Broomfield roars back to beat Montrose for Class 4A football title, program’s sixth championship

FORT COLLINS — Coach Robert O’Brien’s fiery halftime speech had one overarching theme.

“He just told us, ‘Don’t blink,'” teary-eyed Broomfield Eagles senior Elliot Less said.

Easier said than done.

After all, the fifth-seeded Eagles had been punched in the mouth, fooled more than once, and out-executed by a blue-collar Montrose team in the first half. With 40 seconds left in the second quarter, the Red Hawks led 28-7.

But the talented and resilient Eagles rebounded and scored 28 unanswered points to beat No. 2 Montrose 35-28 and win the Class 4A state championship Saturday at Canvas Stadium. Broomfield finished 13-1 and won its second title in two years and sixth overall.

“We had a little panic, but it wasn’t enough to get us off our game,” said senior quarterback Darien Jackson, who completed 11 of 16 passes for 181 yards and two touchdowns and was named the game’s outstanding player.

“We just kept telling ourselves that we had to be a second-half team,” Jackson continued. “We came back. We always believed, and that was huge.”

Montrose, seeking its first state football championship since 1950, ran its wing-T offense to near perfection in the first half, scoring on all four of its possessions. The Red Hawks also stunned Broomfield with key passes. They took a 12-0 lead on a 29-yard pass from Cade Saunders to Chase Mehan, who was all alone in the BH secondary.

The lead grew to 28-7 on Saunders’ 11-yard pass to Wyatt Berry with 40 seconds left in the first half. Berry was left open in the end zone because the Broomfield linebackers were filling the box at the line of scrimmage, trying to stonewall Montrose’s formidable ground game. Montrose lined up in a four-receiver spread offense, and all Saunders had to do was dump the ball over the line of scrimmage.

Then came Broomfield’s six-play, 81-yard drive that changed everything.

Jackson connected with senior wide receiver/defensive back Mikhail Benner for 41 yards to the Montrose 16-yard line. Two plays later, Jackson threw a dart to Benner in the corner of the end zone for a 10-yard TD with three seconds left on the clock.

“I dragged one foot down and hit the pylon,” said Benner, who’s headed to the Air Force Academy on a football scholarship. “It was hard to get open, and they did their job and covered me well. But ballplayers are going to make plays, and I made a play.”

O’Brien called the TD “the score of the game.”

“We went 81 yards in less than 40 seconds to make it a two-score game,” he said. “And we got the ball back to start the second half and went down and scored. I told our guys that’s exactly what was going to happen.”

On that first drive of the third quarter, the Eagles drove 61 yards on nine plays, with Less running for an 18-yard TD to cut the Montrose lead to 28-21.

The Red Hawks appeared to be regaining the momentum on their next drive until a 15-yard chop-block penalty, followed by Less’ 9-yard sack of Saunders. It was the first time in the game Broomfield stopped the Montrose offense.

“If we don’t get that illegal chop block called there, it’s second-and-2, but it ends up being first-and-25,” said Montrose coach Brett Mertens, who led his team to a 13-1 record. “(That) was tough for us to overcome.

“There’s three or four moments that you look back on and think, ‘They go our way, we’re in better shape.'”

Prime example: With the game tied 28 midway through the fourth quarter, Broomfield was driving for the go-ahead score until Less fumbled and Abbot Dietrich recovered in the end zone. But on the next play, Broomfield’s Seth Blenman forced Aidan Grijalva to fumble, and Benner recovered at the Montrose 20. Four plays later, Jackson pushed in from the 2 for what turned out to be the winning score.

The drama wasn’t over.

Montrose mounted another drive, but it ended on a diving interception by the Eagles’ Gio Toledo at the Broomfield 12-yard line with two minutes, six seconds left. BHS finally clinched the game when Jackson completed a 36-yard pass across the middle to Benner on a third-and-12 play from the Broomfield 10. It was a gutsy call enhanced by Benner’s brilliant diving catch. He reached out with one hand and tipped the ball back into his body as he fell.

“I went to Coach (O’Brien) during a timeout and said, ‘I kind of like this route against this matchup,'” Benner said. “I said, ‘All you’ve got to do is trust me.’ I’m not going to lie; the ball was a little bit overthrown, but I told myself, ‘You’ve got to make a play.'”

He did, as did his teammates in the biggest moments of the season’s biggest game.

“Montrose played a phenomenal first half, we played a phenomenal second half,” O’Brien said. “Our kids wanted it; you could see that in the second half. We made all the plays.”

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