LAKEWOOD — It was dark, snowy, foggy and cold, and with the wind it could have passed for one of the old NFL Films games.
Close to the “frozen tundra,” all that was missing was the velvety narrative voice of the legendary John Facenda.
“I don’t know who that guy is, but I know about old guys,” a smiling Columbine coach Andy Lowry said after his Rebels got past visiting Regis Jesuit 27-14 in Friday night’s Class 5A quarterfinals at Jefferson County Stadium.
The Rebels would have looked and sounded good in any time period.
They moved to 12-0 and are within a a game of playing for their sixth championship since 1999. Their immediate prize: a rematch against league and Jefferson County-rival Pomona in next weekend’s semifinals at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada. The two played on Oct. 16 and Columbine won a wild one, 42-35.
The Rebels were terrific up front on both sides — again — and rode a four-touchdown performance by junior running back Mikey Griebel.
Plus, Columbine overcame a couple of shaky moments, particularly when muffing the opening kickoff and weathering two quick scores by the Raiders, who finished 9-3.
“Our defensive coaches made some great adjustments,” Lowry said. “(The Raiders) are scary and we got down right away.”
However, Columbine’s offensive front was steady — “Nothing fancy,” Lowry said — and gave Griebel and quarterback Jake Lowry room to operate.
All told, Griebel scored three touchdowns rushing, the final one on 6 yards and a cloud of snow that gave the Rebels the lead for good midway through the third quarter. He added a 20-yard score in the fourth off a pass from Lowry, his only attempt of the game.
“It’s awesome, I mean, this is a team game and that’s one heck of a Regis team we beat,” said Griebel, who finished with 145 yards on 28 carries. “They banged with us and they’re very strong.”
So were the Rebels, who held Regis Jesuit to 223 total yards in settling down after Raiders quarterback Michael Pavlakovich scored on consecutive possessions via runs of 3 and 58 yards.
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or @neildevlin
Class 5A
FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
Columbine 27, Regis Jesuit 14
Pomona 32, Grandview 21
Valor Christian 42, Ralston Valley 16
Cherry Creek 41, ThunderRidge 7
NEXT WEEK’S SEMIFINALS
Columbine vs. Pomona
Valor Christian vs. Cherry Creek
