Eagle Valley football off to undefeated start after trouncing Grand Junction Central

Eagle Valley head coach Chris Lake said after the Devils season-opening win in Hawaii that he expected his team to be 10-0 at the end of the year. So far, so good.

The Devils enter Thursday’s home game against Littleton with a 4-0 record after defeating Canon City on Sept. 5. and taking down Grand Junction Central last week.

“We’re glad to get out of those with wins — both of those games were tough,” said Lake, whose squad opened the Colorado portion of their schedule with a 28-7 win over Gunnison in August. “We’ve definitely been challenged the last three weeks.”

Last year, Eagle Valley was unable to practice prior to its game against Grand Junction Central, a 34-0 road loss. Lake said the defeat “left a sour taste” in his players’ mouths.

“We wanted to get back there and compete the way we knew we could have,” he stated. “So that was our mindset as we prepared.”

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The Warriors’ quarterback flipped the field a few times with long scrambles — and on one play, the punter rushed for a big gain — but the difference in the 27-7 victory was Eagle Valley’s clutch redzone defensive stands.

“Those were plays that almost cost us that we got away with,” Lake said. “They were on the door knocking and we got a couple interceptions, couple turnovers on downs — otherwise it would have been a lot different game.”

Eagle Valley seniors Trevor Dunn, Malachi Barros and Keaden Lake each had picks in the game. James Bivins tallied three sacks and five tackles for loss.

“He’s definitely our senior guy that has the experience at that position who we lean on to make those plays,” Lake said of Bivins, who also plays right tackle.

Eagle Valley’s offense hummed along, thanks in large part to its two-way stars. Barros carried the ball four times for 57 yards and tacked on another 53 through the air. Meanwhile, Lake did most of his damage at the wide receiver position, hauling in five passes for 135 yards and two scores. He also ran in a touchdown and added 54 yards on the ground. Nathan Leeper tallied 103 yards rushing and had 11 tackles on defense.

“Those are the guys we lean on,” Lake said. “It’s a tough thing for them to do; they do get tired obviously and we’re trying to bring the other guys behind them along as best as we can. And they’re all doing well with that. We’ve made some progress there.”

Eagle Valley hosts Littleton — a team it defeated 78-8 last fall – on Friday. Lake said the challenge this week has been preventing his players from looking ahead to the following week’s revenge match against Conifer.

“We approach every week the same way with the same level of discipline and work ethic,” Lake said. “That’s what we instill with our kids and try to get them to give their best effort on every play that they’re in.”

Conifer (2-0) possesses a lethal passing game, led by Mason Harrington, who is averaging 81 yards a game and Solomon Washer, a 6-foot-6-inch target who had over 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns during his junior campaign. In last year’s game, the Devils had a chance to drive down the field and take the lead late but a costly fumble resulted in a 28-23 loss.

“So we really felt like last year we let that one slip through our fingertips as well,” Lake said.

“In my eyes this is the probably the best team we will have played thus far,” he continued, referring to the Lobos. “We think we match up well.”