Windsor winners: Wizards beat Bear Creek, move on in Class 4A football playoffs

The Windsor High School football team got a home playoff game and made it count.

The 15th-seeded Wizards delivered an opportunistic performance in all three phases of the game to keep No. 18 Bear Creek off the scoreboard for the final 40 minutes in a 23-6 win Friday night in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.

"I said all week we just needed to have a day," Windsor coach Chris Jones said. "If we have a day, we get a week. And they took that message and ran with it into the game."

Here are three takeaways from the Wizards' playoff win.

Big hitters on offense

It was a strange game for the Windsor offense, which was missing starting quarterback Garrett Sauer for the second straight game.

Windsor (7-4) twice got inside the 1-yard-line and failed to score after long drives, a rarity for this run-heavy attack.

No worries. The Wizards still had their dynamic senior backfield duo of Chase and Jaden Thomas.

They combined to pop off three big plays, all of them going for long touchdowns.

Freshman Wyatt Gustafson, making his second career start under center, made the most of a broken play, scrambling away from rushers and hitting Chase Thomas for a deep 78-yard scoring strike after an early Bear Creek score.

"I think I was his second read and just looked back after beating my guy and the ball was coming," Chase Thomas said. "Wyatt saw me and made a good throw. It was all he could do at that point."

After the Wizards' offense was stopped minutes later on the goal line, the defense forced a safety. The goal-line stop was a blessing in disguise, netting Windsor 9 points after Chase Thomas returned the ensuing kickoff for a 70-yard touchdown.

"We had a lot of momentum, lot of energy going after that safety," Chase said.

Another long drive in the fourth-quarter ended near the goal line, and a score would have put the game out of reach.

Jaden Thomas delivered the final blow shortly after, clinching the win on a breakaway 61-yard TD run dead up the middle.

"Sometimes we just took what we got," Chase Thomas said. "The O-line came out and played hard as you could and then that kid (Jaden) runs and just gets an opening and he's gone."

"End of the day, it's not as pretty as we'd like but we'll take it," Jones added.

Wizards bend, don't break on defense

While Bear Creek moved the ball behind freshman QB Isiah Garcia's nifty runs and quick-hit passes, the sustained drives didn't lead to points.

Credit the Windsor defense for that.

Six Bears drives ended without points in Windsor territory. That included a forced fumble early second quarter with Bear Creek (6-5) up 6-0 and inside the 10 that changed the game.

Windsor scored on the long pass play the next possession and never looked back. The Wizards defense also held inside the 10 after an 8-minute Bear Creek drive in the third quarter, and Windsor blocked the short field-goal try.

"They're nitty-gritty," Chase Thomas said. "They don't care how long the drive is, they're going to keep going. They balled out today."

Overall, the Wizards defense had double-digit tackles for a loss and sealed the game late with an interception.

"We blew assignments at times and made some mistakes but we knew that was coming," Jones said. "We had almost every guy on defense make an important play or stop."

Final thoughts

With temperatures around 30 degrees and missing Sauer, key senior Grayson Lewis and some linemen, this game was always going to be a survive-and-advance special.

The Wizards did just that, earning an emotional win in their final home game and getting another crack at it next week vs. No. 2 Broomfield, which is fresh off a bye after a 10-0 regular season.

"I know how our guys feel and that's the reason we do this, so they can have these moments," Jones said as players celebrated on the field. "This is why we do all the hard work, and they stepped in and stepped up."

Windsor has an idea of what to expect against the Eagles after taking preseason reps against them.

"We scrimmaged them to start the year, and they're a pretty good team," Chase Thomas said. "I know we always got a chance though."

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado 4A football playoffs: Windsor holds off Bear Creek at home