AURORA | By one point or by fifty, winning the Anvil remains as sweet as it gets for the Rangeview-Gateway winner.
The former has been the case for the Raiders of late, as they edged the rival Olys 7-6 Friday night at spirited Aurora Public Schools Stadium for their third straight one-point victory and fifth straight win overall in the series.
In 2011, Rangeview blocked a last-second Gateway field goal try to win 16-15 and last season the Raiders erased a 12-point deficit in the final 4 minutes in a 25-24 triumph. On Friday night, a missed extra point on a late Gateway touchdown proved to be the difference as Rangeview prevailed in front of an announced crowd of 2,321.
Since Raiders coach Dave Gonzales and former Olys coach Justin Hoffman brought the Anvil out of a farmhouse in Northwestern Colorado and into the equation in the rivalry, it has only spent one season — 2008 — at Gateway before its current run at Rangeview.
In one of the more bizarre games in the longtime rivalry between the schools — the Raiders now lead 16-11 all-time — the 6-yard touchdown run and subsequent extra point by Taylor Thompson provided the winning margin for Rangeview, which moved to 4-2 overall and sits alone atop the Aurora League standings at 3-0.
Quarterback Nyerre Williams rushed for an 8-yard touchdown with just over two minutes left for Gateway (4-3, 1-2), but Daquari Gallaway’s extra point try was low and short.
The was game marred by more than 20 combined penalties — including a number of personal fouls doled out by an aggressive officiating crew — and both teams had touchdowns overturned by flags.
Gateway’s Lance Savage recovered a fumble by Thompson on a punt and scored in the first quarter, but a personal foul on the Olys took the points off the board and the fake punt TD run by Rangeview’s Quaid Vincent in the third quarter came back because of holding.
The Olys also fumbled twice deep in Raiders territory, once in the first quarter at the 7 and again at the 1 in the fourth quarter.
RANGEVIEW 7, GATEWAY 6
Score by quarters:
Rangeview 0 0 7 0 — 7
Gateway 0 0 0 6 — 6
SCORING
Third quarter
Rangeview — Darien Odegard 6 yard run (Taylor Thompson kick), 11:06
Fourth quarter
Gateway — Nyerre Williams 8 yard run (kick failed), 2:02
