ARVADA — If the Mustangs “keep punching” like this, they’ll haymaker their way to Canvas Stadium.
Ralston Valley lived up to its season-long motto on Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex, dispatching Jeffco rival Columbine with ease, 35-12, in the second round of the Class 5A football playoffs. The victory advanced the Mustangs to next week’s quarterfinals as RV (11-0) maintains its tunnel vision on the first state championship game in program history.
“We had playoff intensity tonight,” Ralston Valley head coach Jared Yannacito said. “… We made a commitment that we were going to come out firing. Even when things are going good, we’re going to keep punching.”
Senior Zeke Andrews, fresh off his verbal commitment to Colorado State on Monday, threw a beautiful long TD pass and rushed for another as the Mustangs ran away with the game. Andrews was playing for the first time since getting injured in the Mustangs’ 35-21 win over Columbine on Oct. 16, when the QB lacerated his kidney causing him to miss the final two games of the regular season.
“I thought Zeke played fearless,” Yannacito said. “Ran hard, made great throws, managed the game well. He did great.”
Andrews said it was “hard just to watch from the sideline” while he was hurt, but that the injury was a blessing in disguise for the Mustangs’ playoff run.
“I feel healthy,” Andrews said. “I haven’t been touched in four weeks — I feel the best I’ve felt all season.”
Andrews was offered by CSU on Nov. 3, and committed to the Rams a week later.
“That’s where I want to be at school, so I felt there was no reason to drag it out longer than it needed to go,” Andrews said. “I don’t know what (the CSU coaching change) will hold, but we’ll see how it goes when that happens.”
Meanwhile, Ralston Valley, which has lost in the semifinals two of the last three years, believes this is the fall to break down the door. The Mustangs played Friday like they have all season, looking like an unstoppable force and perhaps the classification’s best chance at dethroning juggernaut Cherry Creek should the two meet on Dec. 6 in Fort Collins.
No team has played the Mustangs closer than two touchdowns this season, and that trend continued on Friday.
After a fumble recovery set up Levi Rillos’ 39-yard TD run on Ralston Valley’s first play from scrimmage, the Rebels responded with a methodical scoring drive capped by a 6-yard TD run by Mark Snyder to make it 7-6.
But then Andrews threw a 45-yard dime down the seam for a score to Ethan Shirazi, and then Andrews scored on a QB sneak from 1 yard out to make it 21-6. The turning point came at the end of the first half, when Columbine drove down the field but then was stuffed on four straight plays inside the 4-yard line as time wound down.
“That was huge,” Yannacito said. “I don’t know how many times Columbine from first-and-goal inside the five gets stopped. That’s the definition of keep punching.”
Ralston Valley never looked back from there, using third-quarter TD runs by Nico Benallo and Rillos to pull away.
The Rebels finished 6-6, Columbine’s first non-winning season since going 5-6 in 2014. Longtime head coach Andy Lowry, who has helmed Columbine since 1994 and won six state titles, acknowledged the season has been full of growing pains for a team with just seven seniors.
Columbine started 0-3, including a 43-0 mercy-rule defeat to Legend. But the Rebels rebounded down the stretch, winning their final two regular-season games to make the playoffs. The Rebels then beat Fruita Monument 44-14 in the first round.
“That 0-3 start was pretty painful for the coaches and the kids,” Lowry said. “It was uncharted territory for us. But the kids kept trusting us coaches, believing and working and playing physical. We improved every week.”
Lowry, who has retired from full-time teaching and lost his wife Janet to cancer a year ago on Saturday, indicated he will continue to coach the Rebels in 2026.
“I still enjoy the kids, and these are my buddies that I coach with,” Lowry said. “It’s one of those things where you realize what your purpose is in life… I’m proud of our kids and coaches and how much work and effort we put in, and we stuck together after a tough start. At that point in the season, when you’re not doing well, it’s pretty easy to give up on things and nobody did.
“I don’t know what else I would do (besides coaching). I’m not built to retire. I would be just driving myself crazy.”
Ralston Valley takes on Mullen in next week’s quarterfinals after the Mustangs beat Pine Creek 21-18 on Friday in Colorado Springs.