Ralston Valley football dominates Grandview in early top-10 match-up at NAAC

ARVADA — Ralston Valley’s offense was highflying Thursday night in an early top-10 Class 5A football match-up against Grandview, and so was the Mustangs’ quarterback.

Senior Zeke Andrews set the tone early at the North Area Athletic Complex with a 15-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. He took a hard hit at the goal-line before doing a front-flip into the end zone.

“I tell him all the time, ‘Don’t leave your feet.’ But he is a competitor,” Ralston Valley coach Jared Yannacito said of his 2-year starting quarterback. “It’s a blessing to have that competitive spirit. I can’t pull that away.”

Ralston Valley — No. 5 in this week’s ColoradoPreps.com 5A football rankings — improved to 2-0 on the season with a convincing 42-21 win over No. 9 Grandview (1-2 record).

“I get so nervous. When he went for that dive into the end zone I came up to him and said that was the ‘stupidest thing’ he could do. We don’t want him diving,” said Ralston Valley center Austin Blattner said with a laugh. “I love his running ability. He is such an athlete out there. I love Zeke.”

Andrews guided the Mustangs to four touchdowns on their first four offensive possessions as Ralston Valley took a commanding 28-7 halftime lead over the Wolves.

The senior quarterback did it with his arm and legs in the first half. Andrews was 10-of-13 for 142 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air. He also did damage on the ground with nine carries for 62 yards, which included the flip into the end zone to push the Mustangs’ lead to 14-0 with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

“Coach (Yannacito) gets a little upset, a little scared sometimes too,” the 6-foot-6, 200-pound Andrews said of using his legs. “I’m going to keep doing it. It’s what I do.”

Junior receiver Levi Rillos opened the scoring for the Mustangs with a 32-yard touchdown catch and run on the opening drive. Junior Sawyer Bolmquist had a 2-yard touchdown run that capped off the second 80-yard scoring drive of the half to push the lead to 21-7.

Andrews hooked up with senior Brady Warren for a 10-yard touchdown with 2:17 left before halftime to make it 28-7.

“We knew the game plan was great coming in and we just executed,” said Andrews, who finished with a pair of passing and rushing touchdowns. “We were pretty happy about that.”

The Wolves had an impressive 75-yard scoring drive to open the second half, but right when it looked like Grandview would make it a game a fumbled handoff was recovered by Blattner — a two-way player at center and nose tackle — on the Mustangs’ 25-yard line.

“I just got through there and the ball was on the ground. I jumped right on top of it,” Blattner said of the key fumble recovery that prevented Grandview from making it a one-score game. “It changed the game right there.”

Andrews went to work again and capped off a 75-yard scoring drive on the Mustangs’ own with a 2-yard touchdown run to make the score 35-14 with 9:38 left in the fourth quarter.

“I was relieved,” Andrews said of Blattner’s fumble recovery. “But I was pretty confident in our offense even if they scored. We didn’t think they could stop us again.”

Warren added an interception in the fourth quarter to his earlier touchdown catch. Bolmquist scored on his second touchdown run of the game to extend the lead to 42-14 with less than five minutes to play.

“It’s a really good group of kids who are working extremely hard in the classroom with film study and then executing it on the field,” Yannacito said of his offensive unit. “They believe in each other.”

Ralston Valley is on the road the next two weeks. The Mustangs are at Mullen next Friday night before an interesting match-up against ThunderRidge on Sept. 19. Former Pomona head coach Jay Madden is in his first year at ThunderRidge, who went 0-10 last season. Madden guided ThunderRidge to a 26-6 season-opening victory against Columbine in a stunner at Jeffco Stadium a week ago.

“We are just looking to next week and Mullen right now,” Blattner said. “It’s just Mullen now. That is all we are worried about.”

The Mustangs close its non-league schedule with a home game against Valor Christian on Sept. 26.