BROOMFIELD • Jerimi Calip stood near the 50-yard line and listened as players sang the school’s fight song while walking toward Mesa Ridge fans who had traveled to Elizabeth Kennedy Stadium on Saturday.

As the Grizzly players and Calip converged near the team’s bench, the Mesa Ridge football coach delivered a succinct message for athletes and coaches following their 38-6 loss in the Class 4A quarterfinals to Broomfield. “Thank you.”

“Coming from Vista (Ridge), I didn’t know if I wanted to be a head coach again,” Calip said. “Having the opportunity to coach these kids and the group I started with as sophomores and took my lumps with and built the team around, it was amazing to watch them grow. We’re losing a key part of the foundation that we laid and built this program around. So I wanted to thank them and everyone for stepping up and getting us here.”

Mesa Ridge hadn’t advanced to the quarterfinals since 2012 when the Grizzlies went 9-4 and clinched a spot in that year’s semifinals.

In 13 games in 2012, the Grizzlies scored 468 points. In 12 contests this year, Mesa Ridge also finished with 468 points.

The team entered Saturday’s matchup averaging 36 points per game on the road and were 4-1 away from C.A. Foster Stadium prior to their tilt with the defending state champs.

Mesa Ridge’s lone road defeat came at Montrose, a 37-12 loss on Oct. 20, where Montrose held the Grizzlies to a then-season-low 12 points.

On Saturday, Broomfield jumped out to a 7-0 lead on its first drive with 6:58 left in the first quarter.

The Grizzlies, who also allowed a touchdown on the opening drive in

their 57-7 win at home against Loveland in the second round, inched closer to the Eagles after their second and third drives.

Tanner Widic hit field goals from 35 and 33 yards to cut the lead to 7-6 in the first quarter.

Then the Grizzlies’ offense hit a wall.

“We just couldn’t get into rhythm,” Calip said. “We got out of synch early and we weren’t able to get over those mistakes. We fixed some stuff at half, but we just weren’t able to finish.”

Broomfield’s Mason Smiley played a role in disrupting the Grizzlies’ offense.

After the Eagles built a 14-6 advantage in the second quarter, the Grizzlies had an opportunity to cut into Broomfield’s lead.

But the Broomfield junior intercepted a pass on second and 10 from the Mesa Ridge 38, took it in stride and ran untouched to the end zone to build a 21-6 lead with 4:09 left in the half.

Late in the third quarter with Broomfield ahead 31-6, Smiley snagged another Mesa Ridge pass, this time with the Grizzlies deep in Eagles territory.

“We knew we had to come up big on defense,” Smiley said.

“We knew we had to stop (Isaiah Jones) and we wanted to keep them under 150 yards. Every time they get 200 yards rushing, they win. So we knew we had to make some plays out there.”

The loss to the Eagles marked the first time the Grizzlies didn’t score a touchdown since Oct. 1, 2021, when they lost 7-0 at home to Fountain-Fort Carson.

In the postgame huddle, Calip addressed the team and spoke about how proud he was of what the Grizzlies accomplished and the foundation built within the program.

“We have a really good nucleus coming back with Bryce (Riehl) and Tre (Salas) and a couple more guys on the roster,” Calip said. “The foundation is laid and they understand what hard work looks like. Now they just have to build on it.”