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Huskies get even

Douglas County avenges only loss to Mountain Vista

John Rosa, Special to the News

Published November 18, 2006 at midnight

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HIGHLANDS RANCH - Douglas County got the one that mattered.

Three weeks after the Huskies' 20-game winning streak was snapped by Mountain Vista during the regular season, the defending champions returned the favor, knocking off the Golden Eagles 12-10 in the Class 5A state football quarterfinals Friday night in front of more than 3,100 fans at Shea Stadium.

Douglas County (11-1) will meet the winner of today's Chaparral/Mullen game in the semifinals. Mountain Vista, playing its first year in 5A, ended its season at 10-2.

"We wanted to get revenge for earlier in the year," said Huskies quarterback Keiffer Garton, who passed for 204 yards and two scores. "(Mountain Vista's) a great team, and they played well. We just got our job done."

Garton utilized the pump-fake on both of his touchdown tosses, freezing the Golden Eagles' defensive backs which left his receivers wide open. His second TD pass, an 18-yarder to Jeff Stevens, gave Douglas County a 12-3 lead with 10:30 remaining in the fourth quarter. It was Stevens' first touchdown reception of the season.

"We saw them jumping on the hitches so we thought we could beat them over the top with that," Garton said. "It worked both times."

After the Stevens score, Mountain Vista responded with its best drive of the contest, as quarterback Danny Beck led the Golden Eagles 77 yards in nine plays. Matt Tuten made a great adjustment on a designed underthrow by Beck, turning it into a 42-yard touchdown that cut the deficit to 12-10 with 6:49 to play.

But Beck could only watch as Douglas County ran off more than 5 minutes from the clock with a well-executed, time-consuming drive.

When the drive finally stalled, Huskies back-up punter Michael Facchinello buried Mountain Vista at its own 1-yard line with a perfectly placed 39-yard punt.

"I thought I had kicked it too far," said Facchinello, who was called into emergency duty after the regular punter suffered a deep thigh bruise. "I was just praying that it would stay in."

Said Beck: "Ninety-nine yards was going through my mind. I was just trying to take it one throw at a time, 120 seconds with no timeouts. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough time."

The Golden Eagles moved to the 23-yard line but turned over the ball on downs.

The Huskies took a 6-3 lead into the intermission after a well-played first half. Douglas County struck midway through the second quarter with an 11-play, 88-yard drive. Garton hit Kaither Holiway on a 22-yard scoring strike, but just as in the regular-season matchup, the Huskies couldn't convert the extra point when the snap was bobbled.

A Douglas County turnover late in the second quarter allowed Mountain Vista to score just before the half. Patrick Mehnke picked off a Garton pass at midfield and returned it to the 39-yard line with 10.8 seconds remaining before intermission.

Beck hit Tuten on a slant pattern for an 18-yard gain, and Tuten got down and called a time out with 4.7 seconds remaining. Daniel Moffitt hit a 38-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 6-3.

Douglas County......0 6 0 6 - 12
Mountain Vista......0 3 0 7 - 10

Second quarter

DC - Kaither Holiway 22 pass from Keiffer Garton (kick fail). MV - Daniel Moffitt 38 field goal.

Fourth quarter

DC - Jeff Stevens 18 pass from Garton (kick fail). MV - Matt Tuten 42 pass from Beck (Moffitt kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - DC, Ryan Misare 21-98, Garton 7-6. MV, Eric Longoria 20-69, Beck 8-27, Gavin Gildon 2-8, Adam Paranka 1-(minus 10).

Passing - DC, Garton 17-27-1-209. MV, Beck 13-23-1-191.

Receiving- DC, Holiway 9-110, Andy Nappo 4-57, Cameron White 2-24, Stevens 1-18, Misare 1-(minus 5). MV, Tuten 7-112, Zach Seibel 3-55, Longoria 3-24.