2013 CLASS 5A STATE SECOND ROUND PLAYOFF MATCHUP
NO. 4 REGIS JESUIT (9-1) vs. NO. 20 GRANDVIEW (6-4)
Nov. 9, 1 p.m., Legacy Stadium
BREAKDOWN: Continental League champion Regis Jesuit and Grandview of the Centennial League meet for the first time since the opening game of the 2003 regular season, when the Wolves posted a 20-14 victory over the Raiders. Grandview won by a 27-0 count when the teams met in the 2002 season as well. …Coach John Schultz‘s Grandview team earns a home game by virtue of winning on the road in the first round, as the 20th-seeded Wolves routed No. 13 Prairie View 47-6 for the program’s ninth consecutive first-round playoff victory. Grandview has been to at least the quarterfinals in three straight seasons and five times in the last six, including its run to the 5A state championship in 2007. …Coach Mark Nolan and his staff have Regis Jesuit in the postseason for the sixth consecutive year and the Raiders have won at least one game in four of the six trips, including a run to the 5A state championship game in 2010. Regis Jesuit lost to eventual 5A state champion Valor Christian in the second round of last season’s playoffs. …REGIS JESUIT: The fourth-seeded Raiders had no trouble at all in the first round, as they scored 28 points in the first quarter alone and rolled to a 49-7 victory against No. 29 Fort Collins on Nov. 1 at Lou Kellogg Stadium. Junior QB Matt Houghtaling gashed the Lambkins on the ground, rushing for 169 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries and also completed three passes for 48 yards and a touchdown to junior WR Trevor Williams. Senior RB Grant Neal also rushed for 74 yards and a touchdown and senior RB Jalen Williams and junior RB Chris Ramos also scored on the ground. Senior DB J.J. Kilgore had one of Regis Jesuit’s two interceptions and returned one to the end zone and the Raiders limited Fort Collins to 203 yards of total offense (185 rushing, 18 passing). …Even with the seven points yielded to Fort Collins, the Regis Jesuit defense still hasn’t allowed 100 points for the season, as it sits at 99 through 10 games. Senior LB Quinn VandeKoppel is just nine tackles short of reaching the 100 mark for the second straight season and makes an average of 9.1 stops per game, ahead of senior LB Joe Bozeman and senior DE Terran Hasselbach, who each average 8.4. A now healthy Hasselbach also has 11 sacks, while seven other Raiders have at least two apiece. Eight different Regis Jesuit players also have at least one interception, with Kilgore leading the way with five and senior DB Daniel Talley next with three. …Offensively, the Raiders are approaching the 3,000-yard rushing mark as a team, led by Jalen Williams with 1,112 yards plus 9 touchdowns. Neal has 686 yards and 10 touchdowns, Houghtaling has rumbled for 410 and 7 TDs (to go with 1,057 yards passing with 15 touchdowns vs. 5 interceptions) and senior RB Kameron Butler is at 366 yards with 6 scores. Trevor Williams is the Raiders’ leading receiver in yards with 442 (plus 5 TDs), while senior TE A.J. Shaw is tops in receptions with 20, good for 297 yards and 6 scores. …GRANDVIEW: The 20th-seeded Wolves dominated defensively against 5A’s top-scoring team, Prairie View, pitching a shutout until the ThunderHawks scored on the final play of regulation in a 47-6 victory. Junior RB Chukwuma Obinnah rushed for 215 yards and two touchdowns for Grandview, which also got 75 yards and two scores from junior RB Ben Marshall in a 358-yard ground attack. Senior QB Tyler Smith completed just three passes, but one went for a touchdown to senior WR Isaiah Lang. Junior DB Cameron Knight racked up a team-high 10 tackles and returned a fumble 80 yards for a touchdown, while junior DB Kiefer Glau scored via an interception return. …Grandview has been outstanding on both sides of the football in the past two weeks, outscoring its opponents (Smoky Hill & Prairie View) by a 103-12 count. The Wolves have piled up 624 yards rushing in those two games and will look to keep the ground game going against Regis Jesuit, by giving the ball to Obinnah, who has 773 yards and 8 touchdowns in just six games of action. He’ll get his first chance to play against the Raiders, who he played in two games for before he was injured last season. Marshall has 633 yards and 8 touchdowns himself, while Smith has rushed for 6 touchdowns as well in addition to throwing for 9 along with 787 yards. Senior WR Trent Richardson leads Grandview with 312 yards receiving, while Lang has a team-best 6 touchdown catches. …Defensively, Knight missed one game, but leads the Wolves with 70 tackles, just ahead of senior LB Kolten Johnson and Glau. Johnson, senior LB Hayden Porter and junior LB Keelan Poole each have 5.0 of Grandview’s 31 sacks and Poole has a team-best 4 of the team’s whopping 24 fumble recoveries. …WINNER GETS: The Regis Jesuit/Grandview winner moves on to the quarterfinals, where it will face the winner of the game between No. 5 ThunderRidge and No. 12 Doherty. Both Aurora teams have played ThunderRidge: Regis Jesuit posted a 35-12 victory over the Grizzlies, who defeated Grandview 21-7. Neither team played Doherty.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel.