Colton Lance of Prairie View avoids Westminster's Alan Lares during the T-Hawks' 63-39 homecoming win Sept. 16.
Steve Smith
By Nick Hackney
Sports correspondent
Prairie View High School’s football team danced its way into a 63-39 homecoming win over Westminster Sept. 16.
The ThunderHawks got out to an early lead in the first quarter, going up by two touchdowns. The Wolves had a response with a massive rushing touchdown from Will Miley.
Following the response from Westy, Prairie View drove the ball down the field with a couple of hookups from Kunio Eshima (he completed nine of 16 passes in the game), which led to two more red-zone opportunities for Colton Lance to bully his way into the end zone.
A couple of early mistakes from the ThunderHawks in the second quarter allowed the Wolves to regain some momentum and hang around. Quarterback Mason Kiewlet managed rushing and passing touchdowns, bringing the Wolves back into the game, leaving a 28-19 score going into the half with the ThunderHawks on top.
The T-Hawks maintained a two-score lead for most of the second half, most of it from a relying on Colton Lance and his running game. He carried the ball 23 times for 266 yards and scored six touchdowns, a career-high effort.
“The guys up front made it happen, I had huge holes all game and wouldn't have been able to do that without their effort,” said Lance.
The second half was filled with penalties on both sides. PVHS coach Tim Cardenas said one of the T-Hawks’ points of emphasis was to handle pressure differently.
“Yes, I was proud. Past weeks, when we got a little pressure put on us, we didn't respond well. And this week, we responded very well,” he said.
Prairie View’s Quintin Winzent had five catches for 83 yards. Elijah Abeyta caught one for 60 yards, and Brayden Layfield had a catch for 44 yards.
“We are young (PVHS has five seniors in the starting lineup), but the boys worked hard all summer,” said Cardenas. “This is the first varsity football experience for a lot of those guys. They needed it. It’s them maturing, learning how to handle pressure.
The young team overcame adversity from the first half, and breezed its way into a huge non-league win Sept. 16. Prairie View will take on another non-league opponent, Northglenn, next week, in Brighton. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23.
