Don’t get confused by the final score, Sand Creek played a football game at Cheyenne Mountain High School on Friday night.

The two teams combined for more than 1,100 yards of total offense and tallied 97 points, but the only stat that matters involves the win column. And Sand Creek watched that number flip from six to seven.  

Sand Creek overcame a two-score deficit just six minutes into the first quarter and beat Cheyenne Mountain 52-45 to maintain its unblemished record.  

“I told the guys coming in that Cheyenne Mountain is the No. 3 offense in 4A and they’re powerful,” Sand Creek coach Eric Mitchell said. “We had to stay the course because they’re going to get big chunks of yards. In life, there’s adversity and you have to grow from adversity. We got punched in the mouth for a couple of plays but you have to continue to adjust.

“I feel this coaching staff did a tremendous job of that. I love my coaching staff and I feel I have the best coaching staff in Colorado. We made the correct adjustments and did what we had to do.”

The Scorpions (7-0) entered the matchup averaging 63 points over their past three games including an 80-35 victory Sept. 19 at home against Widefield. Sand Creek also defeated Thornton 61-0 on Oct. 3 for their second consecutive shutout.

However, the opening six minutes against the Red-Tailed Hawks (6-1) showed the rust of a team that had not played on the road since Aug. 28.

Ethan Mangrum, who finished the night with four rushing touchdowns, scored his first with 9:30 on the clock in the first after a one-yard run put the Scorpions running back in the end zone to make it 6-0.

Cheyenne Mountain required only 3:26 to get a 66-yard touchdown from Donovan Sandoval, a 6-yard rush by Colt Kugler and a fumble returned for a touchdown to build a 21-6 lead with 6:04 left in the opening frame.

“Shout out to (Cheyenne Mountain coach) Jay (Saravis) because he prepared his boys,” Mitchell said. “This was our first challenge, but I know we’re resilient. In the locker room I told the boys we have to believe. You have to believe in your teammates and I believe they came out prepared and ready to go.”

The Scorpions brushed off the rugged start and outscored the Red-Tailed Hawks 24-7 the final 18 minutes of the half. Sand Creek scored on two rushing touchdowns by Mangrum (67 and 9 yards) along with a two-point conversion, a 51-yard run by Treven Rick and two, two-point conversions by Achilles Evans to build a 30-28 halftime lead.

“The mindset was to get back into the game,” Mangrum said. “We all started off a little slow and we stepped up once we realized we needed to be there and that Cheyenne Mountain is a good opponent.”

Just two plays into the second half, the Scorpions snatched any momentum the Red-Tailed Hawks established and continued football’s version of a track meet. The Red-Tailed Hawks fumbled on their first play of the third and Rick ran the ball 51 yards to the end zone the following play to build a 36-28 lead.

“As a team, we came in and we knew what we needed to do,” Rick said. “We knew we needed to win this game. I’m going to do what I have to do to help my team. If we want to make a playoff run, we have to win. We knew the stakes coming in and we knew we had to forget about our start.”

The Red-Tailed Hawks nearly tied it at 36-all with 6:06 left in the third after Issac Cunningham carried the ball 21 yards to the end zone to trim the lead to 36-34. But the Red-Tailed Hawks couldn’t control the catch on the two-point try and watched the ball fall out of bounds and keep Sand Creek’s lead at two points.

The Scorpions outscored the Red-Tailed Hawks 16-11 the remainder of the contest and recovered an onside kick in the final minute of the game to secure the victory.

Sand Creek’s move to 7-0 isn’t just a notable achievement for the football program, it keeps the Scorpions’ playoff hopes alive. Only one team from the I-25 League advances to the 4A playoffs.

The win puts the Scorpions at 2-0 in the league and moves them into a two-way tie with Grand Junction, which is also 2-0. Cheyenne Mountain faces Grand Junction in its penultimate game while the Scorpions battle the Tigers in the finale and a potential matchup for a playoff spot.

Mangrum, who finished with 215 rushing yards and exceeded 100 on the ground for the 15^th consecutive game, called the matchup “a wave of adrenaline.” Mitchell said he’s grateful his players and coaches rose to the moment. “We work so hard and sacrifice so much,” Mitchell said. “We’re looking to go all the way and right now we’re fighting to get better. There are tough games sometimes in football and we’re blessed that the scoreboard reflects us how it does because this was a tough game.”