LAKEWOOD — Moments after Columbine defeated rival Chatfield 35-16 on Friday at Jeffco Stadium to clinch the program’s seventh state championship game appearance under Andy Lowry, a single tear streamed down the coach’s cheek.
Lowry, in his 30th season leading Columbine, has steered the Rebels through it all. Five Class 5A state titles, including the program’s first about six months after the 1999 shooting at the school. Over 300 wins. And a program built off brotherhood that’s long been a Colorado force.
But the battle he’s reluctant to talk about had Lowry in an emotional knot after the emphatic win over Chatfield. His wife, Janet, has been fighting cancer for the past six-plus years. She is the warrior behind the coach; the person who keeps him humble no matter his success between the lines.
“I love her and she’s the toughest person I know,” a choked-up Lowry said. “I’m just there to support her. To hug her. She’s my rock.”
Janet Lowry was at the game on Friday, just hours after undergoing a chemotherapy infusion. The treatment’s become the norm for her since she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017.
With a pair of double mastectomies, she beat breast cancer, but in 2019 she found out the cancer had spread to her bones. That news came a week before Columbine’s last title game appearance, a 35-10 defeat to Cherry Creek in 2019 that started the Bruins’ historic four-peat.
Together, the husband-and-wife of three decades have leaned on each other through the adversity. It’s not something they talk much about with others, because that’s just how they are. They’re tough. They’re the personification of the hard-nosed, pound-the-rock “Rebel Ball” that’s become the head coach’s calling card.
“We learned during ’99 how to come together as a community, and that our friends and family are so important,” said Janet Lowry, who teaches at Chatfield. “If you have something you’re going through, no matter what it is, you can persevere… So (cancer) is not a worry for me, it’s just a journey that I’m going through.”
That journey will likely be lifelong, according to doctors. There is no end in sight to the chemotherapy for Janet, who remains optimistic nonetheless — and she’s always at the Columbine games, cheering on her Rebels.
“The chemotherapy does (take it out of me),” Janet, 53, admits. “But sometimes, you don’t have a choice but to fight. He supports me, so I support him at these games.
“He’s my biggest fan. He cheers me on when things are better, he listens. He knows when I’m hurt, and he lets me hurt, which is good. But he’s always trying to keep me going.”
Even with that battle on the home front, Andy Lowry never shows it with his players. That was the case again on Friday, when Columbine found itself with a narrow 7-3 lead at halftime, but broke the game open in the final two quarters.
“Our offensive line figured out what they were doing (in the second half), and we got off the football and the backs ran hard,” Lowry said. “But we can’t be content with where we’re at right now. It’s all about finishing. Chatfield happened to be in our way right now, and there are some things on social media where they said there were ready for us. We needed to finish up our business with them.”
After Columbine forced a three-and-out to start the game, the Rebels marched down the field for a TD drive that ate more than 10 minutes of clock and featured a fourth-and-short conversion. It was capped by QB Reeve Holliday’s 6-yard TD pass to James Cillessen, who fought away the 50/50 ball from Dagan Myers at the goal-line to put Columbine up 7-0.
Then the defenses settled in, and nobody scored again until the final play of the first half. After Columbine fumbled with 48 seconds left in the second quarter, star senior QB Jake Jones passed the Chargers down the field to set up Andrew Astone’s 23-yard field goal at the buzzer to make it 7-3.
“Giving up that field goal was on the offense for turning the ball over down there on the handoff,” Andy Lowry said. “We can’t do that on our bread-and-butter we practice 100 times a day. That hurt, but our defense played incredible.”
Columbine got the ball to begin the second half, and marched down the field to take a 14-3 lead behind Josh Snyder’s 5-yard TD run. On the next drive, Chatfield responded with Jones’ 14-yard TD to cut the score to 14-10 with 4:17 left in the third.
But Columbine came back with another impressive, grinding drive, capped by Snyder’s 5-yard run up the gut to push the score to 21-10 with 10:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“Playoff football is different, and we knew it’s always going to be a dogfight,” Snyder said. “Credit to the hogs, they make it happen. Me and (fellow tailback) Mason (Moreno), we just get to run through open holes.”
With Chatfield’s back against the wall, Jones & Co. came out slinging on their next drive. But Troy Johnson’s pick-six from 30 yards out was the final dagger. Chatfield’s Landon Mueller had a three-yard TD run with 4:14 left, but it was too little, too late for the Chargers, and Columbine added another TD with 2:19 left to make it 35-16.
Friday’s game between the Jeffco League rivals was similar to when the teams met in league play Oct. 27, when Columbine beat Chatfield 35-14. That day, the Rebels limited Jones to one TD while amassing 263 yards rushing.
Chatfield again limited Jones on Friday, something Lowry credited to his defensive front headlined by senior edge rusher Spencer Houle.
“Our defensive line is so athletic, and they played incredible,” Lowry said.
Chatfield’s defeat marked the end of a strong campaign. The Chargers returned to Class 5A prominence after going 5-7 last year and having to forfeit two wins earlier this fall due to the use of an ineligible player.
Columbine takes on the winner of Cherry Creek and Ralston Valley, who play 1 p.m. Saturday at Stutler Bowl, in the state championship on Dec. 2 at Canvas Stadium.
There in Fort Collins, the Rebels’ mantra of “unfinished business” will be put to the test one final time.
“It’s a dream to win a state semifinal and go to the state championship, but it’s not a dream come true yet,” Snyder said. “The dream come true is winning the state title.
“If it’s Creek, a lot of people would say we’ll be the underdog, but we want to be the ones to end that streak. Either them or (Ralston Valley), it doesn’t matter who we play, we’re going to take it to them. It’s not about them, it’s about us.”
Janet Lowry, cancer be damned, might want the ring more than anyone.
“We can’t let up,” Janet said. “We need six.”
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