AURORA | Poised to take a late lead in what had been a back-and-forth Week 1 contest, things slipped away from the Cherokee Trail football team Friday night at Legacy Stadium.
Down by three points to Chatfield midway through the final quarter, the Cougars drove down to the goal line before the ball got away from junior quarterback Tyson Smith at the bottom of a pile up outside the end zone and the Chargers recovered.
Chatfield (2-0) — which already had one game under its belt on the season in Week Zero, while Cherokee Trail played its first — picked up multiple first downs and chewed up the final 5 minutes, 33 seconds, of the game to secure a 27-24 victory.
Coach Justin Jajczyk’s Cougars got two touchdown passes from Smith — including a 77-yard toss to junior Peyton Sommers, who was lost late in the game due to a major injury — and a rushing score from senior Ian Lee, but couldn’t overcome some costly mistakes.
“We were our own worst enemy at times,” Jajczyk said. “We didn’t take care of the football at the 1-foot line and we didn’t do ourselves any favors in the second half. We got the lead, but we gave up some big plays on returns and on defense. We’ve got to clean that up. We’re still young and still learning.”
Trailing by three points in the fourth quarter, Cherokee Trail blocked a field goal attempt by Andrew Astrone — whose successful 35-yarder in the third quarter proved to be the winning margin — and then went 62 yards to get within scoring range.
Senior Braydon Dunne got called down short of the goal line on first and goal and Smith tried to keep it on the next play, but the ball ended up in the hands of a Chatfield defender at the bottom of the pile. After a lengthy discussion among the officials, possession was awarded to the Chargers.
Chatfield built a 10-0 lead after one quarter, but Cherokee Trail responded with 10 points in the final minutes of the half. Smith went deep and found Sommers — a track star who won three individual and relay championships at last season’s Class 5A state meet — who raced to the end zone for a touchdown.
A fumble recovery by junior Cade Brook on the Chargers’ next possession resulted in a 24-yard field goal by Miles Philson on the final play of the half.
The teams combined for 31 points in the third quarter, with Cherokee Trail tallying on a 23-yard toss from Smith to senior Peyton Castro and Lee’s 3-yard run, while Chatfield got a 52-yard bomb from quarterback Jake Jones to Micah Lumpkin and a 10-yard scoring run from Brock Narva, whose hard running would be critical to its final drive that ran out the clock.
Astone’s 35-yard kick with 2:31 left in the third quarter turned out to be the final points.
Cherokee Trail now has to move on without a second offensive starter as Sommers — who made seven catches for 137 yards — landed awkwardly after stretching out for more yardage on the final drive and sustained a collarbone injury. The Cougars were already without running back Noah Collins.
“It’s going to be the next man up for us and we feel like we have a deep team,” Jajcyzk said. “We are going to keep fighting and get better every single week.”
Cherokee Trail heads to Rocky Mountain (1-0) for a Week 2 contest at 7 p.m. Aug. 31.
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
CHATFIELD 27, CHEROKEE TRAIL 24
Score by quarters:
Chatfield 10 0 17 0 — 27
Cherokee Trail 7 3 14 0 — 24
SCORING
First quarter
Chatfield — Jake Jones 5 yard run (Andrew Astrone kick)
Chatfield — Astrone 27 yard field goal
Second quarter
Cherokee Trail — Peyton Sommers 77 yard pass from Tyson Smith (Miles Philson kick), 2:37
Cherokee Trail — Philson 24 yard field goal, 0.0
Third quarter
Cherokee Trail — Peyton Castro 23 yard pass from Tyson Smith (Philson kick)
Chatfield — Micah Lumpkin 52 yard pass from Jake Jones (Astone kick), 10:32
Cherokee Trail — Ian Lee 3 yard run (Philson kick), 7:48
Chatfield — Brock Narva 10 yard run (Astone kick), 5:36
Chatfield — Astone 35 yard field goal, 2:31
RUSHING
Chatfield: Brock Narva 23-135, Jake Jones 5-27
Cherokee Trail: Ian Lee 5-23, Braydon Dunne 12-23, Tyson Smith 4-19, Brian Tucker 1-5
PASSING
Chatfield: Jones 16-37, 192 yards, 1 touchdown, 2 interceptions
Cherokee Trail: Smith 16-23, 250 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception
RECEIVING
Chatfield: Micah Lumpkin 3-80, Narva 4-41, Drew Rohlman 2-23, Landon Mueller 3-21, Charles Yanett 3-16, Colin Mote 1-11
Cherokee Trail: Peyton Sommers 7-137, Peyton Castro 4-74, Jacob Mathenge 3-36, Carson Pierce 2-3
