Rifle 40 – Summit 7

A lot went right for the Bears on Halloween night.

Rifle scored four touchdowns in the game’s first five minutes on Friday and had a mercy-rule running clock in place by halftime over the Summit Tigers. By the time that the final horn sounded, the score was 40 -7, the Bears had sewn up a 9-1 regular season record and they knew that they had a good shot at having a home game to start the post-season.

But the good news kept on coming…

As the Bears were leaving the locker room, word came in from Grand Junction that Delta had defeated Palisade 27-24 in overtime. The Palisade loss guaranteed Rifle the 2014 West Slope League Championship, a top 8 playoff seed, and a playoff game at home.

Rifle vs. Northridge

The Colorado High School Activities Association released the 3A football bracket on Sunday and Rifle earned the #6 overall seed. The Bears will play #11 Northridge to begin post-season play.

The Northridge Grizzlies are 6-4 on the year and earned the number three spot in the 3A Northern League. They lost games to 4A Greeley Central, league-champion Northridge, league-runner up Holy Family and non-conference opponent Evergreen.

The Northridge offense features a prolific passing game. Quarterback Brenden Fulton (#7) is lightning quick and elusive. He has nearly 3,000 passing yards on the season and his favorite target, Senior Wide Receiver Jay Frye (#2), is ranked in the top 25 in the nation in receiving yards with 1,266. Fulton is also extremely dangerous with his legs and leads the team in rushing with 524 yards. Defensively, senior Wilfredo Castillo (#22) leads the way with 82 tackles.

The Bears and the Grizzlies have met in the playoffs one previous time. In 2005, the Bears were the fourth and final qualifier out of the West Slope League and the last seed in the 3A bracket. Their reward? A road game with the number one overall seed and undefeated Northridge. The Bears hung with the Grizzlies all night and then scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than seconds on the clock. Rifle went on to their second consecutive state championship game where the Bears lost to Florence 35-14.

Read More

Rifle hosts first round of 3A state football playoffs; Glenwood goes to Evergreen – Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Bears win league title, stay low key – Glenwood Springs Post Independent
Late heroics – The Daily Sentinel
Class 3A, 4A playoff football fields set – The Daily Sentinel
Friday Night Blitz – Week 10 – KJCT8.com
Friday Night Frenzy: Week 10 – westernslopenow.com