In the quarterfinals, the Varsity Football team headed to Colorado Springs to face off against Discovery Canyon; the team they lost to last year 34-31 in double overtime. This year they had a different approach, and with seconds left in the fourth quarter, Blake Duran scored the game-winning touchdown. The final score was 32-25, and the Warriors will be heading to the semifinals.

Riley Dufour told The Scout how their plans to go into the game after what happened last year, “We’ve grown as a team allowing us to go in with more confidence compared to last year. We’ve put in the work on and off the field to better ourselves in every game we play.” To add on to that Joey Notaro said, “We knew how much work and time we put into this season, we were going out there with the mindset that we were going to play smarter than them, harder than them, and will ourselves to win the game, which is exactly what happened…We weren’t going home hanging our heads, and we were determined that it wouldn’t be our last game.”

To start the game, the Discovery Canyon Thunder won the coin toss, which granted the Warriors to receive the ball first. The Thunder were first to score and completed a 2 point conversion to make the score 0-8. Soon after, Brandon Hornby was the first to score for the Warriors, closing the gap by one. To end the first quarter, Discovery Canyon scores again, making the score 7-15 going into the second. In the second quarter, Brandon Hornby is quick to score again for the Warriors to make it a close game once again. Towards the end of the second, Luke Dunker kicked a 48-yard field goal for Frederick to be in the lead for the first time in the game. At the end of the second, Brandon Hornby gets an interception granting Frederick with the ball in the second half.

In the second half, with the score being 17-15 Frederick, the Thunder received an interception with leads them to kick a field goal, which puts them back into the lead 17-18. The defense did a fantastic job holding the Thunder for the rest of the third quarter. With twelve minutes in the fourth quarter, this would be by far the longest quarter of the game. Right off the bat, Discovery Canyon scores their final touchdown making their lead 8 points over the warriors. Six minutes were left as quarterback Jake Green makes a touchdown followed by a successful 2-point conversion by Dominik Schleif. The score is tied 25-25 as the defense takes the field to stop the Thunders’ offense. With only a minute on the clock, Jake Green and his offense take the field. Their goal was to make it 20 yards to the 50-yard line for our kicker Luke Dunker to kick a field goal, but what happened next was indeed one for the books. With 28 seconds left Jake Green lobs a 30-yard throw which is caught by Blake Duran, he runs it 48 yards into the endzone, which makes the final score 32-25. The defense holds Discovery Canyon for two plays, and the game is officially over. The Warriors are now headed to the semifinals for the first time since 2011. “It honestly feels amazing to be able to do this for our seniors and our dreams are becoming a reality.” Christopher Baum told us after the game.

Missed the quarterfinal game? Catch the Warriors in the semifinals this Saturday at 1 pm against Pueblo South at home!