The late game on Friday was a 7:30 start between the Pomona Panthers and the Arvada West Wildcats. I went home between games to throw on more cold weather gear, download photos from the first game, grab my flash and fix dinner.
Arvada West has had a rough season, going into this game with a 2-6 record, where Pomona, who was ranked as high as #2 in the state has had their own version of a rough season. The Panthers fell this season to top ranked teams Chaparral and Ralston Valley, so this was a must win for Pomona for a good seed in the state playoffs.
Tempers were high between the teams. The above picture ended up bad for both teams. From what I saw, after the play ended (which was a hard tackle out of bounds in the A-West player area), Pomona’s player (11) got up and shoved some people around that caused shoving and other Pomona players running over to defend their teammate. The A-West coach went out on the field to yell at a official for not flagging the play and when it was all sorted out, Pomona was hit with a 10 yard unnecessary roughness call (officials mic was cutting in and out), which I agreed with, the ball carrier was almost out of bounds when the Pomona player was on top of him, a little shove would have sent him out of bounds, but as you can see, he was in full tackle mode taking him out of bounds. Then A-West was hit with a unsportsman like conduct penalty for 15 yards. I did here other people say it was both unsportsman like calls, I also heard that the A-West call was for the coach putting his hands on on official, which I am not sure with Colorado rules, but everywhere else that would be an automatic ejection for the coach if he touched on official. Anyway, after that got sorted out, you knew this was going to be a tough played game.
A-West would not lay down, but Pomona was playing a bit harder. In the first quarter, both teams went scoreless. It was a shock to many as A-West had been dominated most of the season by opponents, and here they were going toe to toe with one of the top 5A schools in the state. We were in for a barn burner…or so it seemed early on…
In the second quarter the wheels fell off for the Wildcats as Pomona would score 20 unanswered points on three rushing touchdowns. Going into the locker room at halftime, Pomona had to feel good. I know going into the officials garage at halftime to warm up made me feel good. It was cold out. While we were not having the snow we had the night before, it was still in the low 30’s with a bit of a cool wind blowing.
When the second half started, the Pomona defense held A-West scoreless while the offense tacked on another rushing touchdown. In the 4th quarter, Pomona’s offense shut down, unable to score, but that is when the defense picked up and on a turnover took the ball 25 yards for a touchdown. After the PAT, Pomona was up 41-0 and we were in the mercy rule running clock for the rest of the 4th quarter.
It was not until the last two minutes of the game until A-West finally got on the board with a 19 yard touchdown pass. But it was too little too late. A-West will miss out on the playoffs, and Pomona has a Saturday afternoon date with Mountain Vista in the first round of the playoffs.
To view and purchase more photos from this game, please go to MaxPreps
