AURORA???Cherokee Trail coach Monte Thelen was quick to admit that his team didn't have a great week of preparation for Eaglecrest.
After all, his Cougars had handled the Raptors with relative ease just four weeks earlier on the same turf at Legacy Stadium.
"Young kids just tend to relax a little bit," he said.
On Saturday, with a berth in the Class 5A semifinals on the line, third-seeded Cherokee Trail found a way to advance, winning 17-14 against its Centennial League rival.
The difference? A 17-play, 93-yard drive that spanned more than seven minutes at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth.
A well-orchestrated display of power from the offensive line ? Trent Rogers, Garrett Zimmerman, Hunter Campbell, Matt Barden and more ? opened up holes for quarterback Aric Johnson and sophomore running back Cameron Smith.
"Every time in the huddle, we have a word of the drive, and that drive it was 'execute,' something we hadn't been doing all day," said Johnson, who completed two critical third-down passes late in the drive to Dominique Grady and Evan White.
"So we just took deep breaths and went along," Johnson said. "We knew the plays we could make; we've done them all year."
Johnson eventually capped the drive with a 3-yard run off right tackle.
"(Eaglecrest) got a little tired, but they were still coming," Johnson said.
Eaglecrest had one last drive to tie it up or take the lead. And, behind the running of quarterback Adan Soto, the Raptors moved to the Cougars' 26-yard line. But three penalties in four plays forced a desperation throw on a fourth-and-32 play that was intercepted by White.
"We had plenty of opportunities and took some silly penalties and just couldn't put it in the end zone," Raptors coach Mike Schmitt said.
Cherokee Trail (11-1) will host Ralston Valley (11-1) at Legacy Stadium in a semifinal Friday or Saturday. Thelen knows his team has to be better in order to move on to Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
"We are ecstatic to be in the semi- finals for the third time in six years," he said. "We have great respect for Ralston Valley. We've played them a number of times since 2007 and it'll be a great game. We'll have to have our 'A' game."
Eaglecrest (7-5), seeded No. 22 in the 32-team field, had taken a 14-10 halftime lead on special teams and made the Cougars pay for mistakes.
The Raptors tied things up 7-7 late in the first quarter when Sean Watkins scooped up a blocked punt at the 21-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. Two possessions later, Watkins was the one to block the punt, setting up his team at the Cougars' 15-yard line. Soto scored three plays later from 2 yards out.
Cherokee Trail 7 3 0 7 ? 17Eaglecrest 7 7 0 0? ? 14
CT ??Barry 61 pass from Johnson (Winke kick). E ??Watkins 21 blocked punt return (Silva kick). E ??Soto 2 run (Silva kick). CT ??FG Winke 34. CT ??Johnson 3 run (Winke kick).
Jon E. Yunt: 303-954-1354, jyunt@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joneyunt
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