Jessica Maestas

football
12/7/2024 6:02:53 p.m

Alissa Noe/BoCoPreps

FORT COLLINS – Just when it looked like Montrose would score a game-winning touchdown in the final two minutes of the Class 4A state championship game, Broomfield strong safety Gio Toledo flew through the air at Canvas Stadium to give him a second-minute score to take everything away -sown Red Hawks.

Two years after attempting to send the fifth-seeded Eagles to the state championship – which they ultimately won – he secured their sixth state championship with a spectacular interception. The steal at the Eagles’ own 14-yard line sealed a 28-point comeback in their thrilling 35-28 victory over the Red Hawks.

“Gio is that guy, and Gio does that every day in practice,” head coach Robert O’Brien said. “I wasn’t surprised at all that he played so well in the state championship. He does it every day in practice. No shock to me at all.”

In 2022, on its home turf, Toledo recovered a fumble from Colorado touchdown leader Blake Barnett at the 1-yard line. A week later, the Eagles defeated Loveland at Mile High Stadium. In his final act with Broomfield he played the hero again.

“I knew the pass was coming,” Toledo explained. “I mean, (Aidan Grijalva) and (Chase Mehan) are the quarterback’s go-to guys. I didn’t see him throw it to anyone else. After halftime we stopped blowing into the box and went back to our base defense. and I have four DBs, so I just picked my guy, I turned around to get the ball, the ball is right there, and I make a play on it.”

He was far from the only Eagle to save heroics for the title game. Senior quarterback Darien Jackson was named Most Outstanding Player after throwing for 181 yards and two touchdowns, then running one in with his own two feet. Senior cornerback Mikhail Benner, who is transferring to Air Force next year, contributed 112 yards and his own score on offense as he didn’t punish Montrose on defense.

The Red Hawks’ offense ran around Broomfield in the first half, scoring every time it touched the ball. The Eagles couldn’t keep up with Grijalva, who reached the end zone twice with 71 yards on eight carries. Montrose quarterback Cade Saunders rubbed salt in the wound with 63 passing yards and two touchdowns.

When the Eagles were allowed to score, they relied on Jackson to mark the number on the scoreboard. In the first half alone, he threw for 106 yards and found Elliot Less and Benner in the end zone.

The Red Hawks led by as many as 21 points with 40 seconds left in the first half, but the tide began to turn after that. The Eagles recovered the ball 81 yards in that short period of time before Jackson threw a dime to Benner, who fired it within a hair’s breadth of the pylon.

“Everyone will say the catch at the end of the game was the winning play, but the score in the end zone with six seconds left in the half was the score of the game,” O’Brien said. “We went 81 yards in 40 seconds to cut the score to two scores, and we got the ball back in the second half.”

Broomfield was a tsunami after trailing 28-14 at halftime.

The biggest gains came from Less, Joe Larsen and Jackson, who scored the final three touchdowns of the game on runs. Broomfield’s defense, meanwhile, stopped the Red Hawks dead in the water.

Benner was the first to take control of Montrose’s offense. Immediately after Less fumbled the ball into the end zone, resulting in a touchback for the Red Hawks, Benner countered his offense with a fumble recovery – on the very next play, no less.

Toledo overwhelmed the Red Hawks once and for all with the interception with 2:06 left. Broomfield’s senior class once again proved deadly.

“You really can’t ask for more, can you?” said O’Brien. “Like the strip down here, Gio Toledo’s diving interception, Mikhail Benner’s one-handed tip-to-self catch. Darien Jackson said after a minute and a half, “Let me throw the ball.” I’m going to finish this ball. We’re going to win this football game.’ That’s exactly what he did.

“It’s all culture. It doesn’t matter who the coach is. It doesn’t matter who the players are. Broomfield High School does Broomfield High School things. And that is exactly what culture is. We work on this every day and hats off to our administration for supporting us every day with our culture.”