Holy Family pounces on Denver North
Tigers march on to 3A second round
BROOMFIELD >> Before Holy Family football’s fall season even began, senior defensive back Cole Kuszak wasn’t sure he’d suit up with his Tiger brothers one last time.
Over the course of their 50-8 victory over No. 15 seed Denver North in their Class 3A state playoff debut on Friday night, the second-seeded Tigers were certainly grateful that he did. The dualsport athlete, who doubled up with fall baseball and football, was a menace to the Vikings all night long.
“I was playing fall ball and I wasn’t sure how that would affect the schedule,” he said. “I didn’t want to come out, play and miss like five or six games. Once I got my schedule, I think I only ended up missing one game for baseball, so it worked out.”
The senior defensive leader brushed off a groin strain that’s been nagging him since Week 6, and played with the kind of ice in his veins that could only be attributed to the plummeting temperatures outside. He recorded three tackles, one for loss, and defended three Viking passes.
His sharpened focus from months of double dipping only served to injure Denver North, who couldn’t gain any traction on the Tigers all night long.
“My weeks were pretty swamped because I had some days with multiple practices, one for each sport going here and there,” Kuszak explained. “I really had to focus on what needed to be done at practice, and then really ingrain that in my head. I knew what I needed to do on the field and what I needed to do on the diamond.”
While he helped hold the line defensively, Holy Family’s explosive offense took care of the rest.
Senior quarterback Rylan Cooney threw for 165 yards, including a touchdown toss to junior Anderson Osburn, while running the ball another 112 yards and scoring three times with his own two feet. Senior running back Dominic Gabriel, junior running back Anthony Scott and
senior wide receiver Aston Erickson all added to the scoreboard with rushing touchdowns of their own.
The Tigers have put together just the right recipe for a potential state championship bid, as they enter the next leg of the playoffs with a 10-1 record.
“Our defense has come on huge in the last, probably, six or seven weeks. We had some early errors that we overcame, and the kids are just playing at a really high level,” head coach Mike Gabriel said. “Rylan’s fearless. I mean, he has courage. He’s not afraid to take chances and, this year, he’s taken the right chances, which has been big for us as a team.”
The Tigers asserted their dominance in the first half quickly as Cooney got his hands on four scores through the first 24 minutes, three on the ground and one in the air to build up a 29-8 lead at the half.
Dom Gabriel tapped that vein quickly in the second half as he added to Denver North’s defensive bleeding with a four-yard rushing touchdown, inching the Tigers ever closer to the running clock. Erickson crossed that Rubicon near the end of the third quarter and Holy Family never looked back.
Now, the Tigers will set their sights on the winner of No. 7 Resurrection Christian and No. 10 Lewispalmer, who will face off on Saturday for a spot in the quarterfinals. Holy Family needs just three more wins to earn some serious hardware.
“We know we have a long way to go, and we’re ready for the next round,” coach Gabriel said.
was returning a punt up 28-0 when he was grabbed by two defenders and slammed to the ground as he went out of bounds. A replay of it showed one defender on his back and the other driving and falling on him from the front. His head hit the turf.
With Barnett out, the team’s possible future at quarterback, junior Ronin Ward, delivered a screen pass that Mason Cowgill took for a 43-yard TD on the next play. The defense followed it up with another stop on the strength of a sack by Lincoln Hageman.
Barnett was then cleared to return, leading a 72-yard drive in the final minutes of the half to make it 42-0. His night was over after that.
“I was a little angry,” Barnett said. “I just wanted to go put another one on.”
In a lickety-split second half due to a running clock, Ward added a 57-yard rushing TD and Tyler Hoffman kicked a 24-yard field goal on the team’s only two offensive possessions.
Next week, the Tigers host No. 7 Dakota Ridge in the quarterfinals. The Eagles beat No. 10 Thomas Jefferson 52-28 in the second round.
Holy Family’s Jaxon Grable runs the ball downfield during the Tigers’ Class 3A state playoff game against Denver North on Friday night.