Note: You can watch a rewind above of The Gazette’s Game of the Week between TCA and Liberty on Friday night. TCA defeated Liberty 48-7.

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It came down to a last-second field goal for the Indians on Friday. A make would end a streak of nine straight homecoming losses. A miss would extend their loss streak to 10.

Cheyenne Mountain coach Willie Roberts said he knew the magnitude of the kick. How it could possibly fuel a struggling program. And he put his trust in the unproven leg of a freshman anyway.

In came Josh Charland, who hadn’t attempted a field goal in high school. Not the team’s other kicker, senior Keith Higginbotham, who Roberts said hadn’t practiced with the team as much because of soccer. And the freshman connected on a 28-yard field goal with 7 seconds left as Cheyenne Mountain (1-3) beat Mitchell 36-35 for its first win since Sept. 19, 2014.

“It’s absolutely special. It’s huge,” Roberts said. “I’d like to say it could help us turn the corner.”

The Indians had certainly been in a rough stretch. They’d won two of their past 24 games. They averaged six points and were 0-3 to start 2015. And by the looks of it they were still reeling from the way 2014 ended, when they forfeited their final two games because of injuries.

In front of a huge homecoming crowd Friday, though, the narrative changed – at least for a week.

Mitchell (3-1) had 509 yards of total offense, 389 of it on the ground. But its six fumbles kept Cheyenne Mountain in the game.

Sam Hellem picked up two loose balls and returned them for touchdowns in the second half. And the defense jumped on another in the final minutes, which led to Charland’s game-winning kick.

After the game, Roberts said he asked his freshman kicker what was running through his mind during his game-winner.

“He said it was like any other kick,” Roberts recalled.

Coronado holds off Widefield for first win

Widefield (0-4) was looking to take the lead in the final minute and had first-and-goal from the 5. Coronado (1-4), though, stopped it on four consecutive plays and held on for a 20-16 win Friday.

Marquis Arrington had 150 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. And the Cougars defense – led by a dominant performance from Ryan Strabala – held the Gladiators in check to notch its first win.

“The first win is usually the toughest,” Coronado coach Robb Wetta said. “Sometimes you just have to learn how to win.”

Wetta inherited a sophomore-heavy roster when he took over from former coach Bobby Lizarraga, who resigned.

“We’re very young, but we are getting better,” Wetta said.

Special teams struggle, but L-P wins anyway

Lewis-Palmer (3-1) has struggled with its special teams all season. Friday, Florence scored all three touchdowns off punting mishaps. Yet the Rangers bounced back and scored 28 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win 42-21.

“I didn’t need to say much about the mistakes we were having,” L-P coach Dustin Tupper said.

Kevin Tims threw for a score and ran for another. Charley Young and Nick Pavlik each scored twice on the ground. And Noah Sathre, who fumbled on a punt return, made amends with an acrobatic TD catch.

“The best thing about coaching is to see kids bounce back,” Tupper said.

Mitch Johnson earns victory No. 200 for F-FC

The longtime Trojans coach recorded it when his team beat Palmer 62-20 on Saturday. Johnson is four wins away from tying former Glenwood Springs coach Don Miller, who is 17th on the state’s list.

The state record is 306.