Cougars return from CSU-Pueblo camp with renewed optimism

Jeremy Lanter is looking forward to his second season as Niwot’s head football coach, and not just because he feels the Cougars will be more competitive on the field. With 20 first-time players, in addition to a healthy crop of freshman, Lanter said newcomers have breathed energy and optimism into his program, which has seen its share of struggles in recent years.

“Now although the numbers have been similar, the excitement has been one of the biggest changes in the program,” he wrote in an email about the Cougars’ just-concluded spring training schedule. “It feels different to the coaches, the players, and to their parents. When all of those things are aligned and optimistic there is a certain level of excitement that we all could use around here.”

Lanter and the team recently returned from a successful three-day trip to a full-contact high school camp at CSU-Pueblo, where they joined several other Colorado high school squads—including cross-town rival Erie—for three days of scrimmages, 7-on-7 tournaments, and individual coaching from the staff of the CSU-Pueblo ThunderWolves.

“The camp itself could not have gone better for us and was by far the best camp that the coaching staff had ever gotten to be a part of,” Lanter wrote. “These kids really came together, learned to play and succeed together, and also to have fun and enjoy the game together.”

This year, more than half of the 38 Cougars who made the trip down south for last week’s camp are brand new to football, including senior Hor Hay who pumped-up the team with his “game-changing plays,” according to Lanter. Other first-time players include Hay’s fellow senior Franki Dimas and junior Zane Lavato.

“Having such new blood in our program really allowed us to focus on development, on team unity, and on leadership,” he wrote. “The camp itself could not have gone better for us and was by far the best camp that the coaching staff had ever gotten to be a part of.”

For Lanter, however, building on-field skills was just part of the camp’s ultimate value to his program. He was especially impressed with the way his players handled a confrontation with an opposing team at the camp, a moment he called “emotional.”

“Our boys never flinched, wavered, or sunk to that level,” he wrote. “As a coach, the best sign of our progress shines through in moments like those if we have taught kids to have good character, to be good men, and to let our actions speak louder than our words. I could not have been more proud of our boys.”

Lanter said he is looking forward to “building a tradition of success” with both the newcomers and veterans, such as Jovani Lopez, who is entering his third year with the team and is also optimistic about his team’s prospects for the upcoming season.

“The players that are coming right now have been focused, energetic, and are working hard,” Lanter wrote. “We talk a lot about building "Our Birdhouse," one that we are proud of and that we have invested time, energy and heart into. These players are excited to be the ones that build.”

Lanter admitted that he is still somewhat guarded in his overall expectations for next year, but added that winning football games is just one of his staff’s standards for success.

“It is about developing leaders, having great character, understanding accountability and sacrifice,” he wrote. “But more than all of those things it is about the friendships they have, the family formed and the opportunity they have to play this game together. I am excited for these boys to get to do this together.”

Due to CHSAA rules governing off-season practice time, things will slow down some for the Cougars until the 2018-19 season practices officially begin on August 6. The team will continue to meet for conditioning workouts on Thursday throughout the summer, and will participate in some local 7-on-7 tournaments. The team will also have a presence at several upcoming community events throughout the summer, including Rock & Rails, and Niwot’s 4th of July Parade, where players will once again be handing out water. On Aug. 3, the Niwot Touchdown Club, official booster club for the football team, hosts the fifth annual Cougar Classic Golf Tournament to raise money for new helmets with impact detection technology and other updated equipment.