Cyclones kings of hill

PUEBLO WEST 21, MONARCH 14

By Jon E. Yunt
The Denver Post

Pueblo West's Bo Martinez celebrates his game-winning touchdown catch in the Class 4A title game. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

In August, Pueblo West football coach Monte Pinkerton took 22 of his players on a journey to the top of Pikes Peak, with the message: "Once you get started, you never stop."

On Saturday, Pueblo West went to the top of the mountain again. The Cyclones, on the strength of an impressive, late fourth-quarter drive, beat Monarch 21-14 in the Class 4A championship game at Invesco Field at Mile High and became the first Pueblo-based team to win a football title since Centennial's Class 5A title in 1992, when there were six 11-man classes.

"We knew we were sort of carrying the torch for people down there, and this means a lot," Pinkerton said. "We wanted to show people up here that we do play football down there, and we play pretty good football."

It was smashmouth football at its finest, with both teams moving the football with relative ease (at least 3 yards at a time) and sustaining time-consuming drives.

Monarch (12-2), on the strength of a fumbled punt by West's Victor Chavez that kept a drive alive, tied the game with 5:16 to play. Sean Fox converted from 5 yards out and an atypical (for run-oriented Monarch) pass on a two-point conversion from Derek DiCarlo to Nicolas Rothschild made it 14-14.

That set the stage for the Cyclones (12-2) to make their run to glory. An 11-play, 61-yard drive featured a mix of Joe Torres, Justin Jackson and Tony Chavarria.

But a pass won it. On a newly inserted contribution to the playbook, quarterback Chaz Vaughan ran a bootleg left and found tight end Bo Martinez open in the back of the end zone for the game-winner.

"It was like the movies. It was moving pretty slow," said Martinez, who had his only two catches of the day on the final drive. "We have to have that extra element, just to keep them on their heels."

Said Monarch coach Phil Bravo of the Cyclones' play call: "We knew they had one shot in, and they just caught us sleeping with the play-action. It was a gutsy call, but they have a seasoned quarterback and if nobody was open, I'm sure he was going to throw it out of the stadium."

Monarch, which churned out 236 yards on the ground led by 127 from senior Cale Soole, had 27 seconds left to tie and was forced to throw. Ryan Stepisnik's option pass was intercepted by Zach Fillmore.

Pueblo West's defensive line and linebackers were terrific all day in shutting down Monarch's running lanes, and every now and again defensive back Andrew Williams would knife in for a big play, including his diving stop of Soole on a crucial fourth down in the second quarter.

Williams earned MVP honors from The Post for his six-tackle effort.

4A MVP

Andrew Williams, Pueblo West, Jr., DB: It's the little things that tend to make a difference in a big game. Williams made more of those noticeable plays than anyone else Saturday. Williams had two tackles for loss and six total, and his fourth-down takedown of Cale Soole in the second quarter ended a 16-play Monarch drive at the 26-yard line.

Monarch 3 3 0 8 — 14

Pueblo West 7 7 0 7 — 21

M — FG Henry 31. PW — Ch. Vaughan 4 run (A. Martinez kick). PW — Torres 1 run (A. Martinez kick). M — FG Henry 38. M — Fox 5 run (Rothschild pass from DiCarlo). PW — B. Martinez 11 pass from Ch. Vaughan (A. Martinez kick).

Monarch PWest

First downs 17 15

Rushes-yds. 58-236 44-156

Passing 1-7-26-1 4-6-37-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-1

Punts-avg. 1-31.0 3-37.7

Penalties-yds. 4-20 3-30

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing — Monarch, Soole 34-127, Stepisnik 15-76, Fox 8-32, Rothschild 1-1; Pueblo West, Jackson 12-41, Ch. Vaughan 7-30, Torres 14-27, Co. Vaughan 6-24, Chavarria 4-22, Fillmore 2-12.

Passing — Monarch, DiCarlo 1-6-26-0, Stepisnik 0-1-0-1; Pueblo West, Ch. Vaughan 4-6-37-0.

Receiving — Monarch, Burton 1-26; Pueblo West, Martinez 2-25, Co. Vaughan 1-8, Torres 1-4.