The Brighton Bulldogs are looking to state their case for the 4A Colorado football playoffs聽
BRIGHTON, Colo. — In the state of Colorado, the high school football season is close to reaching its fourth game of the season, signaling the approach to the halfway point in the regular season. As the leaves begin to change color and the temperature continues to drop, mock high school football playoff brackets are starting to be put together.聽
One of the local Colorado teams aiming to appear in the 4A bracket this year is the Brighton Bulldogs.聽
The Bulldogs, led by first-year head coach Christopher Flynn, have had a slow start to the 2021 season – posting a 1-2 record so far. They won their home opener against Prairie View quite substantially by a score of 34-6. After this, though, they lost their next two games against Chatfield (43-20) and Falcon (43-20).聽
It is still way too early in the season to even think about Brighton not being contenders for the 4A playoffs for 2021, especially considering that in 2019 the Bulldogs made the playoffs and would have made them in 2020 if there would have been playoffs.聽
During the 2019 season, the Bulldogs posted a 6-4 regular-season record, which was good enough to push them into the playoffs. Sadly, though, the Bulldogs would end up losing the playoff game against Montrose by a score of 28-13.聽
This playoff loss was so jarring to Bulldogs that they would go on to post an impressive 5-1 overall record for the abbreviated season, which made them the 29th best team in the state for 2020, despite all the weirdness that surrounded the season.聽
Despite that fantastic season, the Bulldogs would go through a head coaching change. Their previous head coach, Jeff Giger, moved from the head football coach in Brighton to become the head football coach for the local 4A conference opponent, the Erie Tigers. Giger was replaced by Christopher Flynn, who has been on the Brighton High School staff as a teacher and the football team鈥檚 defensive coordinator while Giger was the coach, so he is no stranger to that team.聽
Three players will be critical for Brighton to rebound off their rocky start and push towards a playoff run – quarterback Nathaniel Griffeth, running back Max Cisneros, and wide receiver Noah Canale. These three players are the dominant offensive workhorses for Brighton that have the potential to ignite a spark for their offense and move them past this rocky start of theirs.聽
Griffeth, the QB, has been on the varsity roster since he was a sophomore in 2019, sitting under his older brother, Alex Griffeth. Nathaniel would get his opportunity as the starter for his junior season in 2020. In only five games in 2020, Nathaniel posted nearly 700 yards and six touchdowns; only 55 yards and two touchdowns less than his older brother Alex posted in 10 total games. Nathaniel is about on that same pace for 2021 as he was for 2020 – with 388 yards and two touchdowns in three games.聽
Receiver Noah Canale owns 245 (63%) of Griffeth鈥檚 388聽 passing yards, as well as 100% (2 out of 2) of Griffeth鈥檚 passing touchdowns. Canale has emerged as Griffeth鈥檚 No. 1 target in the first three games averaging over 80 yards per game and 16 yards per reception. Canale has been on the varsity roster since his sophomore year in 2019, where he posted two receptions for 40 yards.聽
In 2020, when Nathaniel Griffeth took over QB, Canale slightly increased his production with 12 receptions for 136 yards; he was option No. 2, under then senior Eli Bowman. In 2021, Canale has already amassed 69 more yards in three games than he had in his first two seasons combined. At this current pace, Canale would post 731 total yards by the end of the season; this would make him a top-25 receiver in the state of Colorado.聽
The man tasked with taking the pressure off Griffeth, Canale, and the Brighton passing game is senior Max Cisneros. So far, throughout 2021, in three games, Cisneros has posted 43 carries for 221 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 75 yards, 14 carries, and 2.3 touchdowns per game. Cisneros didn鈥檛 make his appearance on the varsity stage until his junior year in 2020, playing all six games and receiving 23 carries and 80 total yards throughout those games. If Cisneros continues his efficient production for 2021, he will be on pace for 671 yards and 14 total touchdowns, which would place him as a top 50 player in the state of Colorado in terms of total touchdowns.聽
It is also worth noting that Cisneros and Canale are the top yardage producers for the 2021 season and own 10 of the 11 total touchdowns for the Brighton Bulldogs football team.聽
So, it seems as though the formula for the Brighton offense in 2021 is pretty simple: get the ball in the hands of their playmakers, Max Cisneros and Noah Canale; they are going to be the workhorses for the Brighton offense. Cisneros and Canale have the potential to make the Brighton offense incredibly daunting and take pressure off of the defense. If head coach Christopher Flynn does this, the Brighton Bulldogs could be looking at their third winning season in three years and their second playoff berth in three years.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.