GLENWOOD SPRINGS (9/30/16) – After raising expectations with an impressive 30-6 Homecoming victory over Pueblo Central and doubling last season’s win total, Glenwood Springs will open Western Slope League play at Palisade on Thursday.
Two weeks ago the Demons (2-3) matched their single victory in 2015 with a 48-7 thrashing of Steamboat Springs, which dropped down to the 2A WSL due to declining enrollment. Though Pueblo Central has yet to win a game this season, the Warriors had size and some impressive athletes.
However, the hard-hitting Demon defense knocked two Pueblo quarterbacks out of the game before one of their leading receivers, Isaiah Collins drove the Warriors 70 yards in nine plays before completing an 8-yard TD toss to Jarrod Garcia to get on the board three minutes into the fourth quarter.
Prior to that score, Glenwood had taken a 7-0 first quarter lead on a one-yard run by Easton Gaddis, who would also score the next two Demon touchdowns, on a 58-yard run and a 6 yard pass from Jake Townsley.
Townsley set up that first score with a 4th-and-1 run from the Central three yard line. His hard-count on 4th-and-4 inside Glenwood’s own 20 yard line also caused Pueblo to jump offsides, then completed a 13-yard pass to Luis Mariano to set up the long sprint by Gaddis.
Glenwwod led 21-0 at halftime and Tyler Deitrich’s 30-yard field goal provided the only third-period score.
Townsley, who had completed just 40 per cent of his passes through the first four games, was an efficient 11-of-15 for 172 yards and two scores in his team’s final non-league tune-up. The last touchdown, with 7:55 left in the game, was a spectacular one: Townsley had run an effective option with both Gaddis and Luke Gair and appeared to be running an option right pass when he suddenly threw what appeared to be a two-hand basketball chest pass to Gair near the sideline. The 6-1 sophomore speedster did the rest, flashing down the sideline for a 49-yard touchdown. “I didn’t have enough time to throw it, so I just tossed it,” Townsley explained after the game. “It’s nice to get a homecoming win,” he added.
Gaddis, who ran for his third consecutive 100-plus yard game, compiling 132 on 17 carries, agreed, saying, “We haven’t had a home win for a while,” especially pleased to do so after his sister Delaney, a former all-state basketball player at GHS, returned home from college in Texas.
Glenwood will meet perennial state qualifier Palisade, tied with Rifle at 4-1 for the best non-league record among WSL teams, at Stocker Stadium in Grand Junction this Thursday.
