Niwot falls to fourth-ranked Fort Morgan

It's cliche to say that a team played better than the final score indicated, but for second-year head coach Nik Blume, it's also a pretty fair characterization of Niwot's 52-27 loss to fourth-ranked Fort Morgan on Oct. 7.

"You have to take your little victories, and that's a win for us, despite what the scoreboard looks like," he said afterwards. "I hate losing so much, but tonight I found a way to look at the boys and realized we never went away. That was a big positive for us-never folding and we kept scoring."

Unfortunately, the offensive play wasn't the biggest problem facing Niwot against the Mustangs, but rather it was undisciplined special teams play and some defensive lapses, particularly in the second half. In the first, the Cougars kept the score close until late, allowing just two touchdowns, while scoring one of their own on a long catch and run from Ben Classen to Craig Wright, capping off a long drive. The Mustangs added one more score in the final minute to make it 20-7 at the break, though Niwot senior Jackson Ackerman saved another one with a timely interception.

Things fell apart for Niwot defensively in the third quarter, as Fort Morgan scored a total of 32 points on four straight possessions, effectively putting the game out of reach. One of those came on a punt return, the second of the game for the Mustangs.

"I think we learned something tonight," Blume said. "We preach special teams all the time, and we practice it constantly, and the attitude, sometimes feels like specials isn't important. And then we gave up special teams scores tonight. So if you don't do that, it's a one score game, and the fourth quarter is a little more important than it ended up being."

Niwot put up 20 points of its own in the second half, with two running touchdowns from senior Thomas Carnagie, and a 15-yard keeper from Classen. Carnagie finished the night with 142 yards, bringing his season total to 611, which is third overall in Class 3A. Classen, with 582, is fifth overall.

With a fundamentally sound offense and line play, Blume still remains optimistic about the rest of the 2021 season. Now at 3-3, the Cougars have four games left on the schedule, including two very competitive ones against Thompson Valley and Northridge.

"We're big upfront, and we go as those guys go," Blume said of his offensive and defensive lines. "And the fact that we were in this game is 100% because they just don't quit. The frustrating part is that it's taken us a little long to get rolling, and we still have too many little mistakes in critical times. But if we can clean those things up, we get even better."

Niwot goes on the road to take on Thompson Valley on Thursday, Oct. 14. Kick-off is at 7 p.m.