PARKER — Lights out. Literally. Figuratively. Shockingly. No. 7 Fairview upset No. 2 Mountain Vista 49-45 late Friday night in the Class 5A quarterfinals in a game that was interrupted by a power outage, played in two stadiums, and required a 20-minute halftime bus trip from Halftime Help Stadium in Highlands Ranch to Echo Park Stadium in Parker. The Knights won the game on an 11-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Ki Ellison to senior Toray Davis with 27.5 seconds remaining. Fairview students stormed the field while Vista players stood around in stunned silence. The TD pass was the third act of the Knights’ miracle comeback. They cut the lead to 45-42 with 2 minutes, 15 seconds left on a TD reception by Ryder Villarreal. Then Villarreal recovered the on-side kick in Vista territory. “It was a middle squib,” said Villarreal, who made it clear that he believes Fairview has been underrated all season. “We kicked it to their middle guy, and I took the ball right out of his hands.” The game-winning TD pass to Davis was an improvisational thing of beauty. “I had my first read and my second, and then I had to work my way out of the pocket,” Ellison said. “I found my man in the end zone.” Fairview (12-0) advanced to next week’s semifinals, where it will play the winner of Saturday afternoon’s game between No. 6 Legend (10-1) and No. 3 Ralston Valley (10-1). Mountain Vista’s season ended with heartache and an 11-1 record. Fairview advanced to the 5A semifinals for the first time in 11 years. “I’ll remember this game for the rest of my life,” coach Tom McCartney said. “That team deserved their (high) ranking. They are well-coached, and they are super, super talented. So, to have all of that crazy stuff happen tonight and then to win, I’ve never seen anything like it. “We knew they were good, we knew they were going to get their points, and they have been doing that all year. But we are always going to keep playing and we showed that tonight. We have a group of guys that are just different.” Mountain Vista’s Carter Daniels (0) trails behind Fairview’s Ryder Villarreal (9) during a Class 5A state playoff game at Halftime Help Stadium, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 in Highlands Ranch. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post) The second half began at 10:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after the power outage halted play, and concluded near midnight. The Knights took advantage of the bus trip to regroup. “We were prepared when we got on that bus and we were locked in,” Villarreal said. “We were just excited to play some more football.” The Knights used a gadget play to cut Vista’s lead to 35-28 early in the third quarter. Toray Davis threw a 70-yard halfback TD pass to Jordan Rechel, who was alone behind the Golden Eagles secondary. But Vista answered quickly, as it did all night. Jack Blais’ 8-yard TD capped a long drive to put the Golden Eagles ahead 42-28 with 7:23 left in the third quarter. But Fairview came back, cutting the lead to 42-34 on a 1-yard TD plunge by Rechel. The Golden Eagles countered with another long drive, culminating in a 22-yard field goal by Hunter Dell. Fairview answered with another TD pass to Villarreal. The Knights’ two-point conversion made it 45-42 with 2:15 left. Setting up the miracle finish. That’s how the game went — one power surge after another. Perhaps the collision of two mega-watt offenses blew out the circuits at Halftime Help Stadium. Whatever the case, Vista led 35-28 when a power outage struck the Highlands Ranch neighborhood around the stadium, leaving the teams and an estimated 2,000 fans in the dark. In a wild first-half scorefest, Golden Eagles senior quarterback Austyn Modrzewski, fresh off breaking the CHSAA career passing yardage record (11,608 yards entering the game), threw four touchdown passes. He finished the night with five. The Golden Eagles’ onslaught came after they were shocked to find themselves down 13-0 in the first quarter on two rushing touchdowns by Fairview senior Brock Kolstadt. Fairview, known for its potent passing attack, came out with a power running game, completing just one pass on an opening 12-play, 80-yard drive. A 14-play, 80-yard drive put Fairview ahead 13-0. The Knights’ ground attack did most of the damage, again. But the drive’s big play was a gorgeous 34-yard touch pass from Ellison to Villarreal. “Part of our thinking was, ‘Is there any way to limit the time (Vista) had the ball,” McCartney said. “We are a team that’s able to do a few different things and we were able to grind it when we needed to.” For all of the first-half fireworks, the biggest play was made by Mountain Vista defensive back Brookly Bailey with 57 seconds left in the half. Trailing 28-21, Fairview faced a first-and-goal play from the Mountain Vista 6. Ellison attempted to thread a pass in the end zone to Luke Strickland, but Bailey wrestled the ball away from Strickland in the end zone. It took Mountain Vista just four plays to drive 80 yards for the TD. Modrzewski connected with Blais, who jitterbugged his way for 33 yards. Modrzewski then connected with Sean Conway for a 20-yard TD pass and the 35-21 halftime lead. Then the lights went out, and Fairview pulled off an electrifying victory and a berth in the Final Four. Mountain Vista High School’s Elam Parises (20) cries after losing a Class 5A state playoff game against Fairview at EchoPark Stadium, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 in Parker. The game was moved from Halftime Help Stadium after the lights went out. (Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post) Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.