Fossil Ridge football secures city title, home playoff game with blowout win over Poudre

No doubt about it.

Fossil Ridge High School’s football team proved it was the best in Fort Collins this year Friday night, rolling to a 38-6 win over host Poudre at French Field.

Quarterback Tyler Kubat threw for three touchdowns and running back Colton Pawlak ran for two to give Fossil Ridge (8-2, 4-1 league) its first eight-win regular season since moving up to the Class 5A level and secure the homefield advantage for a first-round playoff game next weekend.

Poudre (7-3, 4-2 league) will make the playoffs, too, for the first time since 2018 but will most likely have to travel for its first-round game.

Playoff brackets will be announced Sunday by CHSAA, but Fossil Ridge is assured of finishing among the top 16 teams in the Selection and Seeding index. The top eight will receive first-round byes and host in the second round, while the next eight — where Fossil Ridge is likely to wind up — will host Nos. 17-24 in first-round games.

Fossil Ridge was No. 14 coming into the game, while Poudre was No. 18.

The SaberCats, who will play that game at the PSD Stadium, most likely on Friday, Nov. 4, hosted a Class 3A playoff game in 2007 — four years after the school’s opening — but have never played a Class 5A playoff game at home.

“It’s the first one in history; it’s exciting,” said Trek Keyworth, a senior who hauled in two touchdown catches Friday night. “Most of us went to the same middle school (Preston), so it’s our sixth year playing together, and we’re just continuing it in the playoffs.”

Here are some takeaways from the game:

SaberCats are undisputed city champions

Fossil Ridge won the city championship outright for the first time since 2016 by sweeping its three crosstown games.

The SaberCats beat Fort Collins 46-21 and Rocky Mountain 31-14.

It’s the first time since 2019, when Rocky Mountain was the city champion, that one school has beaten each of the other three in the same season.

Poudre came into the game with a chance to win the title outright, as well, after beating Rocky Mountain 34-7 and Fort Collins 41-15.

The McClary Trophy that went to the city champion annually from 1992 to 2016 hasn’t been located in recent years, so there was no hardware to parade around the field afterward.

“It’s a great team win,” Kubat said. “We really put it to them, and that’s really all I could ask for in the last game of the regular season.”

Fossil Ridge’s passing attack firing on all cylinders

Kubat, who missed four games earlier in the season with a broken collarbone on his right (throwing) shoulder, was on target all night against a Poudre defense that had been pretty solid against the pass.

The 6-foot-5 senior threw for about 235 yards, completing 17 of his 27 passes, and could have done even more damage if not for some uncustomary drops by some of his best receivers.

Not that it mattered much.

The SaberCats were still able to move the ball through the air whenever they needed a big play. Keyworth caught passes for gains of 24, 25 and 16 yards in addition to his touchdown catches for 2 and 7 yards.

“We got Tyler back from a broken collarbone, and that’s just huge, especially for the passing game,” Keyworth said.

Domenic Leone hauled in passes for 15, 30 and 27 yards. Mac Busteed, back after missing several games with an injury, had a 15-yarder among his two receptions. And Marcus Mozer had catches of 16 and 37 yards.

Best of all for the SaberCats was a pass late in the game from Kubat’s younger brother, Nick, a sophomore. He threw the 37-yarder that Mozer caught along the sideline at the Poudre 5-yard line, setting up the Pawlak’s second touchdown run on the following play.

Fossil Ridge balances offense with solid run game

The SaberCats relied on the running of Pawlak, who moved to quarterback in the four games Kubat missed with his injury, and have continued to make his legs a big part of the offense, too.

Pawlak, a sophomore, ran for 92 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries. And another sophomore running back, Jake Toshcoff, added about 79 yards on 15 carries.

“When Colton was at quarterback, that just opened up a whole new run game, and the run sets up the pass,” Keyworth said. “When he’s in the backfield with Tyler, defenses just don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m sure it’s a nightmare for coaches gameplanning.”

SaberCats bounce back from loss to Fairview

Fossil Ridge lost out on its chance to win back-to-back league titles a week earlier, losing 42-26 at Fairview to assure the Knights (9-1, 5-0) of the title in the six-team league consisting of the four Class 5A schools in Fort Collins and the two in Boulder.

“We would have liked to have been back to back,” Fulton said. “We didn’t deserve to win last week; they were better. But boy, I like our team.”

Fossil Ridge defense loses shutout on final play

Often overshadowed by its big-play offense, the Fossil Ridge defense has been solid all season, too.

An interception by safety Antonio Gallegos at the Poudre 45-yard line early in the game, set up the SaberCats’ first score. Fossil Ridge also had some key sacks on third-down plays on back-to-back series in the second quarter, the first a joint effort by lineback Tanner Isom and defensive lineman Griffin Hinkley, and the second by defensive end Theo Frericks.

A touchdown, against a prevent defense, on the game’s final play is all that prevented the SaberCats from posting its second shutout of the season.

Poudre quarterback Quentin Harms, a senior who threw for about 175 yards, found Garrett Roberts in the corner of the end zone for a 22-yard TD as time expired.

Poudre never could get its ground game going and was limited to fewer than 200 yards of total offense. Poudre came into the game averaging 155 yards through the air and 142 on the ground.

Rocky Mountain drops regular-season finale at Fairview

Zach Lewis ran for 115 yards and one touchdown and returned an interception 62 yards for another score Thursday night to lead Fairview to a 24-7 win over Rocky Mountain.

Rocky Mountain (5-5, 2-3 league) came into the game at No. 21 in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index and will learn Sunday whether it stayed in the top 24 to qualify for the 5A playoffs.

Windsor beats Grand Junction Central

Windsor, which needed to move up two spots in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index for Class 4A teams to earn the right to host a playoff game next weekend, wrapped up its regular season with a 21-14 win over visiting Grand Junction Central.

The Wizards finished the regular season with a 6-4 record overall and a 3-1 mark in their five-team league, finishing second to Loveland (9-1, 4-0).

Wellington finishes first season at 4-5

Wellington wrapped up its first football season since 1963 — the school re-opened this fall with only freshman and sophomores at the high school level — with a 4-5 record after dropping its season finale 58-14 Thursday at Bennett.

Cash Altschwager threw for one touchdown and caught a pass from Huston Willhite for another for Wellington.

Kelly Lyell reports on CSU, high school and other local sports and topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, follow him on Twitter @KellyLyell and find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fossil Ridge football secures city title with blowout win over Poudre