FORT MORGAN — Every time the Fort Morgan football team scores, an obnoxiously loud cannon fires from just beyond the north end zone.

After Saturday, it wouldn’t be surprising if ear doctors in this Eastern Plains town were booked solid for the next week.

The No. 2 Mustangs are mostly known for their stifling defense, but they disproved the notion that they are one-dimensional in a 42-24 pasting of fourth-ranked D’Evelyn in the Class 3A semifinals. Fort Morgan will square of against Glenwood Springs next weekend in the state championship game at Legacy Stadium in Aurora in a battle of the classification’s only unbeaten teams.

“It’s amazing,” Fort Morgan two-way lineman Ryan Jensen said. “It feels great. Just a sweet feeling.”

While the defense asserted itself by forcing five turnovers, it was senior running back/safety Chris Cobbley who stole the show -- and often, the ball. He rushed for 212 yards and three touchdowns and intercepted three D’Evelyn passes. The built-like-a-fire-hydrant 5-foot-7, 186-pounder scored on runs of 35, 1 and 46 yards.

“We started out slow but we finally found the fire and got going,” Cobbley said.

Indeed, the Mustangs (13-0) began so slow that it initially appeared it might be a rout in the other direction. D’Evelyn (11-2 ) marched down the field on its first two possessions and took a quick 10-0 lead. But Fort Morgan reeled off 35 points before the Jaguars scored again.

“We just started to play, honestly,” Jensen said. “We weren’t playing good, weren’t firing off the ball low, but we went through the adversity and got through it.”

After falling in the 10-0 hole, the Mustangs unveiled their scantily-used passing attack, as quarterback Garrett Pape connected with Casey Scott for two long completions, including a 27-yard touchdown. Fort Morgan kept it rolling with two touchdowns by each Cobbley and Devon Deroche, and all of a sudden it was 35-10.

All the while, the Mustangs vaunted defense, which entered having allowed 8.3 points a game and had surrendered only three points in two playoff games, solved D’Evelyn’s spread attack.

“We just kept doing what we were doing, but got a little more pressure which I think helped us out,” Fort Morgan coach Harrison Chisum said. “But my hat’s off to D’Evelyn. D’Evelyn is a great program.”

The D’Evelyn offense was presumed to be the Mustangs’ biggest test, as the Jaguars entered averaging about 41 points a contest. And the Jags got their numbers -- quarterback Garrett Griffeth threw for 339 yards and receiver Sean Rebek caught a whopping 14 passes for 195 yards -- but the unit was confined in the middle portions of the game as Fort Morgan built its sizable lead.

“Their DBs played a good game and made big plays,” said Griffeth, who said the Mustangs often bracketed the Jaguars spread formations and didn’t allow room for separation. “You had to throw it on the break or else they’d be there to break it up. They close fast and hit hard.”

Cobbley was one of those closing fast, as he picked off two of Griffeth’s passes and one on a D’Evelyn fake punt attempt. Cobbley, who nearly had a fourth interception in the latter stages of the game, added to his jack-of-all-trades day by placing a quick-snap punt on the D’Evelyn 10-yard line.

“He ought to be player of the game then,” Jaguars coach Jeremy Bennett said before indicating Cobbley was the best back his team has faced this season.

D’Evelyn can at least take pride in putting a halt to an impressive Fort Morgan streak. The Mustangs had not allowed a point in the third quarter this season until Connor Davis’ 11-yard touchdown reception from Griffeth. The Mustangs now have outscored foes 79-7 in the third quarter this season. D’Evelyn witnessed exactly why such a streak was possible.

“They tackle really well,” Bennett said. “There was no blazing speed but they read the field really well and they played their safeties so deep that it gave them great angles to come up and close on us.”