Delta might just everything it was cracked up to be at the beginning of the season.

Two long drives were capped with Ty Reed touchdown runs as the Class 2A No. 1 Panthers put together a strong showing to get a 28-7 win over No. 6 Rifle on the road.

The Panthers will face The Academy next week in their final non-league game of the year before turning their attention to its Southwestern opponents for the remainder of the year.

And with the way Reed has the offense chugging along, the Panthers could storm their way into the state tournament as the top overall seed. He got the Panthers (4-0 overall) rolling with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Clayton Cryer and then ran for three more scores.

Rifle scored late in the game on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Logan Gross to Sterling Cook. The Bears recovered the ensuing onside kick, but couldn’t pull any closer.

This is the third win in a row for Delta in this series. The Bears last beat the Panthers back on Oct. 11, 2019 in a 47-29 game.

Delta entered the game No. 1 in the Colorado Preps Select Media Poll but No. 2 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index. The Index is what will construct the state championship bracket at the end of the regular season.

Basalt is the No. 1 team in that metric and Rifle came into the game at No. 3.

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Class 5A: (4) Columbine 31, (3) Arapahoe 29

In arguably the game of the night, Columbine booted a game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the game to edge out Arapahoe in an instant thriller.

Holding a 14-7 lead going into halftime, Columbine’s defense stood tall and kept the Warriors out of the end zone. The second half of the game turned into a story that will be told for the rest of the season. Down 28-21, Arapahoe punched one into the end zone and converted the 2-point conversion to take the lead with 1:58 to go.

But the Rebels did exactly what they needed to do to get within field goal range for Julian Ruiz who booted the game-winning kick through the uprights in the closing seconds.

“Our kids just fight,” coach Andy Lowry said on the Scoreboard Show. “We don’t have a lot of depth and our kids just work hard, believe in each other and trust each other.”

Columbine faces Fort Collins next before jumping into Jeffco League play.

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(3A 8) Thompson Valley 14, (4A 3) Loveland 0

The last time that Thompson Valley got the better of Loveland was in 2005, but that 17-game losing streak came to an end this week. The teams combined for six turnovers in the first half but it was only Thompson Valley who was able to capitalize on any mistakes.

Riley Suarez found Garet Hendrickson for a 25-yard touchdown pass to take the lead in the third and Suarez added a 1-yard touchdown run with about four minutes left in the game to keep the game out of reach for last year’s 4A runner-up.

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(2A 8) Eaton 34, Severance 33

A see-saw battle in the second half gave way to a thrilling conclusion as the three-time defending 2A champion avoided its third loss in four games to start the season.

DeAngelo Rosas got the Reds on the board with a rushing touchdown before the Silver Knights responded and took a 14-6 lead. Connor Davey then found Gunnar Duncan for a 30-yard touchdown pass to get Eaton within two point, but a failed 2-point conversion kept Severance ahead.

The two teams traded blows in the second half and the difference came on another Rosas touchdown and a successful 2-point conversation put Eaton up 34-33. Then the defense came up big as Benson Hood snagged an interception to seal the game.

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Class 1A: (8) Buena Vista 17, (6) Gunnison 6

Sophomores Hudson Wingo and Eli Schuknecht scored rushing touchdowns to help the Demons avenge a loss they felt they should have won.

The Demons now improve to 4-1 on the year ahead of a big showdown with Limon next week. Perhaps one of the best sights for coach Matt Flavin is his sophomores phasing in nicely with the rest of the roster.

“We have a pretty young group,” Flavin said on the Scoreboard Show. “We have some good senior leadership but we have a lot of sophomores playing for the first time with varsity and I feel like they’re maturing every week. They’ve surpassed my expectations so hats off to those young guys.”

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8-man: (6) West Grand 50, (9) Elbert 6

The Mustangs remain undefeated on the year after rolling by Elbert. They’re now two wins away from matching their start to the 2022 season, but hope they finish stronger after they went 1-3 in that final stretch of the year.

Despite the perfect record so far, coach Chris Brown feels like his team isn’t quite playing perfect football. He knows there are certain aspects of his players’ game that he knows can improve. The primary thing is that he would like to see fewer penalties through the course of the game. When pressed on how to fix it, he offered an old-school, but lighthearted answer.

“I guess we need to do more 100-yard bear crawls,” he told Kevin Shaffer on the Scoreboard Show.

He was still happy with the effort his guys gave him, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

“We had a total team defensive effort,” Brown said.

Considering this was the 500th game he has coached in his career, he was pleased to see the kids still get up on game day to give him the effort he asks them to give him.

6-man: Granada 42, Walsh 34

Two closely ranked teams showed that the margin of error between them is indeed razor thin. This is the second straight win for the Bobcats following their loss to Stratton and it’s a tough battle like they had against Walsh that will make them better in the long run.

“It was a grinder type of game,” coach Traegon Marquez said on the Scoreboard Show. “We had some power type of runs and they’re a physical power type of football team. I think our kids had a little bit of an edge where our kids were able to win the line of scrimmage. You don’t hear about that much in 6-man but we won that line of scrimmage.”

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Notes from around the state

Valor falls to 1-3

With a loss to Rabun Gap, Valor Christian is 1-3 through four games for just the third time in school history. The last time they only had one win through four games, they ran off 10 straight wins to claim the 4A championship.

Top 2A teams flex their muscles

No. 3 Basalt looked solid against a good Glenwood Springs team in a 30-12 win while No. 4 Elizabeth handed No. 5 University its second loss of the season.

Stratton continues dominance

Stratton started fast and left no doubt that it is still the dominant program in 6-man as it beat No. 4 Genoa-Hugo 56-13.

Ralston Valley edges Regis Jesuit

A late Logan Madden touchdown run gave No. 5 Ralston Valley a 28-21 win over No. 6 Regis Jesuit at the NAAC.

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