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No. 2 Huskies fend off Falcons

Highlands Ranch upset hopes fade at Douglas County

Pat Rooney, Special to the News

Published October 14, 2006 at midnight

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CASTLE ROCK - To absolutely nobody's surprise, the Douglas County football team has been rolling through the Continental League schedule. Defending state champions are supposed to do that.

Yet the Huskies have been quite aware of the fact that three of their toughest games would take place during the final three weeks of the season.

If Douglas County's league rivals thought the Huskies might be ripe for a letdown in the stretch run, they had better think again.

Combining an impressive first-half passing performance by senior quarterback Keiffer Garton with timely fourth-quarter defense, Douglas County held on for a 17-10 homecoming win against Highlands Ranch on Friday.

The win was the 20th in a row for Douglas County, which had defeated its previous two opponents 101-0 but needed a pair of fourth-quarter defensive stops to remain in sole possession of first place in the league.

The unbeaten Huskies (7-0 overall and league), the second-ranked team in Class 5A, travel to second-place Mountain Vista next week before finishing the regular season at home against Ponderosa.

The Falcons fell to 4-3 overall and in the league despite becoming the first team to score 10 points against Douglas County.

"The only way you train for war is to have war games," Douglas County coach Jeff Ketron said. "It has got to be tough and it's got to be challenging.

"And you know what? This is a great deal for us. We may not have played our best game all-around, but when it was time to make plays, we had guys that made plays. Ranch is probably one of the most underrated teams in the state."

Garton completed his first five attempts and staked the Huskies to a 14-0 lead with two touchdown passes to Cameron White, including an 80-yard score on the first play after senior Tucker Reddy recovered a Highlands Ranch fumble.

"They were biting on play-action, which worked really well for us," Garton said. "Coach has been telling us to take it a week's game at a time to get it done. Now our first goal is to beat Vista and win the league championship."

Douglas County saw its shutout streak end when Highlands Ranch senior Adam Shaw booted a 49-yard field goal that skimmed over the crossbar on the final play of the first half, trimming the Huskies' led to 14-3.

The play seemed to energize Highlands Ranch, which held the Huskies without a touchdown in the second half and battled to within seven points on a 1-yard touchdown run by Keven Coe with 10 minutes, 36 seconds remaining.

The Falcons' final two drives, however, were stopped by incomplete passes on fourth down.

Highlands Ranch......0 3 0 7 - 10
Douglas County......7 7 3 0 - 17

First quarter

DC - Cameron White 3 pass from Keiffer Garton (Andy Giepel kick).

Second quarter

DC - White 80 pass from Garton (Giepel kick).

HR - Adam Shaw 49 field goal.

Third quarter

DC - Giepel 27 field goal.

Fourth quarter

HR - Keven Coe 1 run (Shaw kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - HR, Coe 18-84, Eric Mitchell 15-59, Will Halboth 12-36, Matt Houston 5-16, Cameron Hooker 1-5, Chris Heinz 1-3, Sean McCorkle 1-(minus 1); DC, Ryan Misare 16-81, Garton 6-23.

Passing - HR, Mitchell 7-18-0-76; DC, Garton 7-12-1-174.

Receiving - HR, Heinz 3-32, Halboth 1-12, Sean Grover 1-11, Kelly MacFarlane 1-11, Hooker 1-10; DC, White 4-114, Andy Nappo 2-41, Kaither Holiway 1-19.

Interception - HR, Halboth.