Mountain Vista’s Jack Blais and his teammates took care of business against Castle View on Nov. 10. The win helps as the team prepares for a bigger challenge as the 5A state playoffs continue.
Blais and the Golden Eagles rolled to a 52-20 second round playoff win over the Sabercats.
Now – Mountain Vista will face four-time defending state champion Cherry Creek (11-0) in the quarterfinals on Nov. 17.
Mountain Vista (9-2) grabbed a 20-6 halftime advantage and then pulled away in the second half and had a 49-14 lead with 4:44 late in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles outscored the Castle View 32-13 in the final two quarters.
“I thought we struggled early,” said Vista head coach Garrett Looney. “We had a pretty rough first half offensively, but our defense played lights out. We made some adjustments at half and our kids responded and came out on fire in the second half.”
Blais, a 5-foot-7, 150-pound junior, rushed for 138 yards and scored three touchdowns. He also caught five passes.
Junior quarterback Austyn Modrzewski completed 30 of 36 passes for 306 yards and three TDs for Vista.
Jakhai Mack caught seven passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also had two interceptions and one was returned for a TD.
CJ Reese and Sammy Brown grabbed the other scoring passes.
“I feel like I played pretty well,” said Blais. “The team played awesome. We have so many dogs on offense and defense. We have so many young players that have a huge future.”
The future starts next week against Cherry Creek, which defeated Legacy 31-7 in a second-round contest.
“We can’t be too wrapped up in who we play next, and we just keep going”, said Blais. “They are good, but we can take them.”
Looney has the same approach to the quarterfinal contest.
“We know we are going to play a very good football team,” said Looney. “But the bottom line is we are in the final eight and we have a chance. We just have to go play and we’ll be just fine. We have to compete and in high school football, anything thing can happen.”
Castle View junior Sam Henry was the only person that Mountain Vista had trouble containing. He caught two touchdown passes from quarterback Derek Gordon and also returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.
In other second round games involving South Metro schools, top-seeded Cherry Creek whipped Legacy.
Tenth-seeded Legend surprised perennial state contender Valor Christian, 20-13. It marks the first time a Valor team hasn’t been in the quarterfinals of the state football playoffs since 2008.
Third-seeded Arapahoe dropped a 28-24 overtime decision to Chatfield. Ralston Valley rolled to a 42-14 win over Rock Canyon.