Tuesday night, January 31, the Fossil Ridge SaberCats took the court against cross town rival Fort Collins High School in a thrilling City Championship game. After a very hard fought game, the SaberCats folded under the pressure, and the Lambkins took the (66-81) win.

The starting five for the ‘Cats were Braxton Bertolette, Luke Lauby, Garrett Ripsam, Cam Dehart, and Colby Pipher who marked up against Iseri Palacio, Jacob Pfaffinger, Brian Read, Damien Murillo and Ricky Orozco of Fort Collins. With that said, there was an abundance of talent on the court, and the gym was literally buzzing with energy.

Dehart came racing out of the gate, as he had a huge steal in the first minutes of play, which got the crowd going, followed by a series of drives to the Lambkin basket.

Lambkin powerhouse, Brian Read (16 pts), made it difficult for Ripsam and Lauby, leading the SaberCat offense, to pull off their drives. However, Dehart broke him down. By playing quick passes and checking to and away from the ball to create space in the offensive zone, he changed the game for the ‘Cats.

It was clear that Dehart (6 pts) was controlling the first quarter of the game, but his efforts would’ve been worthless if it hadn’t had been for his teammates who raised their level of energy to meet his.

Alex Price (2 pts) came into the game, and brought his usual speed and intensity in with him, matching that of Deharts. After the game Dehart commented, “We knew we had to take care of the ball coming into this game, and we knew that our work ethic was going to have to be turned on the whole time if we wanted to keep the game in our control.” 

Pipher sat Lambkin Iseri Palacio (12 pts) down under the basket on a Fort Collins drive, which resulted in the ball in Fossil’s possession. Bertolette (34 pts) punished the Lambkins on that drive when he hit a deep three point shot, after not having as much of a presence in the game as he usually does.

Bertolette was man marked by two of the Lambkin defenders the entire game in the SaberCat’s offensive zone, which left quite a bit of space for the other Fossil players. Ripsam and Dehart took advantage of that space and worked the ball through the paint and across the court.

In the last 4 minutes of the first half, in between a handful of changes of possession, there were shots being made left and right by both teams and the gym was shaking with the cheers of students and fans.

Regardless of Pfaffinger (20 pts) and Palacio’s hard work – driving to the basket, finishing their runs, and playing strong defense – Price made two three point shots followed by three, three point shots, from Bertolette after getting a couple quick seconds of separation from Lambkin defenders on each drive.  Palacio mentioned after the game, “I think I personally could’ve pushed the ball a little better, and made sure that everyone on the floor was on the same page weather that is offensively or defensively. We were a bit unorganized in the first half, but I think it was more the nerves than anything.”

Although he was double teamed, Bertolette still managed to lead the team to a minor 37-33 lead over the Lambkins going into halftime. The SaberCats without question dominated the first half of the game.

But with the second half underway, it seemed as though the ‘Cats thought they already had the win in the bag. The third quarter resulted in a lot of unforced mistakes from the Fossil players which lead to a series of Lambkin baskets. Fort Collins took quite a lead in the third quarter with an offense lead by Palacio, and a defense lead by Read. 

Ironically with the control Fort Collins was taking in the third quarter, it was in that quarter when offensive star Bertolette got most of his points. Unfortunately Bertolette’s efforts couldn’t bring the ‘Cats back from being behind. The Lambkins took the win, and in a quick interview with Palacio after the game he said, “It is an unreal feeling. We worked so hard and prepared so long for this game and it is just an amazing feeling to have it all pay off like this.” 

Dehart said, “The first quarter went well, we knew they would make some runs and we would too, we made more in the first half and they made more in the second. I’m proud of how we played, unfortunately, we just couldn’t come back after that third quarter. They are a good team, and so are we, it’s these close games, with so much on the line not only for us players, but for each of the people representing the two schools, that always make these cross town rival games so great.”