By Michael Hicks

Berthoud Recorder

LAFAYETTE – It would’ve been easy for the Berthoud Spartans to get down on themselves and let the season slip away.

Dan McGinn’s squad had watched Centaurus score 16 straight points in a little more than six minutes in the first quarter to take a double-digit lead. His team had two extra points blocked and two snaps sail over the head of quarterback Jordan Major, one resulting in a safety.

But the Spartans have been down this road before and they weren’t about to allow six bad minutes to end their reign as 3A state football champions.

Instead, Berthoud methodically controlled the pace of the game in the second half. As a result, the Spartans held Centaurus to just a field goal after halftime while scoring 21 unanswered points en route to a 40-26 victory Friday night at Warrior Stadium.

Berthoud (9-2) advanced to Friday’s state quarterfinals at Max Marr Field against top-seeded Glenwood Springs, a 52-10 winner over Roosevelt last week.

“I think our defense played well all night. They were flying around,” Berthoud head coach Dan McGinn said. “Centaurus made a couple of good plays on our [defense] that accounted for a lot of yards. But our kids played well. They flew around there and I’m real proud of them.”

The Spartans’ offense certainly came out ready for the playoffs, scoring on their first offensive play — a 76-yard halfback option pass from Kent Flynn to Ty Duncan.

“With those types of plays early in the game we were counting on the other team being aggressive,” McGinn said. “We were hoping they’d come fired up and they did.”

But just as quickly as Berthoud (9-2) had taken the lead it gave it back and more so. Centaurus (8-3) scored on the next offensive play, an 80-yard scamper by Derik Wetzel. Tenzin Dhamdul’s extra point gave the host Warriors a 7-6 lead.

The lead was 9-6 after a second Jared Wikre snap sailed over the head of Jordan Major and out of the end zone. The ensuing free kick and return set Centaurus up at the Berthoud 18, and four plays later Drew Dondelinger scored from 2 yards out to give the Warriors a 10-point lead.

The momentum was seemingly all in Centaurus’ favor. But instead of letting things get out of hand, Berthoud’s steadiness was more than enough to will itself into the second round.

The Spartans scored 34 of the next 41 points to hold a three-possession lead midway through the fourth quarter. Bryce Munoz, who rushed for a game-high 136 yards, started the run with a 2-yard TD run at the end of the first quarter. Spartans QB Jordan Major added a 10-yard score midway through the second quarter for a 19-16 lead.

“The offensive line made some huge blocks,” Munoz said. “The receiver made some good blocks and good catches.”

Even though Centaurus scored late in the first half on a Sean McEwen 50-yard reception from Dondelinger, Berthoud had put itself in position to take control in the second half. And it did.

The Spartans exploited Centaurus’ defense down the middle, be it with the pass or running through its interior defensive line. Greg Glasser capped consecutive third-quarter drives with touchdown runs of 5 and 8 yards and Berthoud was now the one up 10, 33-23, after three quarters.

“We saw that in the second quarter,” McGinn said of the opening in Centaurus’ middle defense. “By alignment, they were doing some things that we felt we could take advantage of. Our kids deal a good job of reading the holes. The [offensive] line did a good job of getting up to the second level. Early on we weren’t doing those types of things, but later on, we got to the second level and that made the difference.”

Jeff Shields completed Berthoud’s scoring with a 34-yard pass from Major on 4^th-and-4 with 7 minutes, 36 seconds left in the game.

“We started coming together, started playing as one,” Munoz said of his team’s second-half performance. “We started playing smart. In the first round of the playoffs nothing is guaranteed. We just came out and played our hearts out.”

Because of that effort, Berthoud guaranteed itself a second-round playoff berth — this time at home.

BERTHOUD 40, CENTAURUS 26

BERTHOUD (9-2)                  12        7          14        7-40    

CENTAURUS (8-3)                16        7          0          3-26

SCORING SUMMARY

B — Ty Duncan 76 pass from Kent Flynn (Kick blocked), 10:29

C — Derik Wetzel 80 run (Tenzin Dhamdul kick), 10:15

C — Safety, 5:27

C — Drew Dondelinger 2 run (Dhamdul kick), 4:00

B — Bryce Munoz 2 run (Kick blocked), :05

B — Major 10 run (Dan McGinn kick), 5:30

C — Sean McEwen 50 pass from Dondelinger (Dhamdul kick), :16

B — Greg Glasser 5 run (McGinn kick), 6:52

B — Glasser run (McGinn kick), :54

B — Jeff Shields 34 pass from Major (McGinn kick), 7:36

C — Dhamdul 37 field goal, 3:23

STATISTICS

RUSHING: Berthoud — Jordan Major 19-57, Bryce Munoz 24-136, Greg Glasser 9-35, Kent Flynn 1-2, Ty Duncan 1-(-3). TOTAL: 54-227. Centaurus — Derik Wetzel 15-109, Lorenzo Mata 3-10, Drew Dondelinger 9-(-19), Jake Smith 2-2, Evan Erickson 1-2. TOTAL: 30-104.

PASSING: Berthoud: Major 10-16-0, 160, Flynn 1-1-0, 76. TOTAL: 11-17-0, 236; Centaurus: Dondelinger 13-21-0 182

RECEIVING: Berthoud: Munoz 6-73, Duncan 2-86, Glasser 1-2, Jeff Shields 2-75; Centaurus: McEwen 7-110, Dominic Muniz 5-54, Neal Matosky 1-18.

TOTAL YARDS: Berthoud 463; Centaurus 286

FIRST DOWNS: Berthoud 17; Centaurus 9

TURNOVERS: Berthoud 0; Centaurus  1

PENALTIES: Berthoud 6-79; Centaurus  1-10

 

GAME PREVIEW

Who: Glenwood Springs (11-0) at Berthoud (9-2)

When: Friday, 7 p.m. 

Where: Max Marr Field

Notable: Berthoud overcame an early 10-point deficit to score 34 of the next 44 points to beat Centaurus last week, 40-26. . . . Quarterback Jordan Major ran for one TD and threw for another in accumulating 217 yards of total offense. . . . Running back Bryce Munoz led a ground attack that rushed for 227 yards with a game-high 136 yards on 24 carries. . . . Berthoud is one of four Tri-Valley Conference schools to advance to the state quarterfinals. The others are Windsor, Fort Morgan and Mountain View. . . . Quarterback Dakota Stonehouse threw for 208 yards and three touchdowns in Glenwood Springs’ 52-10 first-round victory over Roosevelt, the only Tri-Valley school to lose in the opening weekend of the playoffs. . . . Running back Michael Hudson ran for 116 yards. . . . The Demons scored 45 first-half points and never looked back. . . . The Western Slope League champions were the only team of the three from the conference — Palisade and Steamboat Springs were the others — to advance out of the first round of this year’s tournament.

3A STATE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS PAIRINGS

QUARTERFINALS

#1 Glenwood Springs (11-0) at #9 BERTHOUD (9-2)

The Demons haven’t lost a road game since the 2006 season finale at Delta — a stretch of 10 straight games. . . . Berthoud brings a seven-game home winning streak into the game, including a pair of playoff wins last year over Sterling and Pueblo County.

 

#5 Mountain View (10-1) at #4 Pueblo County (8-3)

Steve Ryan rushed for a game-high 189 yards as the Mountain Lions disposed of Pueblo East, 45-27, in the first round . . . . Pueblo County, which shared the Southern League title with Cañon City, jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead en route to a convincing win over Steamboat Springs, 45-21, last week.

 

#14 Windsor (7-4) at #11 D’Evelyn (10-1)

The upset-minded Wizards picked off Conifer QB Craig Fowler three times in a 20-6 stunning victory over the third-seeded and Metro League champion Lobos. . . .Kyle Petry’s 45-yard field goal bounced off the crossbar and through as D’Evelyn shocked sixth-seeded Palisade, 30-28. The Bulldogs turned the ball over five times.

 

#2 Fort Morgan (11-0) at #10 Summit (10-1)

Fort Morgan has lost just once in the past two seasons to an in-state team — that was in last year’s state quarterfinals to Palisade — following last week’s 32-0 victory over Elizabeth. . . . Summit, another Metro League school with just one loss, like D’Evelyn, scored a 17-3 road win at Cañon City last week.