LAKEWOOD — There hasn’t been a more dominating high school football team in the state this season than Green Mountain.
The Rams finished off an undefeated 10-0 regular season with a decisive 69-0 win over Skyview on Thursday night at Trailblazer Stadium. Green Mountain finished the regular season outscoring opponents 493 to 30.
“It feels great. We worked really hard for it,” Green Mountain senior quarterback Blake Weslin said. “We are just ready to get into playoffs now and get rolling.”
Green Mountain rolled to its second straight Class 3A Mountain Metro League title. The Rams had three straight shutout wins against Wheat Ridge, Littleton and Skyview to close out league play.
Photo by Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Public Schools
“Our focus since the beginning of the season was to get one-day better,” Green Mountain senior Austin Beeson said. “Even if we don’t have the toughest schedule we are focusing on getting better every day in practice. We are taking every opportunity to get better.”
The most impressive win so far this season was actually Week 1. The Rams shut out Golden in a non-league game. The Demons (8-2, 3-1 in 4A Mountain West League) are the No. 9 seed in the 24-team 4A state tournament.
Green Mountain finished the regular season with six shutout wins and only allowed one team — Conifer — double-digit points. The Rams (10-0, 5-0) induced a running clock in all five conference games.
There was no difference Thursday night against Skyview. A 5-yard touchdown run by sophomore Wyatt Christian with 6 minutes to play in the second quarter pushed the Rams’ lead to 42-0.
“I was really proud tonight because we’ve been preaching about being a connected team,” Green Mountain coach Jesse German said. “This is a connected team. We are trying to get everything fine-tuned, avoid any kind of compliancy and keep playing to a higher level.”
Green Mountain jumped out to a 21-0 lead less than four minutes into the game. Senior Dalton Poulignot had a 38-yard touchdown run and then a 38-yard touchdown catch thrown from Weslin in the first three offensive plays from scrimmage by the Rams.
“We love to start fast and let teams know this is how we are going to play all night,” Weslin said.
The Rams’ aggressive defense got in to the scoring act with senior George Soppe intercepting Skyview quarterback Bryson Gutierrez and returning it for a touchdown to push the lead to 21-0 with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
Senior Max Choboian had a 15-yard touchdown run and Weslin scored on a 9-yard touchdown run with 9:26 left in the second quarter. Beeson picked off Gutierrez to set up another short field for the Rams that ended in the touchdown run by Christian.
“We know what we are capable of. We are only really focused on ourselves,” Beeson said. “At the end of the day we are focused on us.”
Beeson was focused on the end zone on the opening kickoff to start the second half. The senior went untouched for a 95-yard touchdown that took 15 seconds to start the third quarter to make the score 49-0.
“It is special for all of us seniors because we’ve been playing together since we were in the 2nd or 3rd grade,” Beeson said of the season. “We are taking the advantage of all of us being healthy and taking the opportunity of being together for one last time. We aren’t guaranteed anything.”
Sophomore Corbin Wade, along with junior Hudson Burke and senior Ryan Bourne each had touchdown runs to give the Rams the most points — 69 — scored in a game so far this season.
Green Mountain is on a 20-game regular season winning streak heading into the 16-team 3A state tournament that begins next week. The Rams moved up to No. 1, ahead of Holy Family (9-1), in the CHSAANow.com Selection and Seeding Index after the victory.
The Rams are almost a lock to be the top seed and host each round before the 3A state championship game in Pueblo on Dec. 2. Green Mountain will likely host a first-round game Friday or Saturday next week at Trailblazer Stadium.
“There is nothing we want to do more than play in front of our fans here in our home stadiums (Trailblazer and Jeffco),” German said. “It is a huge advantage for us in terms of travel and familiarity. These guys love playing in our stadiums. They get amped up for it.”
Green Mountain is also fired up to get to the championship game after losing to eventual state champion Roosevelt in the semifinals last year.
“I think this team is really mature in the fact that we don’t have to worry about them peaking too early,” German said of his large senior class that was honored before the game Thursday night. “They are very hungry. Most were on that team last year.”
CHSAA is scheduled to release the brackets for the 3A state tournament on Sunday, Nov. 5.
