Niwot hangs on to beat Skyline

By Cheng Sio, For the Ledger

LONGMONT — Some hearts were beating rapidly while some eyes were on the scoreboards.

In the end, Niwot breathed a sigh of relief.

The Cougars nearly blew a 23-point lead on Senior Night, but they held off the Skyline Falcons in a 23-20 rivalry victory Friday in Class 4A Northern League action.

“Nothing has come easy this year,” Niwot coach Ron Tesone said. “They really sucked it up and they gave us all a little bit of some age in us.”

“I mean I knew our guys were tired,” senior quarterback Kelton Manzanares said. “It was a race against time and we were able to stick it out.”

In the first half, two interceptions and a blocked punt helped set up Niwot`s (2-6, 2-4) 16-0 at the half.

Manzanares opened the second half with a 47-yard run that was pushed back 15 yards after the play because of a personal foul penalty, passed for 19 and ran a quarterback draw to score from 14 yards out to push Niwot`s lead to 23-0.

Instead of waving the white flag, Skyline (0-8, 0-6) fought back.

Quarterback Matt Wilson`s 2-yard touchdown run followed by Dakota Boyd`s two-point conversion with two minutes and 26 seconds left in the third quarter cut Niwot`s lead to 23-8.

Then, on the play of the night, Wilson found Coyle Olinger in the flat. Olinger got up to about midfield where he was met by a host of Niwot defenders who thought they brought him down even though no whistle was blown. Olinger got up and ran into the end zone for a 91-yard score to make it 20-14 with 9:27 left.

Boyd scored on a 1-yard run with 52 seconds left to cut the deficit to three, but Manzanares recovered the onside kick to cling on to Niwot`s win.

Despite staying winless, Skyline coach Kevin Rice was proud of his team.

“I don`t care what anybody in the community wants to say about our record, those kids are winners by how they battled,” Rice said. “A losing team at 23-0 tanks it and gives up, and it turns into 45-0 and a running clock. Our kids are winners. They fought back and they battled hard.”

Niwot 23, Skyline 20

SHS NHS

First downs 19 8

Rushing yardage 266 144

Passing yardage 178 101

Passing 6-19-3 5-14-2

Total offensive yardage 444 245

Punting 3-27 2-43

Fumbles-fumbles lost 2-0 0-0

Penalty yardage 12-83 6-40

SCORING SUMMARY

Score by quarters:

Skyline 0 0 8 12 — 20

Niwot 10 6 7 0 — 23

Niwot — Kelton Manzanares 32 pass to Chris Johnson (Johnson kick)

Niwot — Johnson 39 field goal

Niwot — Matt Perry 7 run (kick blocked)

Niwot — Manzanares 14 run (Johnson kick)

Skyline — Matt Wilson 2 run (Dakota Boyd run)

Skyline — Wilson 91 pass to Coyle Olinger (run failed)

Skyline — Boyd 1 run (kick blocked)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Skyline: Wilson 31-169, Boyd 13-45, Johnson 6-20, Olinger 2-17, Bechtold 1-15; Niwot: Manzanares 21-116, Perry 3-11, Oleszczuk 3-6, Sigafoos 2-5, Strong 1-6.

PASSING — Skyline: Wilson 6-18-3, 178 yards, Boyd 0-1-0, 0 yards; Niwot: Manzanares 4-8-1, 97 yards, Oleszczuk 1-6-1, 4 yards.

RECEIVING — Skyline: Olinger 2-93, Gonzalez 2-51, Owens 1-24, Boyd 1-10; Niwot: Johnson 2-66, Visger 2-23, Nichols 1-12.