(Aislyn Carrillo/CHSAANow.com)
FORT COLLINS — “This is the oldest rivalry in the city of Fort Collins,” said coach Marty McVicker of Poudre High School.
The Impalas (1-0 overall) took down the No. 8 Lambkins (0-1) with a score of 39-20 in their home opener at French Field.
The Impalas offense came out extremely aggressive the entire first half, putting up seven points within the first twelve seconds of the game by Earl Ong. Poudre managed to score two more touchdowns during the quarter with a solid lead of 20-6.
Poudre took advantage of a Lambkins offensive error when they fumbled the ball in the second quarter. After a wisely-used timeout, The Impalas offense immediately answered with a touchdown scored by senior Mason Morton.
Two-thirds of the way through the second quarter, Noah Merrill, the starting quarterback for Fort Collins, was severely injured with a broken collarbone, according to coach Eric Rice.
However, junior strong safety Cory Lange took over the Fort Collins offense. Lange completed a pass to wide receiver Kielar Harpham, who ran it in for a touchdown to make it 27-12 at the half.
The Lambkins started the second half strong with Lange completing yet another touchdown pass to Ben Jenkins. The Fort Collins defense held Poudre off the scoreboard for the majority of the quarter until Jackson Hamby intercepted a pass and ran it in for a touchdown.
Zach Leal added another score for Poudre in the fourth quarter.
Poudre used the injury of Jenkins to its advantage starting off the fourth quarter with a touchdown from Zach Leal. Fort Collins continued to push through the Poudre defense and against Poudre’s offense, but they could not withstand the Impala defense throwing an interception to free safety, Jason Wooldridge.
“My hat’s off to Poudre because they played a heck of a game and they were physical and they were poised,” said Rice, who said he took full responsibility for his team being “outplayed” on Friday.
“Were going to watch the film, look at the good things that happened and not focus on all negative so we are going to focus on the positive and emphasize on those and build off of those,” he added.
The next Fort Collins matchup is against another crosstown rival, Fossil Ridge, on Sept. 11. Poudre will be hosting Northglenn on its home turf on Sept. 10.