AURORA | On a night filled with pomp and circumstance as the Cherry Creek School District celebrated Military Appreciation night, the game itself between the rival Overland and Smoky Hill football teams displayed pure grit.
Shortly after an Apache helicopter and two Warbird planes had buzzed Legacy Stadium and various members of the military were honored, the Buffaloes put up a touchdown on their opening drive and that turned out to be all there would be in terms of scoring in a 7-0 victory that kept custody of the Wagon Wheel traveling trophy with Smoky Hill.
Junior quarterback Zion Brake’s short touchdown pass to senior Ene Niusulu came just over three minutes into the contest and Smoky Hill’s defense made a spirited goal line stand in the third quarter that delivered a seventh straight win for the Buffaloes over the Trailblazers in the latest installment of the long-running rivalry and pushed their all-time advantage in the series to 27-16.
It was the sixth straight win that came with the Wagon Wheel trophy (the seventh was a playoff meeting in 2019) for Smoky Hill, which saw Overland hold the trophy for the first four years after it made its debut in 2014.
With just seven points scored, it was by far the lowest scoring game between the two teams since 1998, eclipsing the 19 points produced in Smoky Hill’s 2018 win (a 19-0 victory).
Coach Brandon Alconcel’s Buffaloes moved to 1-2, the same record as coach Kyle Reese’s Trailblazers, who were without the services of lead running back Jarrius Ward.
Both teams have a short turnaround, as they will be in action on Sept. 14 in a doubleheader on their mutual home field at Stutler Bowl. Overland as a 4 p.m. kickoff with Heritage (1-2), while Smoky Hill has the 7:30 p.m. nightcap against Palmer Ridge (3-0).
Courtney Oakes is Sentinel Colorado Sports Editor. Reach him at sports@sentinelcolorado.com. Twitter/X: @aurorasports. IG: Sentinel Prep Sports
Smoky Hill 7, Overland 0
Score by quarters:
Overland 0 0 0 0 — 0
Smoky Hill 7 0 0 0 — 7
SCORING
First quarter
Smoky Hill — Ene Niusulu 13 yard pass from Zion Brake (Kaiden McElhiney kick), 8:57
RUSHING
Overland: Jalaun Jones 11-46, Isaiah Zackery 1-4, Zamari Stevens 1-3, Talil Seals-Fisher 8-(minus 2), Matthew Jimenez-Solis 1-(minus 9), Chad Hamilton 1-(minus 19)
Smoky Hill: Elijah Sims 17-42, Zion Brake 9-31, Kai Washington 7-30
PASSING
Overland: Jimenez-Solis 5-8, 58 yards; Seals-Fisher 7-12, 45 yards
Smoky Hill: Brake 10-23, 78 yards, 1 touchdown
RECEIVING
Overland: Seals-Fisher 3-50, Zackery 3-28, Avante Hendrix 2-20, Marquise Grimball 3-5
Smoky Hill: Zach Brophy 4-32, Damarian Ramsey 4-28, Ene Niusulu 1-13, Sims 1-5