GLENWOOD SPRINGS (10/26/12) — So the playoffs are gone, but the game remains, and for a dozen Glenwood seniors, their final home football game was a triumphant 48-3 thrashing of the Montezuma-Cortez Panthers.
Last week second-half collapse at Evergreen, that tossed away a 20-7 lead, ended the Demons’ wild card hopes, but for probably all the players on the field Friday in Glenwood, their football careers will end with graduation, so playing the game is its own special reward, regardless of the team’s record. Sure, every player wants to extend the season to the playoffs, but the disappearance of that dream doesn’t negate the shear fun of running, blocking, passing, catching, and tackling — and the Demons did all those things well against Cortez.
Start with Auston Tribble, the Demons’ touchdown machine, who overtook an early 3-0 Panther lead by returning a punt 49 yards for a touchdown with 3:11 to play in the first quarter. It was the senior’s 9th score this season, and with two minutes to go in the half, he would make it 10 (3 kick returns, 2 rushing, 4 through the air, and now a punt return as well), taking a pass from junior Travis Lundin 46 yards for a 21-3 Glenwood advantage.
Henry Hill, also a junior, was having some fun, too. In a 62-yard scoring drive that began near the end of the first quarter, Hill gained all but six of those in 8 carries, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown to put the Demons up 14-3. In the opening possession of third quarter, Hill capped a 65-yard ground drive with a 15-yard TD, his 14th of the season, and went over the 100-yard mark for the 5th time in his last six games.
Lundin was also lights-out, firing a pair of TD passes, including a 20-yard strike to senior Caiden Sorensen after Hill returned an interception 24 yards to the Panther 30 just before halftime.
Speaking of interceptions, Kody Fox joined the touchdown party when he stepped in front of Tallon Ralstin’s pass near midfield and returned it 45 yards, giving the Demons a 28-3 lead that would be increased to 34-3 by intermission.
Sophomore Sam Carner had the distinction of scoring a 4-yard touchdown in his varsity debut that also started a running clock halfway through the third quarter.
For the game, Lundin completed 6-of-10 passes for 97 yards and Tribble, who also gained 73 yards on 3 rushing attempts, caught 3 passes for 59 yards, giving him 47 receptions for the season. Hill gained 123 yards in 15 carries and needs just under 50 yards in the concluding game of the season next week at winless Battle Mountain to top 1,000 yards for the second straight season (despite missing the first two games).
The seniors who got to sing the school fight song for their fans at the game’s conclusion included: Fox, Sorensen, Tribble, Josh McKee (who had the game’s only sack), Erick Madrid (a lineman, who made his debut at running back in the game’s closing moments), Alberto Ramirez, Jesus Salinas, Logan Holmberg, Zak Golden, Ivan Sarabia, Collin Page, and Grant Fegan.
