Rocky Mountain sprints to celebrate with their fans after beating Brighton, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at French Field in Fort Collins, Colo. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com) More photos.
FORT COLLINS — It wasn’t a complete game. As their coach pointed out, it was a season-opener. But Rocky Mountain football looks to be much the same team that had so much success last season.
The Lobos (1-0) capitalized on four first-half turnovers to build a lead, then held on to beat Brighton (0-1) 32-15 at French Field on Saturday afternoon.
“This is Game 1. We’ve got a lot of work left to do, which is good,” said Rocky Mountain coach Mark Brook. “But the good thing is the kids played fast all day. And that’s something you can’t fix. The penalties, the procedures, that’s stuff we can fix. And that’s encouraging.”
Rocky Mountain built a 19-0 halftime lead thanks in large part to the turnovers — two interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a recovery of a muffed punt return. Then, on the opening kick of the second half, Rocky Mountain recovered the kickoff at the 4-yard-line after it took an odd bounce and Brighton’s return man wasn’t able to get to the ball.
Rocky Mountain’s Brady Morris (35) dives to recover the ball against Brighton’s Gabe Swisher (21), who muffed the punt. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com) More photos.
The Lobos scored on the next play to make it 26-0.
“I think any opportunity we get to hop on something — no matter how little it is — anything that will create momentum, we’re going to jump on that and hop on it,” said Rocky Mountain’s Brady Morris, who had one of the interceptions and also recovered the muffed punt.
The result was that Rocky Mountain had eight drives that started on Brighton’s side of the field, including three inside the 10.
“The defense gave us some great field position with some interceptions, and even special teams with the kick cover,” said Rocky Mountain running back Cade Hairgrove, who had two touchdowns. “We capitalized on a lot of those, but still, we had a few that we should’ve capitalized on that we didn’t.”
Hairgrove finished with more than 100 yards rushing, and quarterback Tyler Hyland had a nice day with a touchdown on 5-of-12 passing.
Rocky Mountain’s lead looked to be comfortable in the third quarter, but the Brighton offense, led by running back Julian Mijares and quarterback Brady Jacovetta — both seniors — kept the Bulldogs in the game.
Jacovetta had a 17-yard scoring run with five minutes to go in the third, and then he threw a touchdown pass with 3:46 left in the game to cut it to 26-15 following a two-point conversion.
The Bulldogs, however, couldn’t recover the onside kick and then Rocky Mountain’s Ivan Blount ended any hopes of a comeback on the next drive with a 44-yard touchdown run.
Brighton’s Angel Zamarron (13) tries to gain possession over Rocky Mountain’s Sean Miller (11) in the end zone. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com) More photos.
Mijares finished with 104 yards on the ground, and was a workhorse all afternoon. Jacovetta had 98 yards passing, and another 85 rushing.
Rocky Mountain, meanwhile, is aiming to build on last season’s 9-2 finish. It was the most wins the program has had since going 11-1 in 2008.
“I think we’re looking to build on a tradition here,” Morris said. “After the success last year, we’re looking to have more success this year and for years to come.”
Added Hairgrove: “I believe if we can fix the little things and we can play hard every play, I feel like it’ll be a ‘Next Step’ year for sure.”
But Brook wasn’t ready to look that far ahead.
“I’ve been around this for a while, and so has our staff,” he said. “It’s just one of those things where our next step is this Friday. It has to be. To even start considering (beyond) that, we’re crazy. Because so much can happen in high school football.
“But I’m happy with the way our kids came out and started,” Brook continued. “If we can have a good week in practice, and build on this, we’ll put the foot in the right direction.”
Brighton’s Blas Espinoza (15) brings down Rocky Mountain’s Cade Hairgrove (27) during a 5A football game, Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, at French Field in Fort Collins, Colo. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com) More photos.