PUEBLO, Colo. — Winning a state title and an MVP trophy in one night, would probably be memorable enough for most, but Loveland's Zack Rakowsky earned a triple crown.
The senior running back and safety was celebrating with his teammates and speaking with 9NEWS after the win, when the head coach John Wristen and Director of Athletics Dr. Paul Plinske pulled him aside for a special conversation.
"At the time, I didn't really know what to say to him," Rakowsky said. "I was kind of in shock."
Rakowsky's eye-popping performance of 163 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions earned him a scholarship offer to CSU Pueblo right there on the field of the ThunderBowl.
"I still don't really know how to feel about it. I mean, it's still unbelievable, that feeling, and I don't know when it's going to go away to be honest," he said.
The feelings are sticking around, and his head coach Jeff Mauck made sure the ThunderWolves staff did the same.
"I said 'I told you he would be the best player on the field', and they were like, 'We're going to offer him! I've got to find him right now!' and I was like, 'Holy cow!' They were like 'We gotta find him, we've got to have him.' And I was just like, how cool is that?"
The offer was his first and only, which sounds surprising for the fourth-best rusher in the state. Rakowsky racked up 1393 yards and 19 touchdowns through his nine games this season. Even so, the lack of recruiting is nothing new for Coach Mauck.
"You know, we don't get a lot of that at Loveland," he said. "Even on our 2018 [state championship] team, which was very successful, I mean, I don't think anyone came even close to us, we didn't get a lot of traction then either."
"I told every coach every single week, if you just watch our game, he's going to be the best player on the field. I don't care who you put out there."
To the recruiting eye, his generously listed 5'10" height and thin frame may not fit the mold of a typical running back, but looks can be even more deceiving than his lethal cutbacks.
"You know, don't judge a book by its cover. We talk about it all of the time. That's what some of these people do to us," Mauck said. "They take someone like Zack and he doesn't fit a specific profile. And when he doesn't fit that specific profile, I think some of those guys or gals all of the sudden discount him."
"When you actually see all of those Division I players that are on that other team, if anyone didn't know they were Division I players, they would've looked and said 'Number 5 Zack Rakowski is the best player on that field.'"
Rakowsky is still deciding if he'll accept the offer to play football at CSU Pueblo in the fall of 2021 or continue his academic career elsewhere.
We reached out to the ThunderWolves staff for comment, but they declined due to NCAA recruiting rules.