Pomona rushes into 3A football quarters with win over Conifer

ARVADA — Pomona’s rushing attack eventually turned out the lights on a gritty Conifer squad in the opening round of the Class 3A football state tournament.

The No. 3-seeded Panthers were able shake off the No. 14 Lobos to take a 49-28 victory Saturday night at the North Area Athletic Complex to open Pomona’s first playoff run since 2021.

“They are a tough team. They run the spread (offense) really well,” Pomona coach Nate Johnson said of Conifer. “They are a very good competitive team. We just took care of business when it mattered and we are moving on.”

No. 6 Windsor is next up for Pomona. The Wizards shut out No. 11 Mountain View 36-0 earlier on the day Saturday to advance to the 3A quarterfinals next week.

“Twenty-four hour rule,” Pomona junior quarterback Emmit Munson said after he helped guide Pomona to five rushing touchdowns by three different Panthers. “We’ll enjoy this win for 24 hours and then get back to the drawing board. We’ll be ready for Windsor. It will be an exciting one.”

Windsor (10-1 record) is one of the hottest team in 3A with a 10-game winning streak. The Wizards lost to Green Mountain in their season opener, but have rebounded nicely.

“This has been a long run,” Johnson said of the Panthers winning just three games the last two years in 5A. “We are still getting them to believe in tight situations … that we can go finish games. We are just excited to get after Windsor next week. We got to get healthy and a couple of things right.”

The Panthers (8-3) were coming off a regular-season finale loss to top-seeded Thompson Valley last week that cost Pomona the 3A North 1 League title. The undefeated Eagles grabbed a 16-7 victory over the Panthers last week to end Pomona’s 5-game winning streak.

Conifer (7-4) punched its ticket to the 16-team 3A state tournament with a 28-16 victory over rival Evergreen in the Mountain Bowl last Saturday night at Trailblazer Stadium. The Lobos won 5-of-6 games under first-year coach Matt Steinfeldt to close out the regular season to advance to the postseason for the first time since 2019.

Pomona struck early in the first quarter against the Lobos. Munson’s quick out pass to junior Sebastian Reyes turned into a 57-yard touchdown catch and run on the opening drive of the game. Munson then did it himself with a 67-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter to open up a 13-0 lead.

“On offense we knew we would be fine,” Munson said. “We knew we could keep scoring. The main thing was keeping calm and composed.”

The Panthers needed to keep their cool after Conifer senior quarterback Benson White got going. White threw a pair of long touchdown passes to junior Solomon Washer to cut Pomona’s lead to 21-14 early in the second quarter.

Pomona junior running back Ethan Vu had a key play as the Lobos started to rally. Vu converted on a 4th-and-1, taking it for a 47-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 28-14 with 7:46 left before halftime as the points pilled up.

“I was thinking I just needed to power through and get the first down,” Vu said of his 4th-down run that went the distance. “I saw the opening I just took my opportunity.”

It was the second touchdown of the game for Vu in the first half as he got more carries than normal due to some injuries and illness the Panthers had to deal with this week.

“As a team we just keep on trying new things,” Vu said. “We locked in and became a nice working machine.”

White threw his third touchdown of the night on the only drive of the second half to make it a 1-score game. However, Pomona didn’t panic. The Panthers had their best drive of the night with a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive capped off with a 12-yard touchdown run by senior Izaya Hawkins.

“We are pretty versatile with who we can give the ball in space, where that be between the tackles or on our sweeps,” Johnson said. “With (Conifer’s) fronts we thought we could run on them. When push comes to shove we just have to go back to our bread and butter, get the ball to our playmakers.”

White had a 21-yard touchdown run for the Lobos early in the fourth quarter for Conifer’s final touchdown. The Panthers were able to intercept White twice in the final minutes, including a pick-6 by junior Jaydon Molina in the final minute.

“It’s feels amazing, just amazing,”Vu said about the home playoff win. “After last week’s (loss to Thompson Valley) everyone went back to work on Monday. We just wanted to get this W.”

It was Pomona’s first playoff win since 2021.

“It feels good, but the job isn’t finished until we get that state title,” Munson said.