Wheat Ridge football team has Steinmark night to remember

The number ’43’ stood out in many ways during last Thursday’s football game between Wheat Ridge and Green Mountain played at Jefferson County Stadium.A homecoming game for Wheat Ridge, it was also a night to honor famous graduate Freddie Steinmark, who was an outstanding athlete for the Farmers from 1967-1969. He passed away from cancer, June 6, 1971.Wheat Ridge, under coach Stacy Coryell, defeated Green Mountain, 43-0.Steinmark wore the number 43 in his high school playing days before departing for the University of Texas. That fact was well known by game attendants since hundreds of students, parents and fans commemorated the event by wearing T-shirts that resembled Steinmark’s jersey with 43 and his name across the back.The halftime ceremony was dedicated to Steinmark. His family members, led by younger brother Sammy, spoke to the crowd, before play resumed.With 4:49 left in the fourth quarter, Wheat Ridge quarterback Gino Tate connected with Carl Vecciarelli on an 11-yard touchdown pass. At that point, the score became 41-0, ending an eight play, 70-yard, drive.The following two-point conversion, a pass from Tate to John Pierce, concluded the scoring for Wheat Ridge, improving the Farmer’s record to 3-2, while Green Mountain, coached by Jared Wallen, dropped to 0-5.”We came out, we were effective, and we won for Freddie,” said Tate, who passed for 105 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 79 yards and a touchdown. “I think that scoring 43 points was meant to be. We worked hard, we were prepared and we played heads up. It will always be a memorable win on a special night.”Payton Dietrich, an outstanding sophomore for Wheat Ridge, was also thrilled by the accomplishment of his teammates. He scored two touchdowns on runs of one and five yards out, rushing 17 times for 166 yards.”We just did it all for Freddie tonight,” said Dietrich. “The first half we were a bit slower, but we worked hard. This was not an individual effort by any of us, just a team working hard together and that’s how we won. Our defense stepped up and played big time, too. Coach gave us the calls to help win this one.””That (two-point) conversion at the end was just how we planned it if we scored that last touchdown,” Coryell said. “Forty-three was Freddie’s number and his spirit was with us tonight. The team was very responsive for what we had to do and the boys played hard to get this win.”Wheat Ridge scored two touchdowns in the first quarter. The first came on a 34-yard pass from Tate to Nicco Young, the second on the 1-yard effort by Dietrich.Tate scored the first touchdown in the third quarter on a 23-yard run. Following the ensuing kickoff and two-plays later, Damian Padilla would return a Green Mountain fumble approximately 35 yards for the score.Wheat Ridge would then take advantage of a blocked punt by Green Mountain to recover the ball at the Rams 7-yard line. Two plays later, Dietrich would score his second touchdown.It definitely was a tough loss for Green Mountain’s Dylan Jacob, Colton Helmut and Joe Anderson.”They had a lot out there work for them, and we knew they were playing for Steinmark,” quarterback Jacob said. “We just have to watch our films and get better and make up the ground. We need to be more forceful. Wheat Ridge just had a very good offense against us, and their defense stymied us.””We just have to step it up,” Helmut said. “The regular season is now getting started and we have to give a lot of effort. I think we’re gaining confidence where we can pull it out. There are a lot of odds against us as we don’t have a lot of seniors, only 10.”Added Anderson, “I think we could have played much better, but there were a lot of odds against us. They had a lot of excitement from the fans to help them against us.”