Ralston Valley football hands Chatfield first loss in top-10 showdown

LAKEWOOD — Ralston Valley was able to grind out a big conference opening 15-12 victory over Chatfield on Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium.

Chatfield — No. 6 in this week’s Class 5A Colorado Preps football rankings — was shutout in the second half by No. 8 Ralston Valley (5-1, 1-0 in league) as the new-look 5A Metro League kickoff of conference play.

“The kids know we don’t care if we win by a point. It doesn’t matter. There are no style points,” Ralston Valley coach Jared Yannacito said after handing the Chargers (5-1, 0-1) their first loss. “Find a way to win. Find a way to win. That is what we keep preaching.”

Ralston Valley junior quarterback Zeke Andrews found his way into the end zone for both of the Mustangs’ touchdowns on the night. Andrew’s 1-yard touchdown run with 2:39 left in the third quarter and a successful 2-point conversion run by sophomore Colton Stratman gave Mustangs the lead for good at 15-12.

“I didn’t think it would have to happen like that,” Andrews said of him scoring the Mustangs’ two touchdown with his legs. “I’m fine with it. However we get into the end zone is fine with me.”

Chatfield had two drives in the fourth quarter where the Chargers drove inside Ralston Valley’s 40-yard line, but turned the ball over on downs on both occasions.

“I can’t stress how proud I am of their second-half performance,” Yannacito said of his defense that has 10 new starters from last season. “Defense made adjustments and made the critical stops when they needed to.”

Both defenses didn’t allow any kind of big play offensively the entire night. There were just three plays from scrimmage the whole game that went over 20 yards.

The second half started with a potential bang. Andrews connected with sophomore Levi Rillos on the first play of the second half for an apparent 80-yard touchdown, but it was called back due to a holding call on the Mustangs.

“We knew they were going to play us deep and not give us the deep ball,” Andrews said. “We just had to take the underneath stuff and trust the receivers to make plays.”

Chatfield got the lone score in the first quarter. Sophomore Cash Williams scored on a 12-yard run despite taking a hard hit at the goal line with 1:52 left in the first quarter. A missed PAT kept the Chargers with a 6-0 lead.

Ralston Valley responded with an impressive 80-yard, 11-play drive that ended with its Andrews finding the end zone on a 19-yard run, giving the Mustangs a 7-6 lead.

Chatfield answered right back with a 12-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 10-yard touchdown run by senior Cory Bahl. A failed 2-point conversion left Chatfield with a 12-7 advantage going into halftime.

“We really don’t care how we get it done against a good, undefeated football team,” Yannacito said after the big league victory. “We just have to find away to get it done and the boys did that tonight.”

The new-look 5A Metro League features four Jeffco programs in Arvada West, Chatfield, Columbine and Ralston Valley, along with Denver Public School’s Denver East and Denver South. The old 5A Jeffco League was broken up with Lakewood moving to the 5A Metro North League and Pomona dropping down to 3A in the North 1 League.

“It’s awesome,” Andrews said of the new league. “We just have to respect all our opponents and that is what we are going to do. We’ll just ready for next week.”

Ralston Valley hosts Denver South (2-4, 0-1) on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada. Chatfield is back at Jeffco Stadium next week to celebrate homecoming. The Chargers face Denver East (4-1) on Friday, Oct. 11.