ARVADA — Ralston Valley senior Devin McNearney put the finishing touches on what was likely the final game of the season at the North Area Athletic Complex for the Mustangs.
McNearney intercepted a pass from Arvada West junior Xavier Nail on the opening drive of the second half Nov. 12. The two-way player then finished off the drive with a 13-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.
“That was pretty sweet. He just lobbed it up,” McNearney said of his first interception of his varsity career. “Then the touchdown, that was my big boys up front blocking for me. I love every single one of them. They always get it done. I really appreciate them.”
Ralston Valley — No. 10 in the final CHSAANow.com Class 5A football rankings — cruised to a 35-7 victory over rival Arvada West (1-5, 0-5 in 5A Jeffco League).
Senior Tyler Roybal got the Mustangs (4-2, 3-1) started with a 1-yard touchdown run to close out the opening drive of the game. However, A-West answered with a nice drive where they had Nail run ‘Wildcat’ for most of the drive. Junior Cade Russel finished the drive with a 1-yard run.
It was all tied up 7-7 after the first quarter, but it was all Ralston Valley for the final three quarters.
“We kind of expected Arvada West to pull something out of the bag for us specifically,” Ralston Valley senior defensive back Cole Kumpf said of A-West running ‘Wildcat’ to start the game. “We had confidence that we were going to stop it after a little bit.”
After a 23-yard touchdown pass from Ralston Valley junior quarterback Zach Friedman to senior Rocco Tate and McNearney’s first touchdown run of the game gave the Mustangs a 21-7 lead.
Kumpf had a huge defensive play intercepting A-West sophomore quarterback Ethan Cook in the final minutes before halftime and returning it for a touchdown pushing the lead to 28-7 at halftime.
“I was just in a good spot and I got lucky with the tip,” Kumpf said of the pick-6. “I saw it. Got it in my hands and scored.”
McNearney’s second touchdown with 6:27 left in the third quarter was the only score of the second half.
“It seems like we haven’t put our best foot forward all year,” Kumpf said. “This was the game we wanted to do it finally.”
It’s been a wild ride for Ralston Valley. Trying to find games after several scheduled opponents had to cancel games against the Mustangs due to COVID issues has been an ongoing issue for Ralston Valley. That included Ralston Valley not playing No. 5 Columbine last week when the Rebels had to be quarantined.
The Mustangs picked up No. 2 Valor Christian for a non-league game to replace Columbine last week. After giving the Eagles a solid test the first half, Valor pulled away in the second half on the way to a 45-7 win.
“We were just trying to make a better comeback from last week,” Ralston Valley coach Matt Loyd said referring to the loss against Valor.
A-West got off to a good start with a non-league victory over ThunderRidge to kickoff the season. However, the Wildcats are on a 5-game losing streak. That includes close losses to Mullen and Lakewood in conference play.
Ralston Valley had an outside shot on making the 8-team 5A state field. The Mustangs finished at No. 11 in the CHSAA seeding index and along with No. 9 Columbine, was left out of the playoff picture. Pomona was the lone 5A Jeffco team to make the 8-team field.
“A shortened season wasn’t what I wanted for any one of our seniors,” Loyd said. “(McNearney) had a really good game tonight. He is fun to watch.”
The Mustangs’ two losses were against undefeated and Top-5 ranked teams — Valor and Pomona.
Ralston Valley finished out its season with a non-playoff game against Legacy on Thursday, Nov. 19.
A-West played its Week 7 non-playoff game against Standley Lake, also on Thursday, Nov. 19.
Dennis Pleuss is the Sports Information Director for Jeffco Public Schools. For more coverage go to CHSAANow.com/Jeffco.
