There is no better way to kick off football season then to do it with a cross town rival game. On Friday, September 1, Fossil Ridge took on Fort Collins High School in a very high-intensity game. With both pride, and the Harmony Cup on the line, the two teams battled hard until the final whistle was blown. The SaberCats fell short to the Lambkins, 6-17, and had to give up the Harmony Cup after their win against Collins last fall, that brought the Cup back to Fossil for the first time in four years.
Fossil had the first possession of the game, but after a drive by Tanner Hoke, as well as two missed passing attempts by Hoke to Tristan Burdick, the ‘Cats were forced to punt.
The Lambkins couldn’t make any magic happen with their first possession either. After the punt return from Fossil’s Jimmy Carson, everyone was focused on Dylan Johnston, as he became the driving force for Fossil’s offense. Johnston was cutting and spinning defenders working his way up the middle of the field.
Hoke then connected with both Burdick and Niles Tilley before driving for ten yards himself. The Cat’s were 10 yards from scoring, but the Lambkins shut them down. Donovan Murphree came out for the SaberCats to attempt a 20 yard field goal, but failed to put the ball between the posts.
When the Lambkin offense took the field, they came out hot on their first two plays. On their third play however, SaberCat Nathan Meyer was able to get to, and sack, Fort Collins’ QB, Hayden Iverson. The hit was hard enough to cause a fumble which was picked up by Carson, giving possession back to Fossil.
Hoke couldn’t connect with any of his receivers and the ‘Cats were, once again, forced to punt. Fort Collins, for the second time, was making their way up the field when the ball was fumbled and scooped up by SaberCat Garrett Brown.
With a burst of energy and confidence, Hoke connected with Johnston as well as with Kevyn Simpson to put the ‘Cats on the 40 yard line. On the next play, as Hoke was getting closed down, he pushed the ball up field and was unable to find one of his receivers; however, he did find one of the Lambkins, which served as the only interception of the game.
The scoreboard showed 6:50 left in the first half, and somehow Fort Collins managed to fumble the ball two more times. Although Fossil couldn’t break through the Lambkin defense after either of the fumbles, Fort Collins was able to score, and take a 7-0 lead over Fossil before halftime.
At halftime there was a Miracle Minute competition between Fort Collins and Fossil Ridge FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America) in support of raising money for the March of Dimes – a nonprofit organization that raises money for prematurely born infants and their mothers. Fort Collins won the competition, but together the schools raised over $1000 which is all being donated to the organization.
Once the second half of the game was underway, the Lambkins scored two more times to get themselves 17 points. Tilley got Fossil’s one and only touchdown of the game with 1:44 left in the third quarter, and Murphree attempted another field goal, but the kick was blocked by the Fort Collins defense.
After the game Fossil Ridge Head Coach Zak Bigelow commented, “While it is extremely disappointing to lose any game, I hate to lose, our players demonstrated that they understand the important things about handling adversity and fighting until the very end. And that gave me a ton of confidence moving forward, that this is a bunch of kids who can still accomplish great things.”
Although it wasn’t the outcome the SaberCats were hoping for, they are ready to work hard this week and come out even stronger on Friday. On September 8, the ‘Cats will take on Rocky at 7:00 PM on French Field. Come out and show your Fossil spirit as the boys take on another rival.
