AURORA | The season opener between the Rangeview and Vista PEAK Prep football teams ended in the third quarter due to incidents in the stands and outside Aurora Public Schools Stadium Friday night.
For nearly three full quarters, teams from the two districts rivals played a game that featured a slew of hard hits and big plays before it ended with 2 minutes, 20 seconds, left in the third quarter with the Bison holding a 31-0 lead over the Raiders.
Rangeview head coach Chris Dixon and Vista PEAK Prep coach DaVaughn Thornton Sr. were called to the middle of the field by officials and notified that the rest of the game had been canceled due to a variety of incidents in the stands and nearby. A large presence from the Aurora Police Department awaited as fans exited and the surrounding parking lot emptied.
On Twitter/X, APD said that it responded on reports of fights, but “the scene was cleared with no serious injuries reported.” (See Sentinel story, here.)
On the field, it was an impressive debut for the Bison, who came in looking for some redemption after a 10-point loss to the Raiders in 2022. They started things the right way when senior Marcel Evans Jr. — also a key member of the school’s track team — took the opening kickoff back 90 yards up the middle of the field for a touchdown.
Evans Jr. scored again late in the opening quarter when he bounced off a pile in the middle of the field and jetted into the corner of the end zone.
While the Vista PEAK Prep defense set a tone — with seniors Jalen Payne and Nathan Hunholz playing big in the middle — the offense added two touchdowns in less than two minutes towards the end of the half, both via passes from sophomore Owen Packer.
First, he threw a strike to senior wide receiver Kyron Chiku-Martinez, who got a block from a teammate and took it the rest of the way for a 46-yard score.
Vista PEAK Prep got the ball back at its own 35 with 24.3 seconds left and after Packer spiked the ball on first down when a player was late getting on the field, he launched a deep ball down the sideline that sophomore Isaiah Watson hauled in over a defensive back and took to the end zone to send the Bison into the break up 24-0.
Sophomore Tyrone Smiley picked up the last points for Vista PEAK Prep when he navigated traffic and went up the sideline for a 35-yard touchdown.
Rangeview sophomore quarterback Tyson Tuck — who played both ways — had an early interception, but the Raiders couldn’t take advantage. Tuck was under duress from Vista PEAK Prep’s pass rush for much of the game, while senior Jah Alexander and others found occasional success with the ground game.
In Week 2, Rangeview is scheduled to play host to Westminster (1-1) at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 1, while Vista PEAK has a 2 p.m. game on Sept. 2 against Brighton (0-1). Both games are scheduled to be played at APS Stadium.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
VISTA PEAK PREP 31, RANGEVIEW 0 (game called in 3rd quarter)
Score by quarters:
Rangeview 0 0 0 — 0
Vista PEAK Prep 12 12 7 — 31
SCORING
First quarter
Vista PEAK — Marcel Evans Jr. 90 yard kickoff return (kick failed), 11:45
Vista PEAK — Evans Jr. 9 yard run (pass failed), 1:18
Second quarter
Vista PEAK — Kyron Chiku-Martinez 46 yard pass from Owen Packer (run failed), 1:55
Vista PEAK — Isaiah Watson 65 yard pass from Packer (kick failed), 12.7
Third quarter
Vista PEAK — Tyrone Smiley 35 yard run (Leyton Youmans kick), 4:56
Smiley is not a senior. He’s a tenth grader. Go Tyrone!