You can’t teach an old dinosaur new tricks, but that doesn’t mean you can beat him.

Mighty Cherry Creek knows all about that.

The Bruins entered last year’s Class 5A title game seeking their fifth consecutive state title, but the tough, physical, old-school Columbine Rebels beat Creek 28-14. Columbine attempted only two passes but rushed for 251 yards en route to the title.

A repeat feat won’t be easy for the Rebels, especially since they lost several seniors, including star running back Josh Snyder, offensive/defensive lineman Carlo Mendoza and tight end/defensive end Hunter Hamilton.

But the Rebels still have something they can rely upon — a basic, effective, proven, tough and repeatable offensive approach. And they have kids who buy into coach Andy Lowry’s smashmouth football, even while rival teams are counting on their star quarterback to carry them.

“We play with tenacity, and we don’t care about size and we showed it last year,” said the aptly-named DJ Ironshell, Columbine’s senior offensive guard/defensive tackle. “It doesn’t matter if you are big or small, we just have a grit. We have always had a team where size doesn’t matter. We just run the ball and let the pads do the talking.”

Lowry, who led the Rebels to their sixth state title last year, agrees that his tried-and-true system, based on a relentless full house/wing T formation, is effective and repeatable, year after year, class after class.

Plus, the Rebels are an anomaly, and that’s to their advantage, too.

“I think 95% of the teams are now running some kind of a spread offense,” he said. “We see that on a regular basis, so we can prepare our defense for that. But with our dinosaur offense, people don’t see that very often, so they have to prepare for us in just one week.

“A lot of times, (we bring) different personnel and different schemes, and it’s a different physical form of playing. To me, that is an advantage for us.”

But it would be a mistake to label Lowry’s approach a plug-and-play system. The Rebels’ offense requires smart, physical kids to execute.

“At Columbine, we keep it pretty simple,” said senior quarterback Brennan Goodwin, who filled in for some crucial games last season. “It’s a simple but complex thing. We take every game one at a time. We watch every team on film, every week, and then come up with schemes to beat them.”

Lowry also likes that his system is less dependent on one player.

“If you’re running a spread offense, you better have a quarterback each and every year that can carry your offense,” Lowry said. “We don’t have to have that one special guy to where, if he has a horrible day, it hurts you.

“With our running game, a lot of it depends on our offensive line. Being as physical as we are helps us on both sides of the football.”

Erie won the 4A title last season behind star quarterback Blake Barnett, now on scholarship at Kansas State. Now the Tigers have moved up to 5A and must fill Barnett’s shoes. They believe they can with 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior QB Ronin Ward.

“Our system is pretty much the same,” coach Jeff Giger said. “Are there a few tweaks? Yeah, there is always going to be. When you lose somebody as talented as Blake, it’s hard but we believe we have somebody just as talented coming in, just in different ways.

“He’s not 6-foot-2, 215 pounds, so we’ll have to make some adjustments. But he’s similar to Blake in a lot of ways, even if he isn’t as big or as fast. But he can run our offense and make all of the throws. He’s very, very smart.”

Columbine’s quarterbacks, while central to the offense over the years, tend to be less indispensable. Lowry’s teams shine because of the group dynamic in the trenches.

“They never waver from what they do,” Jay Madden, the former Pomona coach who’s now at Legacy High, told The Denver Post in 2020. “Andy is a master of getting kids to buy into his system and getting that system to basically dominate Colorado high school football. His offense and the option has always been predictable, but it’s often unstoppable.”

But that doesn’t mean that Lowry is inflexible. He’s learned to tweak and modify his schemes based on the opposition and his personnel.

“We’ve been running the same offense for 30 years, so when it comes to adjustments, I think we have a pretty good idea of what people are trying to do against us,” Lowry said. “When you’re in a double tight end (formation), there are only so many different schemes you can run.

“So a lot of times it comes down to players’ techniques. Hopefully, we have a big enough toolbox so we can make adjustments, week in and week out, and within games.”

As for Ironshell’s pledge to “let the pads do the talking,” Lowry chuckled and said, “I’m proud of DJ because he’s listening, and he’s buying into what we are trying to sell. Those are all things we try to talk about with our kids.”

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.

Originally Published: August 18, 2024 at 5:45 a.m.