The Sports Page

By Charles Perk

Staff Writer

It's been said in the annals of sports, in everything from bowling to football, "It's not how, but how many."

For the Arvada West Wildcats and Ponderosa Mustangs Friday night in the Class 5A state semifinals at Douglas County Stadium, it was definitely a case of "not how many, but when."

The Mustangs, who led 7-3 at halftime behind a dominating defensive performance, watched their season evaporate on three consecutive second-half possessions. Two turnovers led to 15 points and, in between, West quarterback Steve Cutlip threw a backbreaking 96-yard touchdown pass to Brad Pyatt, rallying the Wildcats past the Mustangs 25-15 and into the state championship game.

"Turnovers were the story of our season. We lost four games and turnovers cost us in all of them," said Ponderosa coach Jamie Woodruff. "You can't turn the ball over against a team as good as this."

On Ponderosa's second possession of the second half, quarterback Peter Lowry fumbled at his own 43, with Arvada West's Adam Ullrich recovering. Eight plays later, Cutlip found Pyatt from 8 yards out to give West a 10-7 lead.

After Eric Landauer downed Jake Meuli's punt at the Arvada West 4-yard line, Cutlip, who completed just 10 passes on the night, took advantage of one-on-one coverage, a rarity on this night where Ponderosa had as many as eight and nine people out in pass coverage.

Pyatt got a step on Ponderosa's Steve Everett, and Cutlip, from his own end zone, fired a 55-yard rainbow to Pyatt, who broke Everett's tackle at midfield and cruised the rest of the way for the score.

"I just wanted that ball to get down," Pyatt said. "They finally went for (man-to-man), and we broke it. They had been double-covering me all night."

On Ponderosa's next possession, Jason Lucas intercepted Lowry, setting the Wildcats up at the Mustang 29. Five plays later, running back Eric Nelson scored from 6 yards out and gave the Wildcats a 25-7 lead early in the fourth.

"The turnovers were a big factor. We try to focus on winning the turnover battle," said Wildcat coach Dave Logan. "Credit Ponderosa, they executed their game in the first half, but in the second half, we turned things around, and it doesn't get any better than (a state title game berth) at this level."

The Mustangs were sensational defensively in the first half, limiting Cutlip to just five completions (one before the final drive of the half), and taking a 7-3 lead on Jeff Fellin's 17-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left in the first quarter.

But the offense never really found its rhythm, especially when Fellin left the game late in the first half with a concussion. The Mustangs' only other score came in the final minutes when offensive lineman Mark Dubrovitch scored from 63 yards out on a fumblerooski.

"We played tremendously on defense, and did a great job covering people," Woodruff said. "But we lost (Fellin), and that really hurt, especially the way he was playing in the postseason. Arvada West has a great football team, and we needed to play 48 minutes and not turn the football over."

The Wildcats advance to play Bear Creek at 11 a.m. Saturday at Jefferson County Stadium, while the Mustangs finish their most-successful season in the big-school ranks at 9-4.

"We feel like we can play with anyone in the state," Woodruff said. "I'm glad he had a second chance (in the playoffs), otherwise, people wouldn't have known about us."