NHS football: Hollingsworth brings home a victory

For Niwot Coach Dylan Hollingsworth and his son, sophomore running back Jeremy Hollingsworth, returning to the Colorado mountains was enjoyable, right up until game time, when it was all business.

“We saw a lot of people, a lot of smiling faces,” Coach Hollingsworth said as the Cougars travelled to Frisco to face his former team, Summit County. “Once it was game time, we went to work.”

The Cougars came away with a hard-fought 17-14 victory, making the bus ride home a happy one.

Hollingsworth coached Summit County for several years before coming to Niwot for the 2015 season, when his son Jeremy was a freshman who saw some varsity playing time.

As a sophomore, Jeremy Hollingsworth has become the Cougars’ top tailback, scoring both touchdowns against Summit County, with over 100 yards rushing in 17 carries.

Coach Hollingsworth was far from satisfied with his team’s performance, in spite of the win. “It was not as good as game one,” Hollingsworth said. “We shot ourselves in the foot. We gave up a fake punt on their first series for 27 yards, then had a penalty on fourth down.” The penalty kept the Summit County drive alive, but it ended when a high snap led to a Niwot fumble recovery.

Mistakes haunted the Cougars all night long. A fumbled punt allowed Summit County to start on Niwot’s one-yard line, and quickly led to a touchdown. Niwot took the ball down to the goal line just before the half, but the Cougars were stopped as time ran out.

“We only ran 14 plays on offense in the first half,” Hollingsworth said, “and we had a myriad of penalties, including roughing the passer, holding and pass interference.”

“We were not ready to play mentally,” Hollingsworth said, noting that the bus was late getting the team to the game. “We played like we were discombobulated.”

Once the second half started, the Cougars regrouped, quickly scoring a touchdown and adding the extra point to tie the game. The next Cougar drive was stopped short of the goal line, but a field goal by kicker James Lerner gave Niwot a 10-7 lead. “That ended up being the deciding play,” Hollingsworth said.

Jeremy Hollingsworth broke some longer runs to help Niwot go up 17-7. A series of penalties on Niwot and a long pass gave Summit County a touchdown, cutting the lead to 17-14 with 2:30 left in the game, but Niwot held on to claim the victory.

Fullback Chris Jones complemented Jeremy Hollingsworth with 67 yards of his own on five carries in the game. Outside linebacker Braden Golon led the defense with 10 tackles. “The defense did a good job of getting after them,” Hollingsworth noted.

Niwot’s passing game was not clicking on all cylinders as starter Matt Baun went 3-9 before Trae Gomez took over in the fourth quarter and completed one of two passes. The four completions netted 43 yards, with 21 of them coming on one pass play.

The Cougar quarterbacks alternated quarters in the first game, and Hollingsworth is looking for one of them to claim the position. “We have to work on going through our reads quicker,” Hollingsworth said. “We’re hanging on to the ball too long.” Wide receivers Alec Helgeland, Adam Barber and Nate Nielsen, share two positions, shuttling in the play calls.

Alex Oelsner starts at tight end, with Trent Tadewald at center, Fox Garza at left guard, Jake Bock at right guard, Eddy Olivas at left tackle, and John Hibar at right tackle. “For the second game in a row we were over 200 yards rushing,” Hollingsworth noted, crediting the offensive line.

The Cougar defense consists of Braden and Oelsner at outside linebacker, Bock at nose tackle, Luis Olivas and Shane Timmerman at defensive tackle, Jensen and Tadewald at inside linebacker, Nick Lackovic and Brandon Barton at cornerback, and Anton Sandoval and Cody Holliday at safety. Baun handles the punting for the Cougars.

Hollingsworth serves as the team’s offensive coordinator, with former NFL player Ron Woolfork handling the defensive coordinator duties again. Luke Knapton, who played at Skyline, is a new teacher and coach this year at Niwot, and coaches the inside linebackers and tailbacks after playing collegiate football at Wyoming and Colorado Mesa.

Scott Thomas returns to coach the tackles, tight ends and defensive line, and Dick Fahrney, a hall of fame coach and player who coached with Hollingsworth at Summit County, drives down from Breckenridge two or three days a week at age 77 to help coach the centers and guards.

Tom Newland, who was a head coach at Battle Mountain, Brush and Alamosa, and Jared Herrera, who played football at Centaurus, also assist.

Mike Veeder, NHS alum and teacher Scot Robles and Jim Cummins coach the freshmen. With 82 players on the roster, the numbers are up for Niwot. “We have good leadership and the kids are having fun,” Hollingsworth said.