Spartans tame Cougars
By Dan Karpiel
The Surveyor
There are steps forward and then there are big steps forward. In thoroughly dominating Niwot on Sept. 25 at Everly-Montgomery Field in Longmont, the Berthoud High School (BHS) football team took, in the words of Head Coach Troy Diffendaffer, “a huge step forward.”
The Spartans rained on the Cougars’ homecoming parade with touchdown after touchdown, taking a 34-point lead into the locker room at halftime and ultimately cruising to a 41-0 final to notch their first Northern League win of the season.
“We took a huge step today … we played a clean game, things were clicking for us, we had the offense going, the defense going, the special teams going, and we’re not shooting ourselves in the foot, it was a nice game,” Diffendaffer said.
The dagger for the Cougars came just before the end of the first half. Berthoud took possession on their own 38-yard line with just 32 seconds remaining on the second-quarter clock. Perhaps Niwot expected the Spartans to run out the clock and take a 27-0 lead into the locker room.
The Spartans, however, had different plans.
Lining up in a trips left formation, Berthoud quarterback Cody Braesch took the snap out of shotgun while receiver Jackson Hall moved backward, feinting that the Spartans were setting up a wide-receiver screen. But Braesch’s backward pass bounced off the ground, coming to rest near Hall’s feet. Hall shrugged his shoulders, hinting that it was a busted play. Hall then picked up the still-live ball and fired it 30 yards down the sideline to tight end Cally Castles, who caught the near-perfect spiral and galloped into the end zone 20 yards from the nearest Cougar defender.
“[Offensive Coordinator] Mike [Drake] made a great call from upstairs there, we decided to take a shot,” Diffendaffer said in explaining the decision to call the trick play at the end of the first half.
The 62-yard trick play touchdown was Castles’ second trip across the goal line on the night − the sophomore capped off a two-play, 90-yard drive with a 50-yard catch and run on the Spartans first possession of the second half to give Berthoud a 41-0 lead and kick into effect the running-clock mercy rule. Castles led Berthoud with 174 receiving yards and three of his four receptions went for scores.
“It was something we’ve talked about a little bit and practiced a little bit but going into half there with limited time on the clock we decided to run it and it worked out,” Braesch said. “It’s kind of one of those things where you just have to go out and do it as best as you cane and hope it works out, and thankfully it did.”
Even with the 62-yard Hall-to-Castles score on the trick play, Braesch still finished the game with a 267 passing yards with two touchdowns and 35 rushing yards and another two scores. The senior gunslinger’s 146.3 passer rating was his best mark on the season.
While Berthoud put the game out of reach on the trick play, it was the Spartans’ defense that scored its first points of the game and set the tone for the evening.
Midway through the first quarter, with the score knotted at zero, defensive end Steele Castles and outside linebacker Jimmy Fate put pressure on Niwot quarterback Blake Montgomery, forcing a rushed throw that was deflected by Berthoud linebacker Jamie Gray and into the hands of John Koclanes. The senior returned the interception for a score, giving Berthoud a 7-0 lead with 4:07 left on the clock.
“That pick-six that John Koclanes had really got us riled up. I think that added some momentum for our team and when we came out on offense we wanted to piggy-back on that,” Braesch said after the game. “When our defense makes plays like that it kind of makes the whole atmosphere for our team a little more relaxed.”
Led by Braesch, the Spartans went on to score on five of their next six possessions before being pulled from the game in favor of getting Berthoud’s second-string players some valuable varsity playing time. Both the first- and second-team defenses for the Spartans did their part, keeping Niwot out of the end zone.
The Spartans’ defense has allowed only seven points through four games this season and is something that Braesch explained helps the offense stay confident even when they experience the occasional bad series.
“The first two drives we had an offense that obviously didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but knowing we have the defense we do, we don’t panic. We know our defense is a very strong defense, but we came into this game and we kind of wanted to show that we have a strong defense and a strong offense and I think we did a great job.”
Berthoud (4-0, 1-0), enters its next game as the No. 8-ranked team in Class 3A and welcome Northern League rival Erie (2-2, 0-1) to Max Marr Field at BHS on Friday, Oct. 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
- November, 03 2016
Tigers maul Spartans 51-6
Berthoud Spartans wide receiver Miguel Sarmiento breaks free and runs the...
- November, 01 2023
Spartans sink Steamboat Springs in 59...
Photos by Will CorneliusSenior Daniel Mahoney stiffarms a would-be tackler on...
- September, 02 2021
Berthoud football dominates in season...
Turnovers are among the most telling stats in the game of football; win the turnovers...
- October, 19 2023
Berthoud runs past Blue Devils in For...
Photo by Will CorneliusThe Spartan defense celebrates after recovering a fumble...
- November, 10 2016
Spartans conclude disappointing season
By Dan Karpiel The Surveyor It would be accurate to say the 2016 season did...
- October, 27 2023
Spartans sink Steamboat Springs in 59...
Photo by Will CorneliusSenior Daniel Mahoney stiff arms a would-be tackler...
- Spring training begins for Spartan ba...
- Berthoud “Bombers” win championship i...
- Spartan baseball undefeated in April
- Boys basketball 13-10 season ends in ...
- Spartan C-team sees big success
- Spartans notch well-deserved win in s...
- Spartan golf team has enormous partic...
- Berthoud golfers win R2J Championship
- Berthoud golf team begins season swing
- Boys soccer wins in season opener
- Spartan soccer ends season on a high ...
- Berthoud soccer squad seeing signific...
- Bothun leads Spartans to second place...
- Spartans send ten runners to state cr...
- Clark wins Patriot League Cross Count...
- Lady Spartans fall to Jefferson Acade...
- Thompson Valley tramples Lady Spartan...
- Berthoud girls stand out in All-Star ...
- Tychsen leads Lady Spartans to first ...
- Top five finish for girls golf
- Lady Spartan golfers battle for state...
- Spartans fall to Frederick in state s...
- Spartan softball comes back against N...
- Softball finishes regular season 20-3
- Back in the water and back winning
- Spartan swimmers set new school recor...
- Berthoud swimmers shine in Break the ...
- Berthoud boys head to state tennis to...
- Berthoud sending two lines to state c...
- Lady Spartans earn second place at re...
- Spartans steal the show at Roosevelt ...
- Brooke Nelsen leaps over 30-year scho...
- Half-mile state champion Williams ret...
Obituary – Shirley French
Community NewsBHS places third in 4A Colorado Knowledge Bowl 2024
Community NewsRide along with Berthoud’s snowplow drivers
Community NewsSpartans steal the show at Roosevelt High School
Community NewsSurveyor launches Berthoud Beat podcast
Local News
COMMUNITY CALENDAR:
Community Calendar – add an eventHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
05 Apr 4:00 PM - 7:00 PMHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
03 May 4:00 PM - 7:00 PMHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
07 Jun 4:00 PM - 7:00 PMHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
05 Jul 4:00 PM - 7:00 PMHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
02 Aug 4:00 PM - 7:00 PMHomestead Fine Art Gallery First Fridays OPEN HOUSE
06 Sep 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM