A homecoming rout for Glenwood Springs

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — So much for 2008 yielding a thrilling chapter in the tradition-rich Glenwood Springs-Rifle football rivalry.

Behind 258 passing yards and two touchdowns from senior quarterback Dakota Stonehouse and 106 rushing yards and three scores from Michael Hudson, the Demons, donning special black jerseys in celebration of homecoming, trounced the visiting Bears 45-0 on Friday.

Beyond a few mental errors — including a muffed punt and kickoff that led to turnovers — Glenwood enjoyed a virtually flawless homecoming, taking a 24-0 lead into halftime and padding the advantage with three quick TDs in the third quarter.

The perfectionist Demons, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by RockyPreps, know they’ll have to up the effort at No. 1 Palisade in next week’s Saturday meeting of the state’s top teams.

“We were pretty sloppy,” said Glenwood’s Connor Riley, who hauled in three passes for 121 receiving yards. “We need to brush up on a lot of things. We’ll get in the film room and work hard.”

The Demons did get nicked for 75 penalty yards.

Despite what Riley dubbed “sloppy play,” Glenwood wasted little time lighting up the scoreboard.

A 27-yard field goal by Clay Hawkins got the offense rolling early in the first quarter, a score set up by a long interception return by Kevin Screen. Screen actually returned the ricocheted pick 29 yards into the end zone, but a penalty called the play back to the Rifle 16-yard line.

A series and failed fake punt by the Bears later, the Demons unleashed a two-play, 27-yard scoring drive capped by an 8-yard TD run by Hudson to make it 10-0.

Two second-quarter strikes — one a 79-yard Stonehouse TD strike to Riley and the other a 5-yard scoring scamper by Hudson — gave the Demons a 24-0 lead at the break.

Screen caught a conversion pass on the latter TD to make up for a botched snap and unsuccessful conversion attempt on the previous score.

“We had a couple of good series,” Riley said. “Our offensive line was blocking good, Dakota made some good passes and Mikey was going good.”

Rifle had a chance to turn the tide at the second half’s start, recovering a muff kickoff at the Glenwood 18-yard line.

The Bears couldn’t move the ball, though, turning it over on downs to set up a 59-yard TD run up the right sideline by Hudson. The breakaway sprint put Hudson over 100 yards on the night on his seventh — and final — carry of the night.

A bad snap on a punt try on Rifle’s next possession gave the ball right back to the Demons, who punched it two plays later when reserve running back Garret Kobobel sprinted into the end zone from 9 yards out.

Stonehouse connected with Josh Galvan on a 64-yard scoring pass near the end of the third quarter to round out the scoring and give way to a running clock.

The Demons improved to 7-0 overall and to 5-0 in the 3A Western Slope League with the win, while Rifle dropped to 1-6 overall and to 1-4 in league.

“My hat’s off to Glenwood,” Bears coach Anthony Alfini said. “They played well. … We’ve just got to start over again tomorrow morning.”

Rifle’s quarterback tandem of Ryan Rebhan and Logan Powell combined for 157 yards passing on the night to pace the Bears’ offense.

Rebhan completed 7 of 13 passes for 93 yards and Powell connected on 4 of 20 for 64 yards. Joe Burgess caught three passes for 95 of those yards.

Rifle hosts Battle Mountain next week in its homecoming game.

Glenwood Springs 45, Rifle 0 At Glenwood Springs Rifle 0 0 0 0 — 0 Glenwood Springs 10 14 21 0 — 45 SCORING SUMMARY FIrst quarter GS — Clay Hawkins FG 27, 9:33 GS — Michael Hudson 8 run (Hawkins kick), 5:50 Second quarter GS — Connor Riley 79 pass from Dakota Stonehouse (conversion failed), 4:03 GS — Hudson 5 run (Kevin Screen conversion pass from Stonehouse), 1:38 Third quarter GS — Hudson 59 run (Hawkins kick), 8:38 GS — Garret Kobobel 9 run (Hawkins kick), 7:49 GS — Josh Galvan 64 pass from Stonehouse (Hawkins kick), 1:44 R GS First downs 11 12 Total yards 159 380 Rushes-yards 20-2 13-119 Passing 157 261 Comp-Att-Int 11-34-2 9-17-0 Punts 4-33.3 3-41 Fumbles-Lost 5-1 3-2 Penalties-Yards 6-45 10-75 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING — Rifle, James Martinez 5-22, Dano Fugita 6-6, Taylor Webb 2-13, Steven Garza 1-4, Tyrel Lenard 1-1, Tad Davis 1-(minus 1), Keaton Deere 1-(minus 4), Burgess 1-(minus 13), Ryan Rebhan 1-(minus 13), Logan Powell 1-(minus 13). Glenwood, Hudson 7-106, Kobobel 3-18, Kevin Screen 1-4, Tyler Thulson 1-(minus 2), Stonehouse 1-(minus 7). PASSING — Rifle, Rebhan 7-13-1-93, Powell 4-20-1-64, Joe Burgess 0-1-0-0. Glenwood, Stonehouse 8-15-0-258, Luke Jacob 1-2-0-3. RECEIVING — Glenwood, Riley 3-121, Galvan 3-97, Screen 2-40, Wyatt Israel 1-3. Rifle, Burgess 3-95, Martinez 3-22, Tanner Wilcox 2-18, Fugita 1-18, Lenard 2-4.