Football: Cherokee Trail tops Regis Jesuit, now city-best 4-0

AURORA | Cherokee Trail returned to the scene of one of its toughest losses and gained a bit of payback Friday night.

The Cougars came away with a 24-21 victory over Regis Jesuit at Lou Kellogg Stadium, where the Raiders beat them by a single point in the semifinals of the Class 5A state football playoffs.

In the rematch, Cherokee Trail junior quarterback Aric Johnson ran for a touchdown and threw for one — a 25-yard pass to Brandon Barry in the third quarter that proved to be the winning points — Evan White had an interception return for a touchdown and Ryan Winke hit a 42-yard field goal and wreaked havoc in the Raiders’ backfield as the Cougars remained Aurora’s lone unbeaten team at 4-0.

Sophomore quarterback Matt Houghtaling engineered two scoring drives in the second half and got Regis Jesuit within three points with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Robert Orban with 2:36 remaining, but Johnson picked up a key first down to run out the clock as the Raiders fell to 2-2 overall.

Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555

CHEROKEE TRAIL 24, REGIS JESUIT 21

Score by quarters:

Cherokee Trail  0  17   7  0 — 24

Regis Jesuit       7   0   7  7  — 21

SCORING

First quarter

Regis Jesuit — John Schmidt 27 yard run (Harrison Thrasher kick), 6:44

Second quarter

Cherokee Trail — Ryan Winke 42 yard field goal, 11:56

Cherokee Trail — Aric Johnson 2 yard run (Winke kick), 7:12

Cherokee Trail — Evan White 35 yard interception return (Winke kick), 6:32

Third quarter

Cherokee Trail — Brandon Berry 25 yard pass from Johnson (Winke kick), 10:41

Regis Jesuit — Matt Houghtaling 33 yard run (Thrasher kick), 8:42

Fourth quarter

Regis Jesuit — Robert Orban 3 yard pass from Houghtaling (Thrasher kick), 2:36

RUSHING

Cherokee Trail: Cameron Currington 4-56, Aric Johnson 8-46, Sherman Thomas 10-43, Darion Belt 3-12, Scottie Williams 1-1

Regis Jesuit: Jalen Williams 31-175, Matt Houghtaling 4-37, John Schmidt 1-27, Elliott DeJour 1-9, Zach Heath 1-5, Chase Bertinelli 2-4, Alex Mitchell 4-(minus 4)

PASSING

Cherokee Trail: Johnson 7-9, 81 yards, 1 touchdown

Regis Jesuit: Houghtaling 10-15, 86 yards, 1 touchdown; Heath 0-1, 1 interception

RECEIVING

Cherokee Trail: Brandon Barry 2-32, Jackson Burrell 2-29, Belt 1-10, Evan White 1-8, Currington 1-2

Regis Jesuit: Mitchell 7-62, DeJour 1-13, Robert Orban 2-11