LAKEWOOD | All the blood and sweat Obie Sanni and the senior class put into getting the Smoky Hill football program back on its feet resulted in tears Thursday night.
Unable to overcome a mistake-filled start against a playoff-hardened Columbine program, the Buffaloes had a second straight special season come to an end with a 43-14 loss in the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs at Jeffco Stadium.
Sanni walked off the field for the last time in Smoky Hill uniform after yet another electric highlight — a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter — that wasn’t quite enough as an undefeated season came to an undesired end.
“Honestly, we had a great year and even though it didn’t end up like we wanted it to, we did big things here at Smoky Hill,” said Sanni, his eye black running after shedding a few tears with teammates.
“We’ve always had heart and my brothers and I came from the bottom,” he added. “We’ve always battled and that’s all I expected from us today.”
The wounds were fresh after time expired, but head coach Tom Thenell continued to pinch himself at the tremendous progress of the program in the two years since he arrived on the heels of a 1-9 2017 season.
After years of struggle, Smoky Hill is in the midst of a 21-2 stretch with two undefeated regular seasons, two league championships and two 5A state playoff appearances to its credit — including its first postseason win since 1991 — and a seemingly bright future ahead.
“I just think about how much these kids have grown in two years; they are different kids,” Thenell said. “Unfortunately, it had to end at some point. Tonight wasn’t our night, but we have to be men about it, hold our heads high and move on.”
Knowing they needed to play their best game against a Columbine team that had qualified for the postseason for at least 16 straight seasons and made it to the second round at minimum in every one of those trips (with five state championships), the Buffaloes faced adversity immediately.
After a mishandled fielding of the opening kickoff pinned it back at the 10 yard-line, a big hit on Sanni jarred the ball loose and the Rebels recovered in prime position. It took Columbine (9-2) just three plays to get in the end zone on a 22-yard Tanner Hollens’ run and Smoky Hill was in catch-up mode.
The Buffaloes shook it off and drove 57 yards to reach the Rebels’ 20, but a fourth down pass from junior quarterback Leslie Richardson III fell incomplete for a turnover on downs. Smoky Hill had a second drive end in the first half end with a failed fourth down conversion, while Columbine scored two more times for a 22-0 lead at the break.
“It hurt us a lot; the first drive we had some momentum and then they had an easy touchdown,” Richardson said. “We killed ourselves this game. Three drives we had that we didn’t capitalize on and they capitalized on our turnover and that was the game.”
The Smoky Hill defense tried to create a spark to start the second half when it got close to forcing a three-and-out from Columbine, only to give up a 66-yard touchdown pass from Rebels’ quarterback Jadon Holliday to wide receiver Adam Tasei on third down.
Columbine scored again on a 36-yard Adam Harrington touchdown run on a 4th-and-1 play with the Buffaloes crowding the line of scrimmage.
The defense held on the next possession early in the fourth quarter and Smoky Hill — the highest scoring team in 5A — finally got on the scoreboard when Richardson (200 yards passing) dropped a ball perfectly into the hands of junior wide receiver DeAngelo Horn in the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown.
Sanni (who finished with his 10th game of a 100-plus rushing yards on the season) countered a subsequent Columbine score with his second kickoff return score of the season — and his Colorado-leading 31st total touchdown — added the two-point conversion run.
The Rebels, who advanced to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 3 Valor Christian, ran out the remainder of the clock.
“Regardless of the way we ended, we went from an 0-20 team to a 21-2, so you have to be happy with that,” Richardson said. “We want that title, we have to keep working to get it.”
After an 18-0 run in two seasons in the Metro 10 conference — which was created in 2018 to help some of the struggling programs in 5A — Smoky Hill moves to a new league next season with regular powerhouses such as Cherry Creek, Grandview, Eaglecrest and Cherokee Trail.
“We’re going to the Centennial League, so we’re obviously going to have our hands full with that,” Thenell said. “The key was trying to establish a program and we now have a foundation for improvement. Credit to the senior class of kids that is here, who, to be honest, were 40th out of 40 teams two years ago. They aren’t that way anymore, we’re way past that.”
Sanni gained more than 4,000 yards and scored 51 touchdowns in three varsity seasons with Smoky Hill and is somewhat satisfied with what he and his fellow seniors helped start with a program that hopefully is sustainable for the future.
“There’s no place I’d rather end up my career than Smoky Hill,” he said.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@sentienlcolorado.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
(6) COLUMBINE 43, (11) SMOKY HILL 14
Score by quarters:
Smoky Hill 0 0 0 14 — 14
Columbine 7 15 14 7 — 43
SCORING
First quarter
Columbine — Tanner Hollens 22 yard run (Adam Tasei kick), 9:23
Second quarter
Columbine — Adam Harrington 3 yard run (Hollens run), 10:55
Columbine — Braeden Hogan 18 yard pass from Jadon Holliday (Tasei kick), 2:23
Third quarter
Columbine — Tasei 66 yard pass from Holliday (Tasei kick), 10:25
Columbine — Harrington 36 yard run (Tasei kick), 4:28
Fourth quarter
Smoky Hill — DeAngelo Horn 36 yard pass from Leslie Richardson III (kick failed), 8:23
Columbine — Osirus Smith 12 yard pass from Holliday (Tasei kick), 4:06
Smoky Hill — Obie Sanni 97 yard kickoff return (Sanni run), 3:51
