Lakewood in good position for Class 5A playoffs
In some high school football programs, failure has a way of compounding itself, year after year. In others, it does the opposite: It hardens a team’s resolve to turn things around.
Lakewood football is very much the latter, as the No. 10 Tigers ( 7- 2, 2- 2 Mount Lincoln) are ranked sixth in the latest Class 5A RPI and appear destined for not only a playoff showing, but a multipleweek stay in the state tournament.
“Our seniors have had a tough last few years— we’ve missed the playoffs, we’ve been the team that’s written off around the league,” senior quarterback Ezekiel Sundberg said. “But our class has matured, and we all care about each other and the overall outcome. Noone is an individual on this team.”
That mind- set blossomed after Lakewood’s 3- 7 season in 2015. That team’s sophomore class realized it was going to take an allencompassing effort — in the classroom, on the practice field and in theweight room— to compete in an ever- shifting Class 5A football landscape.
The Tigers last appeared in the state title game in 2011. Overall, Lakewood has won seven state championships — although none since 1985, and never in Class 5A.
“When I took over, I brought in the philosophy of doing the right thing in everything,” fourth- year Lakewood coach Jeff Braun said. “And you knowwhat? We needed an attitude change that second year ( in 2015). Therewere a lot of great players at the school who weren’t playing for Lakewood because they couldn’t adhere to the policies and off- the- field requirements that needed to happen.”
This season, with a dual- threat quarterback in Sundberg ( 1,370 total yards and 12 touchdowns) as well as skill talent in junior wideout Kegan Hufford and senior wideoutRex Desso— plus a stout defense led by senior defensive backs Nick Pierro andWeston Lee — Lakewood is looking the part of playoff challenger. Even the Tigers’ two regular- season losses shed light on their capabilities.
“Our goal is to see how far we can take this,” Braun said. “We’ve played a couple of big top- 10 teams — we hung with ( topranked) Valor for a while, and we were a couple mistakes away from beating ( No. 9) Highlands Ranch. So we know, physically and talentwise, we’re right there with the top of the classification.”
The Tigers close the regular season Friday against Legend at Jeffco Stadium. It’s a chance for Lakewood to shore up its playoff positioning against a Titans team coming off an upset of Highlands Ranch last week.
“One of our keys against them is our offense needs to stay on the field,” Braun said. “We need to move the ball both running and passing, because they’re pretty good on the defensive side.”