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Moffat County football opens season with rainy romp against Resurrection Christian

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Andy Bockelman
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Moffat County senior Bryant Carlson works to hold onto a pass while getting by a Resurrection Christian opponent Friday, Aug. 25.
Andy Bockelman/Craig Press

LOVELAND — It may have been a gloomy night for the first Moffat County football game, but the Bulldogs fought through the rain for sunnier times ahead.

MCHS took a 14-0 loss Friday in Loveland against the Resurrection Christian Cougars during a hard-fought match. This was the fifth time in a decade MoCo has faced the private school — which has gone from the 1A to 2A to 3A classification since the first time they faced off — and the Bulldogs have fallen by as little as nine points and as many as 42 points.

Last year’s season opener saw the Cougars trounce the Dogs 36-6, leaving this year’s seniors and juniors particularly ready to get some payback. MCHS didn’t wind up getting into the end zone Friday, but Moffat limited the Cougars to two touchdowns — the first of which didn’t come until one minute before halftime.

Neither side scored in a drizzly first quarter as each defense refused to relent. Time and again, the Bulldog defense shut down attempts to move the chains on fourth down.

Near the end of second quarter, Resurrection was set up on the 2-yard line, but a hit by senior Hudson Jones gave the ball back to the Dogs.

However, starting from the goal line and the fact that the wet ball was slick resulted in a fumble that gave the Cougars’ Sam Johnson a scoop-and-score opportunity, though MCHS denied Resurrection Christian the two-point conversion.

MCHS quarterback Evan Beaver threw a Hail Mary that found fellow senior Bryant Carlson to end the half — one of two big passes that amounted to 76 total receiving yards for Carlson.

With the rain dying down by the third quarter, Beaver started working the ball around, chucking it to seniors Aron Aguilar and Ian Hafey, with 123 passing yards altogether.

“We’re trying to feed the ball to our whole team and get everyone some shots,” head coach Nick Colgate said. “It makes it really hard for other teams to scout it.”

Scrambling seven times for 26 yards on the sloppy field, Beaver also led the team in rushing yards in what was a difficult night for the ground game.

“It made for a muddy game for our O-linemen for sure,” Colgate said.

Beaver got picked off midway through the third quarter, but the Cougars’ only other TD came at the start of the fourth as Grant Applebee spun into the end zone.

MoCo players couldn’t get the necessary momentum from there to catch up but also didn’t allow the Cougars to do any more damage.

“Our defense had a wonderful game — they played the whole 100 yards of the field,” Colgate said. “They had a ‘bend don’t break’ mentality and were able to pick each other up and were able to do the right things whenever they got into the red zone.”

A bit hit on Hafey late in the game had the MCHS coaches riled, but the senior shrugged it off.

“He led with his head, but nothing you can do about it,” Hafey said.

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After being more of a lineman in prior years, Hafey was moved to running back and receiving duties as well as playing defensive end. He knew he’d have his work cut out for him against the strong Cougars program.

“That team is no doubt a great team,” Hafey said. “They have way more kids and more subs for everything. From what we did last year, we put up a lot of fight.”

Hafey gained a sack near the end of the night, though it was junior Zach Hedman who led in tackles with 14, while Beaver had nine. Hafey and senior Kenny Frederickson each had seven and senior Jimi Jimenez six.

The night may not have been a win, but it was an example of tenacity and teamwork, Colgate said. MCHS coaches and captains lauded the full-game effort of the bunch.

“It was a great kickoff to the year, great atmosphere here,” Colgate said. “The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but overall I’m really proud of how our team carried themselves. It was just a couple plays that we can work on in practice and be ready for next week.”

Next up for the Bulldogs is a rivalry road game with Steamboat Springs this weekend. The Sailors took a 21-14 win over Coal Ridge (0-2) to start the season.

Hafey said he expects week two will be a whole different ball game.

“I think this will be the hardest game this season,” Hafey said. “If we come out again like we did against them, we’ll come out on top for success.”

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