COLORADO SPRINGS – There has been no shortage of ways that Montrose has won football games during the 2024 season. While running a notoriously run-heavy scheme, Elijah Womack has put together stellar performances to lead the Red Hawks to wins.

When teams turn their focus to him, Aidan Grijalva has been happy to provide the spark. But in a 32-28 win over Mesa Ridge on Friday night at CA Foster Stadium, it was all about the chase.

Or rather, it was all about Chase.

Chase Mehan ran for two scores and created Mesa Ridge quarterback Bryce Riehl’s only mistake as he picked off a pass on a potential scoring drive. The Red Hawks’ offense is seemingly so simple, that even Mesa Ridge fans could be heard screaming from the stands, “It’s going to 30 [Womack] or 29 [Mehan]!”

But knowing it and stopping it are two very different things.

This was one of the more intriguing matchups on the Friday slate, especially considering that Mesa Ridge was coming off a loss to Pueblo West in SoCo 1 League play. Just two weeks ago, West, Montrose and Mesa Ridge were all ranked inside the top four of the Colorado Preps football rankings.

With two straight losses – by a combined seven points – the Grizzlies are likely to fall out of the top five. But given the totality of their resumé, it’s not a stretch to say they still belong in the top half of the poll.

It’s also not a stretch to think that assuming they wouldn’t face each other before then, the top three teams of the SoCo 1 League could advance to the Class 4A semifinals.

In two weeks, Montrose faces Pueblo West in a game that will decide the league championship and could also decide the top seed for the 4A playoffs.

While West has a dynamic offense led by quarterback Gavin Lockett, Montrose has the kind of offense that can completely alter the flow of a game. In the win over Mesa Ridge, the Red Hawks didn’t attempt a single pass and when they got the ball back with more than 10 minutes on the clock, they put together a sustained drive that used every single second remaining.

Riehl had just led Mesa Ridge on a scoring drive to make it a one-score game so there were really two options for the Red Hawks: Score or deplete the remainder of the time on the clock. Coach Brett Mertens certainly had his preferences.

“Of course end the game,” he said. “We were looking at taking as much of the clock as we could and score. I didn’t think there was any way we could run it all out. But it worked out because we had so many 4th-and-1’s and killing a minute and a half or two minutes with every first down.”

It was the same way that Loveland beat Palmer Ridge for the 4A title in 2020. On the winning side, it’s a sight to behold. On the losing side, it’ll drive opposing players, coaches and fans so crazy they may want to tackle the first person they see out of frustration.

Montrose has the scheme and the players to do just that. For the next two weeks in the regular season and for what they hope is four postseason games, they just have to execute.

Watching them do that and watching teams try to stop it is what makes Colorado football in October and November so much fun.