On Friday, September 24, Fossil Ridge football took on Bear Creek High School in their fourth league game. Unfortunately, after holding a nine point lead at halftime (16-7), the Cats suffered their fourth consecutive loss (23-36) to the Bears.  

The SaberCats were playing with the most confidence we’ve seen so far this season, as they racked up (16 pts) by the end of the second quarter, which is more than their last three games combined (12 pts). Hoke was connecting with his receivers, and overall Fossil’s offense was performing much better than it did in their previous two games against Rocky (2-2), and Poudre (4-1). The energy was high, and the boys seemed to be in sync with each other for the first time this fall.

Currently, Tanner Hoke (QB) has a passing percentage of 57%, having completed only 407 passing yards in Fossil’s first four games. With that said, Hoke can’t win games by himself. Although Fossil receivers Tristan Burdick (85 yds) and Jimmy Carson (62 yds) are leading the Cat’s offense, they have not yet been able to lead the team to a win. The bottom line is that Fossil needs to step up their offensive game if they want to be competitive this season.

The Cats’ defense has evidently seen a lot of the field, considering that in total, Fossil Ridge has only scored (5) touchdowns this season. In order for any team to win games, their offense needs time on the turf, and that is something that will come with time for the SaberCats. Senior Nathan Meyer commented after the game, “I feel like we are really close to figuring things out. We just need to keep improving and working hard until that happens.”

After the game Meyer stated, “We started to play together as a team and compete on all sides of the ball. We still need to put together a full game though. We played a great first half but didn’t go out and improve in the second. We came out alright after halftime, but a few turnovers and rough plays switched the momentum. We just didn’t handle it as well as we needed to. They changed their game plan and we didn’t adjust well to it.”  

This Friday, September 29, the boys will take on Lakewood High School at 6:00 P.M. at Jeffco Stadium. If you can’t make it to the game, follow @frhssportsnews on Twitter for updates.