BOULDER – The Widefield Gladiators learned something about themselves Thursday night at the Coors Events Center – whether they wanted to talk about it or not or whether they were told not to talk about it.

This should be a happy-go-lucky or hunky-dory column about the home team doing well. And the Gladiators did perform well Thursday.

Widefield mixed a deft combination of quickness, inside strength and timely shooting to beat the Broomfield Eagles 57-39The victory earns the Gladiators a trip to the 4A state championship game.

Players and coaches were all smiles after the game. And they should have been. The Gladiators lost their first game this year. Since then they’ve won 25 straight contests. And No. 25 was against a team that had been in the 4A Final Four four times in the past five years, winning the title in 2004.

So, the accomplishment thus far has been huge.

Still, in a hallway in the bowels of the Coors Events Center, there was the two-ton elephant that nobody wanted to acknowledge.

Senior guard Drew Felton was the big unmentionable.

Felton didn’t play Thursday. Felton didn’t make the trip the Boulder. Rumors swirled as to why he didn’t accompany his teammates or former teammates or whatever the case may be. A few Widefield students mentioned reasons why.

Again, rumors.

“I’m not at liberty to comment on it,” Widefield coach Mark Muñoz said.

So, have you been told not to comment on it? Or you won’t?

“Both,” Muñoz said.

Fair enough.

But that makes it no less a part of the story that Widefield’s best defender and third-leading scorer wasn’t in the game and didn’t make the trip.

I don’t pretend to know what happened to Felton. I won’t even speculate.

What is known is that Felton, who sat on the bench much of last year, became an integral part of this team this season. But something happened, whether Felton is deeply involved or not, that caused added pressure on his teammates during the most intense time of the season.

Days or weeks from now that last statement may seem callous. Maybe there should be more concern about why Felton is absent.

Right now, it is what it is. A link in the Widefield chain was broken.

“It was hard without him,” Gladiators senior Julien McCollum said. “I was real proud of my teammates for stepping up and coming through.”

The Gladiators learned they could play without one of their best.

Senior Mel James, who started in Felton place, was one those who stepped up. James was admittedly nervous before the game. But he got passed it and scored 14 points and grabbed a couple key offensive rebounds. In the game’s final 90 seconds, James and McCollum combined to shoot 6 for 6 from the free-throw line.

Freshman Chris Ashe was the sixth man who spelled different starters, playing well in minutes. On another night Ashe might not have played. Forward Sebastian Gilmore and guard Sean Farrior played better, too. Gilmore didn’t have a blocked shot but he altered enough shots to be effective. Farrior collected six steals. Dion Vaughn provided the spark each time the Gladiators appeared to be in a lull.

And McCollum was everything he was supposed to be. He had a team-high 20 points, 11 reboundsand two blocked shots.

“You know what, I’m proud of these guys,” Munoz said. “We’re going in with the mentality, not that we’ve just got a game to play, but we’ve got a game to win.”

Thursday they found out they could do that – even without.

Darlan Cunha, left, and Douglas Silva play lifelong friends caught in the crossfire of Rio de Janeiro gang violence in in “City of Men.” Photo by (MIRAMAX FILMS)