ARVADA — Noah Meurer 18, Grandview Wolves 15.
That was the score of Meurer’s point total against his opponents on Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex, where Arvada West’s star wideout/safety/returner stole to show in the second round of the Class 5A football playoffs.
In addition to three receiving TDs, Meurer also recovered two fumbles, had an interception and moonlighted at tailback as the Wildcats beat Grandview 31-15. With the win, Arvada West improved to 10-1 and advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time in 16 years, when the Wildcats lost to eventual champion Mullen in the 2009 semifinals.
“Total domination (by Meurer),” said Arvada West head coach CJ Hanna. “We’ve got to put the ball in the best players’ hands, and that’s what we did with Noah all night. … He’ll probably drive the bus home, too.”
Meurer’s dominating performance punctuated Arvada West’s recent dramatic turnaround. When the Northern Colorado commit and his fellow seniors were in sixth grade, they remember coming to Wildcats games as the program turned in an 0-10 season.
“If you would’ve said, ‘In six years, they’re going to go 10-1,’ nobody would’ve believed it,” Meurer said. “But we did. That’s why our youth team (the Arvada Regulators) committed to (mostly) staying together to see this through once we got to high school.”
Arvada West controlled the momentum for the majority of the game, but Grandview punched back, even as the Wolves were on the ropes. Still, Grandview head coach Tom Doherty lamented his team’s self-inflicted mistakes that kept Arvada West’s lead continuously comfortable.
“I hope that’s how we would’ve gone out, swinging, and we did,” Doherty said. “But across the board — NFL, college, high school, little league — you can’t win when you have five turnovers, especially against a good team like Arvada West.”
After a scoreless opening quarter, Arvada West scored on the first play of the second quarter via Jaxon Pyatt’s 2-yard TD run. The extra-point was blocked to make it 6-0.
Grandview was then driving for a retaliatory score, but Atnafe Caleb Harr’s strip sack led to Pyatt’s fumble recovery. The very next snap, Eastern Illinois commit Logan Duhachek threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to Meurer, and Arvada West led 12-0 following a failed two-point conversion.
“(Duhachek) saw the other safety come down, so he was able to lead me across the field perfectly on a post route,” Meurer said. “Great route, great pass, great protection.”
The Wildcats added on again late in the first half, with another 2-yard TD run by the Cal commit Pyatt and another failed two-point conversion to extend the score to 18-0.
But the Wolves finally had a response, after what looked like a botched squib kick set Grandview up to start its drive near midfield. QB Blitz McCarty, an Idaho commit, completed several impressive chunk passes. Then he found paydirt via a 19-yard TD pass to Timothy Arnold III with 50 seconds remaining in the half. Julian Savaloja caught the two-point conversion, cutting the deficit to 18-8.
In the third quarter, Meurer’s interception set up his own 7-yard TD reception a few minutes later. That came after Arvada West converted a 4th and 12 to extend the drive and allow the Wildcats to go up 25-8 midway through the frame.
But Grandview didn’t quit. The Wolves came out in a heavy package for the next possession, and a drive featuring all runs resulted in senior Brody Flores breaking a 43-yard TD run. The Grandview defensive star — making his prep debut at tailback — ran through several tackles, trucked another defender and then stiff-armed the safety en route to the end zone to make it 25-15.
“We knew if we kept giving it to (Flores), one of them would break,” Doherty said.
The Wolves defense made several stops from there, but Grandview’s offense couldn’t cash in. A Flores fumble near midfield killed one drive, then Grandview had to punt on the next. By the time the Wolves got the ball back with 6:45 left and still down 10, the Wolves were getting into desperation mode, but they went three-and-out.
“I liked our five-man front,” Pyatt said. “We put a lot of pressure on (McCarty) all night and didn’t give him much time. He’s a pretty good QB, but we made him make rushed decisions.”
Arvada West put the game on ice the next drive thanks to — who else? — Meurer. The senior do-everything reeled in a 32-yard TD pass with 3:43 left, making 31-15 after another missed extra point. Grandview couldn’t cover Meurer all game amid a rough evening for the young Wolves secondary that featured two sophomore cornerbacks and three junior safeties.
The Wildcats take on the winner of No. 3 Mountain Vista and No. 14 Eaglecrest in next week’s quarterfinals.
