Green Mountain football clinches a conference 3-peat

LAKEWOOD — Green Mountain football pulled off a pair of trifectas Friday night at Trailblazer Stadium.

The Rams — No. 9 in the Class 3A Colorado Preps Football Rankings — took a 56-34 victory over Conifer to give Green Mountain its third straight conference title.

“This is awesome. We’ve had the mindset on the 3-peat the whole year,” Green Mountain senior quarterback Simon Lunsford said. “It is great to come out here and execute. Conifer is a great team. They were our hardest opponent in league.”

Green Mountain (6-3, 4-0 in 3A West Metro League) captured the conference title a week before its league finale against Skyview. The Rams close out its regular season against Skyview at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, back at Trailblazer Stadium.

Skyview (3-6, 0-4) is on a 6-game losing streak. The Rams can pretty much wrap up a top-8 seed for the 16-team state tournament and host a first-round game in a couple of weeks if Green Mountain takes care of business against Skyview.

“These guys deserve this,” Green Mountain first-year coach Anthony Rankin said of the third straight league title for the Rams. “These players and coaches have worked so hard. The Green Mountain community has been great and been so supportive.”

The second trifecta was the individual accomplishments by senior Demetreus Padilla. The running back had a rushing, receiving and passing touchdown in the fourth straight victory for Green Mountain.

“This one means a lot,” Padilla said of the touchdown run, catch and pass. “My grandmother just went into the hospital and into hospice care this week. This week was really hard. Everything that I did on the field tonight was for her.”

Green Mountain pulled out a trick play the night after Halloween with a halfback pass that ended in Padilla throwing a 76-yard touchdown pass to senior Dax Gomez on the final play of the first quarter to give the Rams a 14-7 lead.

A 1-yard touchdown run by Padilla pushed Green Mountain’s lead to 28-14 midway through the second quarter. The senior finished the trio with a 21-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter.

Green Mountain put up a season-high 56 points, which included scoring touchdowns to end both the first and second quarters.

“Those were insane,” Lunsford said of the two scoring plays with no time left on the clock. “The Hail Mary was crazy. I couldn’t believe it.”

Lunsford finished the first half with a 40-yard touchdown pass to junior Drew Contreras to give the Rams a 35-14 lead at halftime. Lunsford admitted the Hail Mary pass was intended for Padilla, but Contreras moved toward the ball in the end zone and used his 6-foot frame to come down with the ball.

Green Mountain’s senior quarterback finished with three touchdown passes and also had a 10-yard touchdown run.

“We’ve got to keep this going,” Lunsford said of the 4-game winning streak. “We started out a little slow. We have to keep this rolling. We’ll get a good opponent in the playoffs, hopefully at home. Home field advantage is something you definitely can’t lose on.”

Conifer hosts the annual Mountain Bowl against rival Evergreen at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8. The Lobos were No. 14 in the CHSAA Selection & Seeding Index before the start of games Friday night. Conifer has a good chance to make the 16-team 3A state field with a win next week over the Cougars.