Photo by Will Cornelius
Sophomore Jayce Newbill intercepted four passes against Lamar High School on Sept. 22. Pictured above is Newbill returning a kickoff against Thompson Valley High School on Sept. 8.

By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

It was a long day for the Berthoud High School football team last Friday as they spent a total of eight hours traveling to and from Lamar in southeastern Colorado. But it was worth it. The Spartans steamrolled the Lamar High School Thunder 26-0 to improve to 4-0 on the season. It was also Berthoud’s third shutout of the season.

Keeping the ball mostly on the ground, the Spartans had their way with Lamar’s defense and had no problem keeping the Thunder out of the endzone. Berthoud outgained Lamar with 405 yards of total offense while holding the hosts to only 164 yards.

Sitting in a cramped bus for four hours on the way to Lamar did little to impact senior running back Alex Larson who pummeled the opponent’s defensive line for 109 rushing yards with an average of 7.3 yards per carry. The other two backs, senior Joey Finnegan and junior Cole Bialek also had no struggles thanks to outstanding blocking by the Berthoud offensive line. Finnegan rushed for 51 yards and one touchdown on six carries and Bialek had 57 yards from 11 carries.

Senior quarterback Darin Davidson continued his excellent passing season to complement a dominant rushing attack. Against Lamar, Davidson put up 159 yards through the air while completing 9-of-17 passes. He also added two passing touchdowns, one rushing touchdown and a two-point conversion that he ran in.

Through four games this season, Davidson has completed 55% of his passes for 523 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions, while also adding two rushing touchdowns.
With only two receptions, junior Cade Anderson made each count as he led the team in receiving yards and touchdowns. Running past the defensive backs, Anderson hauled in a 40-yard touchdown at the end of the second quarter to give the Spartans an 18-0 lead before halftime. Late in the fourth quarter, he struck paydirt again with a 30-yard touchdown. In addition to the two catches for 70 yards, Anderson also had a 10-yard kickoff return.

Berthoud’s defense matched the offense’s tempo by completely shutting down Lamar the entire game. Junior Elisha Mosher and Finnegan had two sacks apiece, but it was sophomore Jayce Newbill who stole the show on defense with four interceptions. Junior Jayden Michaelis also recorded an interception as the Spartans suffocated the Thunder’s offense. Senior linebacker Aiden McGrath and Finnegan both led the team in tackles with 13 each. Berthoud’s defense finished with a total of 97 tackles from 16 different players.

Head Football Coach Cory Ticnor said he was pleased with his team this week. “You know that’s a solid win when we drive four hours, you get a shut out, you get (26) points on the board after a bye week, that’s the rust we had to work through. Obviously, that travel takes a toll on the kids so we’re super, super happy with the outcome of this game,” Ticnor said.

Ticnor attributes the team’s success to offensive line coach Robert Madole and offensive coordinator Daniel Francis and the game plan they put together for a challenging road game.

“It was really good to get those boys out there and running tonight on some natural grass and playing some football, and they did some good stuff for us,” Ticnor commented.
With three shutouts after only four games this season, Ticnor did not neglect to praise his defense. “I mean, our defense just showed up and our model all week was to muzzle their cannon.

We didn’t hear that thing go off last night.”

Claiming the team has not put together a perfect game yet, Ticnor said there is still room to improve. The focus moving forward will be “buttoning up” special teams while improving the run and pass game in addition to prepping defensively for the Spartan’s next game against the Fort Lupton High School Blue Devils. Berthoud will travel to Fort Lupton for their first league game of the season on Sept. 29 for a 7 p.m. kickoff against the 2-2 Blue Devils.