Photo Courtesy of: Grant Britain and Almas Elayyan

The football program in 2020 had a very rough year, missing the playoffs with a 3-4 record in a shortened season due to COVID-19. Following the end of the season, long-time head coach John Schultz stepped down from his position.

Despite last season’s disappointment, a new head coach, and fearsome competition led by football powerhouses Cherry Creek and Valor Christian, the Wolves came through in the 2021-22 regular season with a record of 8-2 as well as the 5A Centennial League championship, their first since 2018.

Our first game of the season was a 30-29 win against Pomona. In the 4th quarter with under a minute left, sophomore quarterback Liam Szarka in his first start came through with a rushing touchdown on the one yard line.

The second game of the season was played at Mountain Vista. The Golden Eagles were dominated by the Wolves with the final score being 38-13. Junior Max Kibbiee led the team in tackles with nine. 

On the last stop of our three game road trip, we traveled to the Stutler Bowl to take on the 0-2 Overland Trailblazers. The Wolves blew out a weak Overland team with the final score of 28-0, scoring all of their points in the second half.

Our first home game at Legacy Stadium ended in defeat when we played 3-0 Ralston Valley. With a packed crowd, the Wolves ended their three game winning streak with a disappointing loss to the Mustangs, 24-13. 

For our homecoming game, we played Horizon. The game went great for the Wolves as they destroyed the Hawks 42-8. It was a blowout from start to finish with the score being 35-0 at halftime. Senior Moosah Alsaffar had an astounding game, rushing for 127 rushing yards on an average of 7.5 yards per carry.

The following week was the start of league play as we smoked Smoky Hill in a 23-6 blowout. Junior Gibby Leafgreen flourished in this game, tallying up an impressive 16 tackles. The Wolves defense was dominant as Smoky went scoreless after the first quarter.

Riding on another winning streak, we lost to rivals Cherry Creek at the Stutler Bowl. The Bruins beat us in a tightly contested 21-13 game as the offense struggled to get any momentum going against their elite defense. Senior Malique Singleton’s 94-yard pick-six late in the 4th wasn’t enough to complete the comeback.

The Wolves bounced back from their loss the previous week in a match against Eaglecrest, winning 38-17 at home. The score was 21-14 at halftime but the team outscored the Raptors 17-3 in the second half to put the game out of reach. Senior Tristian Burrus was the star of this game, scoring off a 90-yard kick return.

Continuing our winning ways, we beat Cherokee Trail in a 42-18 blowout. The Wolves scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, giving the team a big lead over one of their biggest rivals. The run game was dominant the whole game as the team rushed for a staggering 325 yards and five touchdowns.

For the final game of the season, Arapahoe traveled to Legacy to take down the Wolves. Little did they know, we would not go down without a fight for the league title. With longsnaping issues plaguing the Warriors from the start leading to a safety and a touchdown, the Wolves took advantage of those mistakes to take home a 13-32 win, co-winning the league crown alongside Arapahoe and Creek.

Regardless of how the team performs in the playoffs, this has been a great season for the Wolves with first-year head coach Tom Doherty at the helm.

For their first playoff game, they’ll play Mullen on November 12th at Legacy. The game will start @ 7:00.