No QB controversy here: Fossil Ridge football blends styles to beat Rocky Mountain, reach 7-1

TIMNATH -- With quarterback Tyler Kubat back from an injury, many Fossil Ridge High School football fans were wondering what the SaberCats would do, given the success they had with sophomore Colton Pawlak filling in.

What they did was blend the duo's talents together into a balanced attack that utilized both.

The strong-armed Kubat threw for more than 200 yards and three touchdowns, while the fleet-footed Pawlak ran for at least 80 yards and one touchdown to lead the SaberCats in a 31-14 win Friday night over crosstown rival Rocky Mountain at PSD Stadium.

“We became a hybrid offense tonight,” coach Jeff Fulton said, “because you’ve got, in my opinion, a four-star recruit at quarterback who’s 6-foot-5, let him sling it. And he hit some darts. We should have had a couple more completions for touchdowns. The fact that we didn’t just means our timing’s off, but we’ll get better.”

Here are some takeaways from the first Fort Collins city rivalry game at the new venue:

Kubat shows no signs of injury

The senior Kubat picked up right where he left off, just four weeks and two days removed from surgery to repair a broken collarbone in his right throwing shoulder.

“I’m really glad to be back,” Kubat said. “I’ve had tons of people in my corner to help me get back to where I am, especially the arm strength.”

His first deep ball was a 48-yard touchdown strike to Marcus Mozer midway through the second quarter, extending Fossil Ridge’s lead at the time to 10-0.

He threw two more touchdown passes in the second half, both to senior Domenic Leone. The first was on a trick play, with Pawlak taking the shotgun snap at quarterback and pitching to Kubat, who lined up as a receiver, faking and end-around play. Kubat then stopped, set his feet and threw to a diving Leone in the back corner of the end zone.

His third TD pass was almost like two touchdown passes in one. He first found Leone streaking down the sideline for a 29-yard gain to the Rocky Mountain 5-yard line. Reaching for the ball, Leone was stumbling for several yards after the catch and couldn’t quite reach the end zone.

A few plays and a penalty later, Kubat threw an 11-yard TD pass to Leone, making it 31-7 Fossil Ridge with 4:12 to play.

Kubat just missed throwing a couple other touchdown passes, sailing one to the end zone a bit too high for the receiver to reach, and watching his receivers drop two others that they would usually catch.

Kubat wasn’t worried. He was just happy to be on the field playing again after missing the previous four games.

“At the end of the day, I love football, and I want to play at the next level,” he said. “But our team is so good that I could care less about the drops. We came out with the ‘W.’ ”

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Pawlak remains a threat in the running game

Pawlak took a handful of direct snaps at quarterback and about a dozen handoffs from Kubat, picking up decent chunks of yardage on the ground to keep the Rocky Mountain defense from putting an all-out assault on Kubat to slow the passing game.

That included a 13-yard touchdown run early with 4:03 remaining in the third quarter to kickstart a Fossil Ridge team that struggled early and led just 10-7 at halftime.

“We’ve got a crazy offense,” Kubat said. “You can’t even call it an air-raid offense anymore, because we can run it up the middle, direct snaps, pretty much anything.

“I’m really glad that I’m back and Colton did as good as he did, with Tosh (sophomore running back Jake Toschoff). I’m really happy.”

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Another league title within SaberCats’ reach

The win was the sixth straight for Fossil Ridge (7-1, 3-0 league), keeping the SaberCats in the hunt for a second consecutive league title with two games remaining in the regular season.

They visit co-leader Fairview (7-1, 3-0 league) next week in Boulder and third-place Poudre (6-2, 2-1) the following week at French Field to close out the regular season.

Fossil Ridge is No. 11 in the CHSAA RPI and Seeding Index used to select and seed teams for the 24-team Class 5A playoffs.

Finishing the regular season 9-1 is well within the SaberCats’ reach, which could open up the postseason draw for Fossil Ridge.

“We can make a deep playoff run, too, I believe,” Kubat said.

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Rocky Mountain finishes each half with a TD

Rocky Mountain scored both of its touchdowns in the final minute of each half.

Running back Abe Chatila, who went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season a week earlier in a win over Fort Collins, ran for a 12-yard TD with 33 seconds left in the first half to cut the Fossil Ridge lead at the break to 10-7.

And quarterback Charlie Sparks scrambled for a 21-yard score with 20 seconds left in the game.

Rocky Mountain (4-4, 1-2) is fighting for a spot in the 24-team field for the Class 5A playoffs at No. 21 in the CHSAA RPI and Seeding Index.

Poudre improves to 6-2 with win over Boulder

Poudre won a sixth game in the regular season for the first time since 2008, when the Impalas reached the semifinals of the Class 5A playoffs.

Win No. 6 for the Impalas (6-2, 2-1 league) was a 41-3 victory over Boulder (1-7, 0-3) at French Field.

No game details were available late Friday night.

Poudre is No. 19 in the CHSAA RPI and Seeding Index, meaning the Impalas are in good position for a playoff bid but may need to win each of their last two games for a chance to host a first-round game as a top 16 seed.

Poudre went 10-3 in 2008, winning eight games in the regular season and two more in the playoffs before losing 48-31 to eventual state champion Mullen in the semifinals.

Fort Collins drops seventh straight game

Fort Collins’ losing streak reached seven games with a 55-14 loss to Fairview at Recht Field in Boulder. Fairview led 34-7 at halftime.

Fort Collins (1-7, 0-3 league) hasn’t won since defeating Denver East 21-20 in its season opener Aug. 19, a surprising result after going 9-3 with a playoff win last year.

Windsor moves to 3-0 in league play

Windsor improved to 3-0 in its Class 4A league with a 53-0 win over Greeley West at District 6 Stadium in Greeley.

The win was the third straight for Windsor (5-3), ranked No. 17 in the CHSAA RPI and Seeding Index. The top 24 teams in the index at the end of the season qualify for the Class 4A playoffs.

Wellington, Timnath drop road games

Poudre School District’s two newest high school football teams, Wellington and Timnath, both dropped games on the road Thursday night.

The schools opened this fall and are playing in Class 2A leagues with varsity teams made up exclusively of freshmen and sophomores.

Wellington (4-3, 1-2 league) lost 34-12 at D’Evelyn (5-2, 3-0) in Denver.

Timnath (0-7, 0-3) fell 53-19 at Sterling (2-5, 1-2).

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 blends offensive styles to beat rival Rocky Mountain