About last night: Week 11 in prep football

Nov. 5—Dominant home victories sent Legacy and Skyline into the second round of the postseason. Fairview nearly joined them, but the Knights' late comeback at Christian Recht Field came up just short.

Playoff teams from the Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield areas went a combined 2-3 through Friday night. Elsewhere, Longmont and Monarch fell on the road, while Lyons and Erie played their first-round games later Saturday.

The second round for all classes except 3A are next weekend.

Meanwhile, the area's 3A teams finished the regular season Friday, going 2-2. Based on league championships and RPI and MaxPreps rankings, the top 16 teams will qualify for the postseason.

Below are this week's highlights and where things stand.

Thursday night

Holy Family 36, Kennedy 6: Rylan Cooney ran for three touchdowns and threw for a score as the Tigers (7-3, 4-1 3A League 5) closed the regular season with a fourth straight win.

Cooney threw for 1,822 yards and rushed for 387 across 10 weeks, totaling 24 scores. With his latest performance, he may have secured a first-round home game for Holy Family.

The Tigers are ranked seventh in RPI and sixth in the MaxPreps rankings as of Friday night.

The top eight in the final CHSAA calculations will host Round 1 of the postseason next weekend.

George Washington 41, Frederick 36: Cruz Zamudio had three touchdowns, Kemarly Davy two, but the Golden Eagles (7-3, 4-1) couldn't hold off a late comeback from the Patriots (9-1, 5-0) in this league title bout.

Frederick led by 15 in the third quarter and Zamudio's second rushing TD of the night gave the St. Vrain school a 36-27 advantage in the fourth.

George Washington rallied, scoring twice over the final 5:20 to prevail.

Frederick is 11th in the RPI rankings, ninth in MaxPreps.

Friday night

Mead 42, Riverdale Ridge 7: The Mavericks (4-6, 3-2 3A League 6) are on the bubble heading into the 3A playoff selection this weekend.

Winning three of their final four, they sit 17th in the RPI rankings and 16th in MaxPreps. Again, the top 16 teams qualify.

If peaking at the right time matters for something: Over their last three wins, they've outscored teams 130-10.

Skyline 48, Widefield 13: Rah Carson rushed for four touchdowns and the No. 16 Falcons (7-4) breezed into the second round of the 4A postseason.

Football: Skyline dominates Widefield in opening round of 4A playoffs

Kaiden Box added a score through the air and on the ground. Logan Miller had a kick return TD.

Skyline will travel to Don Breese Stadium to face No. 1 Palmer Ridge Friday at 7 p.m.

Legacy 41, Arvada West 0: Kullen Lerma ran for three touchdowns by halftime, Tyler Anderson two and the No. 12 Lightning got the mercy-rule running clock going in the opening round of the postseason.

Legacy steamrolls Arvada West to open 5A playoffs

The surprise season at Legacy continued in dominant fashion as Jay Madden's team posted the only shutout in the 5A first round.

Ryan Bynarowicz added a strip-sack, William Thurston moved into sixth in program history for most receiving yards in a season (608), and Kylan Studebaker's 69-yard punt return TD made it 41-0 in the third, sparking the running clock.

The Lightning travel to District 20 Stadium to face No. 5 Pine Creek Friday at 7 p.m.

Chatfield 28, Fairview 20: A late comeback bid fizzed in the final seconds for No. 14 Fairview (9-2).

Power outage: Fairview football's wild comeback ends in first round loss

Down 28-7, Jordan Rechel had a 7-yard rushing TD with 9 minutes, 2 seconds remaining and made an incredible 35-yard catch on the Knights' ensuing drive, which was capped off by a short TD run from Ben Holly with 2:25 to go.

Fairview then took over around midfield after a botched fake punt by Chatfield with 1:57 left. Its drive ended at the Chargers' 13 after it accidentally spiked the ball to stop the clock on fourth down.

Mesa Ridge 49, Monarch 21: The 23-seed Coyotes (5-6) season ended in the opening round of the 4A playoffs.

No. 10 Mesa Ridge led 28-0 in the opening half and held on for a seventh win in eight games.

Monarch won its most games since 2019 — a seemingly solid start for the program under first-year coach Aaron Paddock.

Dakota Ridge 43, Longmont 14: The 13-seed Eagles ran out to a 37-0 lead after the opening quarter and led 43-0 at half, ousting No. 20 Longmont (4-7) from the 4A postseason.

Bryson Strandberg had a rushing TD in the win. Kolby Homes went 8 for 16, throwing for 107 yards.

The Trojans reached the postseason despite losing a large 2021 class, which included star quarterback Keegan Patterson and their top three receivers.

Denver North 23, Niwot 15: The Cougars (3-7, 0-5 3A League 6), dealing with a lack of football experience up and down their roster, lost for a sixth straight time to end the regular season.

On the plus side, Niwot won at least three games for just a fifth time over the last 14 years.