BROOMFIELD — As the ball continued to slip away from reigning 4A football king Broomfield Friday, so too did its chance of securing the few things that were on the line ahead of next week’s start to the postseason.
Eventually, the Eagles woke up — very much to the relief of their bundled-up home fans at Elizabeth Kennedy Stadium — and their 28-19 comeback victory over Heritage clinched their second straight league title and home-field advantage likely through at least the quarterfinals.
Of course, this performance was spilling over in turnovers and penalties and won’t be confused for what will be needed to repeat. And they themselves probably won’t be mistaken for the big, bad heavyweight that entered last year’s playoffs undefeated.
It did show plenty of mettle, though.
Broomfield (8-2, 4-0 4A Metro 2) shook off turnovers on its first two drives and rallied from two-touchdowns back to take a lead into the fourth quarter. Mikhail Benner, on the same night as Game 1 of the World Series, followed it up with best impersonation of a closer.
The touted junior defensive back stopped Heritage short of the goal line on a two-point-conversion run that would’ve tied the game at 21 with 8:18 remaining. A couple minutes later, he pushed the lead to two scores on a 46-yard TD reception he burned his cornerback on.
With the win, Broomfield shouldn’t fall after coming into Week 10 ranked 4A No. 4 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index, which dictates playoff seedings.
Meanwhile, Heritage (6-4, 3-2), fifth, is still in a strong spot to earn one of the bracket’s eight first-round byes.
Down 13-0, Broomfield’s starting quarterback, CT Worley, ran for a short score at the end of the half and tossed scores to Anthony Cobb and Brody Judd in the third to go up 21-13. Backup QB Darien Jackson dropped the sealing TD into the arms of Benner to make it 28-19 with 6:04 left and Broomfield made stops on the final two drives for Heritage to end things.
The victory mirrored Broomfield’s season in a sense as it was stunned by 3A Holy Family and blown out by 4A No. 2 Erie in the early weeks of the season before finishing strong.
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