Fountain – Peer pressure has its benefits.
Such was the case Friday night for Jamaal Johnson.
The Fountain-Fort Carson running back shook off a slow start by feeding off his teammates, and he in turn fed them as the Trojans devoured Pueblo West 34-7 at Guy A. Barickman Stadium.
Johnson ran for 156 yards, caught two passes for 41 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Trojans, ranked No. 8 in The Denver Post/9News Class 4A poll, wrapped up the top seed in the Pikes Peak League.
“As a back and a leader, I get my team going,” Johnson said. “Same thing with Adam (Lozano); when he gets a big play I feel like it forces me to get a big play. After that, it’s all downhill from there.”
The Trojans (8-1, 7-1 in league), who were upset last week by Pueblo Centennial, took a quarter to get going before turning it on. The Trojans allowed the Cyclones just four first downs in the first three quarters and led 34-0 with 4:48 remaining.
Pueblo West (5-4, 3-4) got a 16-yard touchdown pass from Jerry Denogean to Randy Reese to prevent the shutout. The Cyclones didn’t cross midfield until 6:43 remained in the fourth quarter.
“They stuck it to us defensively,” Cyclones coach Monte Pinkerton said. “They’re big and physical up front and they can fly around.
“We weren’t able to respond to it, and we didn’t get anything going on offense.”
Cyclones running back Justin Jackson finished with 97 yards on 17 carries.
The Trojans led 13-0 at halftime and were up 19-0 with 4:02 left in the third quarter when Paddock rolled to his left on third-and-10 and hit Johnson for a 19-yard touchdown.
Lozano gained 60 of his 72 yards after halftime and scored the Trojans’ fourth touchdown on a 5-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Johnson sparked the Trojans early, and a stroke of magic got them an unlikely touchdown on the last play of the first half.
Johnson grabbed a short slant pass from Will Paddock on the first play of the second quarter and weaved 22 yards for the Trojans’ first gain of more than 4 yards.
Johnson went over the right side and cut back to his left five plays later for a 14-yard touchdown run with 9:30 left in the second quarter.
With 1:22 left in the first half, the Trojans got the ball at their 28 and were ready to settle for a 48-yard field-goal attempt by Marcus Rosenthal with four seconds remaining.
The snap to holder Andrew Behan was low and the senior tried scrambling to his right before throwing back to Rosenthal.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound senior took off down the left side, cut through a crowd of blue-and-white jerseys and crashed into the end zone.
Pueblo West 0 0 0 7 – 7
Fountain-Fort Carson 0 13 6 15 – 34
FFC – Johnson 14 run (Rosenthal kick). FFC – Rosenthal 31 pass from Behan (kick blocked). FFC – Johnson 19 pass from Paddock (pass failed). FFC – Lozano 5 run (Smith pass from Paddock). FFC – Paddock 4 run (Rosenthal kick). PW – Reese 16 pass from Denogean (Rodriquez kick).
