Earlier in the day on Friday they announced that the body found in a park in Arvada, CO was the body of missing 10 year old Jessica Ridgeway. The body was found just a few miles away from Ralston Valley and Pomona high schools. Both schools dedicated the game to Jessica and her family. There were many purple ribbons all around, Jessica’s favorite color, the Ralston Valley fans released a bunch of purple balloons, and the players on both teams wore a purple sock in her honor.
Ralston Valley went into this game with a 5-1 record and ranked #2 in the state for 5A football. Pomona also came in with a 5-1 record, but the previous number one team in the state was now #4 in 5A schools. This game was also the ROOT Sports Rocky Mountain high school game of the week. So along with a bunch of photographers, I had to deal with sound dish people, ROOT reporters wandering the sidelines, TV cameramen, and cable pullers, along with a bunch of non football people, school administration, parents, a number of little kids, and more. It made for a very crowded sideline and made it hard to get good angles or spots to shoot from.
Ralston Valley would take an early lead in the 1st, closing the opening quarter with a 9-0 advantage. With this being a ROOT Sports game, there were a number of TV timeouts, that made the quarters just drag on.
In the second quarter, Pomona finally got on the board with a touchdown, but was still trailing Ralston Valley 9-7. After a Ralston Valley 17 yard touchdown pass giving the Mustangs a 16-7 lead. Pomona would score on a 15 yard run to trail by 2, 14-16 going into halftime.
It took most of the third quarter for anyone to score. With about 2 minutes left in the 3rd, Ralston Valley would score on a 3 yard run. This would give Ralston Valley a 23-14 lead going into the 4th quarter. Trailing by 9 points, it was a two score deficit that Pomona would have to make up if they wanted to move up in the polls and the standings.
Early in the 4th, Pomona would strike on a touchdown pass bringing them to within 3 points of the Mustangs, and with a successful 2 point conversion, the Panthers trailed Ralston Valley by only 1 point.
Pomona had a chance, but Ralston Valley would take the ball and score again, giving them a 30-22 lead. With less than 2 minutes left, Pomona started marching down the field fighting both the Mustangs and the clock. But they were getting first down after first down until a turnover sealed their fate.
After the turnover, Ralston Valley ran the clock out to win 30-22. It was an awesome game with just too much going on on the sidelines.
The final picture I will leave you with you will have to click on to view. After clicking on it, you will want to click on the image again on the next page to get to a larger version. It is a multi frame image merged together showing the entire Ralston Valley team during the National Anthem.
To see more photos from this game, please visit MaxPreps.
