Three Western Slope Football Teams advance in the State Playoffs

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Three Western Slope High School Football programs are advancing to the next rounds of their brackets after opening with a win.

In Class 4A the Fruita Monument Wildcats dominated against the Falcon Falcons 50-12. An extended recap and game highlights can be found here.

The Central Warriors season came to an end against the Rampart Rams, on the road over in Colorado Springs, losing 48-6.

In 2A the number one seeded Delta Panthers acted like a number one team. Despite a slow start the Panthers kicked it into high gear in the second half cruising to a 49-14 win against the Alamosa Mean Moose.

The Panthers will host The Classical Academy Titans in the quarterfinals. These two met in the semifinals last year, where the Panthers bested the Titans 24-17.

The number three seeded Rifle Bears drew a rematch with the Brush Beetdiggers in their opening round. When these two met in October, the Bears took down the Beetdiggers 28-14.

Similar to the Panthers, the Bears also got off to a slow start. Pair that with the Beetdiggers, seemingly figuring out some aspects of the Rifle attack, and the Bears found themselves trailing 7-0 deep into the second quarter. However the Bears offense clicked on to tie it up 7-7. They were poised to tie things up again at 14-14, but the Bears instead opted to go for two and got it on a quarterback keeper, going up 15-14. Bears held the lead from there, despite some late theatrics.

Rifle will host the University Bulldogs in the next round.

Montrose had a first round bye but now knows their first postseason opponent. They’ll get a rematch with the team they ended the regular season against, the Pueblo West Cyclones. The Red Hawks won that game 33-7.

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