (6-0, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 9.

“They (TCA) is a great team and a good benchmark for us,” Shaffer said. “We knew moving up to 2A and a new league would present some challenges.”

D’Evelyn (3-3, 0-2) also came in on a 2-game winning streak. The Jaguars suffered a close 1-point loss to Sterling and then a hard 56-0 road loss against The Classical Academy in Colorado Springs last week.

The Jaguars hit the road next Friday night as they travel to Strasburg.

Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools