That dreaded round of the State Class 4A football playoffs claimed its fourth Montrose senior class in five years on Saturday, this time coming at the hands of Heritage of Littleton.
The Eagles racked up 507 yards of offense and staved off a pair of valiant rallies to turn back the Indians 43-24 before an overflow crowd under a perfect autumn sky at Montrose Community Stadium.
 Montrose High School's Glayden Berry out runs a Heritage defender for a touchdown Class 4A state football playoffs Saturday afternoon. Berry finished the day with 78 yards on 16 carries. (Joel Blocker / Daily Press) Advertisement |
The Indians rolled up 433 yards of offense, won the special teams battle and were firing well on all cylinders only to be outgunned on their own field. Simply put, Montrose couldn’t do what it had done so effectively down the stretch to the tune of five straight wins: win the fourth quarter.
“This is the one we really wanted ... the one we all worked so hard for,” said Montrose senior halfback Glayden Berry, who kept the Indians in the game early with two long touchdowns. “It hurts.”
The loss for the 16 seniors was taken especially hard. After posting a fourth straight Southwestern League crown and reaching so many of their goals coming in, tears flowed openly after playing for the final time together.
“I feel for these seniors,” Casebier said. “They are such a solid group of young men and they did so much for this program.
“They didn’t quit, though. They are not quitters, that’s for sure ... We just couldn’t match them Big Play for Big Play.”
Heritage holds a serious trump card when it comes to that department, and his name is Mitch Griebel.
The 6-foot, 183-pound quarterback ” who could very well be found next directing the triple-option Air Force attack ” was as explosive as advertised.
A fourth-year starter and the son of 18th year head coach Mike Griebel, he ran for 159 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 144 more to edge Montrose junior Nathan Robertson (119 yards rushing, 155 passing) in a battle of perhaps the state’s best current quarterback vs. tomorrow’s.
Griebel, who went over 1,000 yards rushing on the season to go along with his 1,800 passing yards, gave a sampling of his abilities by opening the scoring with a 72-yard option-keeper on Heritage’s second drive of the game.
Montrose countered back with a textbook 9-play, 62-yard drive of its own that was capped by a pretty 24-yard draw play for paydirt by Berry (16 carries, 78 yards). Ricky Zatarain’s PAT gave the Indians their only lead of the game at 7-6. Zatarain’s booming leg was a serious weapon throughout the game, as all five of his kickoffs sailed easily through the end zone for touchbacks.
One of the surprising facets of the game was how Montrose was able to shut down the Griebel family air game. That attack also includes wide out Shane Opitz, who was kept out of the end zone for the first time this season. That’s an amazing feat, considering he had 22 TDs receiving coming in.
His 41-yard catch-and-run spiced the ensuing drive for Heritage, one capped by burly fullback Blair Zimmerman from two yards out to make it 12-7 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. A botched two-point attempt kept the Montrose faithful realizing that special teams alone could be a part of the outcome if the Indians could keep moving the ball.
“Montrose spread things out and had the best secondary we’ve seen this year,” said Mike Griebel, who began coaching the former 5A Eagles the year Mitch was born. “But when you focus on stopping one part of an offense, the other parts can flourish.
“My hat’s off to Montrose. It’s a quality program. But we were able to exploit what they left us with.”
That meant more of Mitch Griebel, who came back to cap another short drive with a 35-yard option keeper for his second score to make it 19-7, a run once again directed to the left side. His 4.5 second speed through 40 yards looked even quicker by virtue of the stealth execution of his fakes, footwork and sharp arm, when called upon.
Then came the first of the Indians’ two home runs of the game, a beautiful 68-yard strike from Robertson to Berry over the middle to cut Heritage’s lead to 19-14 with 5:33 left in the half. The Eagle linebackers were so sucked up it was just a matter of Berry making the catch and carting it into the end zone.
“We showed a lot of heart bouncing back when we did,” Casebier said. “That’s a strength of these kids.”
A 34-yard field goal by Garrett Solomon made it 22-14 at the half, and also made up a bit for the Eagles PAT miscues.
Then Montrose opened the second half by chipping into that lead on a 30-yard field goal by Zatarain, making it 22-17. But Montrose had been driving well before having to settle for the field goal in a game that would now become a track meet, of sorts.
On the ensuing drive, the Eagles indeed jumped on what Montrose gave it: anything but Griebel.
On a third-and-two from its own 30, Heritage staked a two touchdown lead again when Griebel stretched the Indians defense again left before flicking the option pitch to tailback Josh Myers, who sprinted untouched down the left sideline 70 yards for a 29-17 lead.
Then came what turned out to be the Indians last gasp. Robertson hung in the pocket as Johnathan Sierra worked his way behind the Eagles secondary, popping free of a defender tugging on him to grab a 28-yarder in the end zone to cut the margin once again to 29-24.
Then came the fourth quarter, one that Montrose has simply owned in November.
But with the Montrose defense stretched once again, the 6-foot-1, 214-pound Zimmerman finally began finding running room inside. Two ensuing mid-range Heritage drives were capped by Griebel from 9 yards out and Myers from the 1 yard line, both going unanswered by Montrose.
The Indians tried to rally on Robertson’s arm with support from a running game that was now suddenly in check. Loading up on Berry and tailback Jordan Passehl (18 carries, 77 yards) ” who went over the 3,000-yard rushing mark for his career during the game ” the Eagles were able to force Robertson to beat them with either his arm or his legs.
“The effort was there,” said Casebier, fighting back his own emotions while consoling especially his seniors afterward. “But on this day, the better team won.
“It would be great to have another day with this group ...”
Perhaps summing up the home faithful was Kristy Duffle, the mother of standout senior cornerback Travis Duffle and the wife of longtime Montrose assistant coach Bill Duffle.
She was one of a few dozen parents who hung around outside the lockeroom to console sons together. Especially the 16 who wore the trademark blackout uniforms for the final time.
“We got together as senior moms (Thursday night) and pulled a bunch of photos from their pee-wee years,” said Kristy Duffle, eyes welling up. “So many of these kids played together in this program all the way through.”
“We wanted them to punch through this round, but it still feels good in a weird way. Coach Casebier has taught these guys so much about life off the field, too, and they obviously accomplished so much on it, as well ... it’s bittersweet.”
So many good things in life are.
Heritage Eagle Parent wrote on Nov 22, 2009 7:58 PM:
Your crowd and community support is awesome.
If I were a high-school aged kid again (oh I wish!), I can't think of any place I'd rather play than right there at your school.
Nice job! "