FORT COLLINS — Nick Kasa knew what he had to do.
He just didn’t know how he did it.
The Legacy senior lineman, one of the nation’s top recruits, led a defensive breakthrough with 33 seconds to play Friday night that stopped Poudre on fourth-and-1 to preserve a key 21-14 victory at J. Ray French Field.
With one regular-season game remaining, it puts Legacy, ranked No. 9 in The Denver Post/9News Class 5A poll, into prime playoff position. The Lightning, 7-1 overall, 6-1 league, has secured no worse than a tie for second place in the Front Range League and is among the victory-points leaders in the big-school wild-card system. Poudre, which was blanked a week earlier in a rival game against Rocky Mountain, is 6-2 league and nonleague.
Big plays and generating turnovers were the difference for Legacy and it needed every one of them. The Impalas, who took possession with 6:33 to play in the fourth quarter, were patiently driving to either take the lead or send it into overtime.
Behind Josh Morton, a workhorse running back who totaled a whopping 44 carries for 231 yards, Poudre got to the Legacy 13-yard line. However, Kasa, who once again flipped sides at defensive end during the course of the game, got into the backfield along with Alfred Hall and Corey Ayers to drop Morton for a 1-yard loss.
“I don’t know how it happened,” Kasa said. “I was just lucky, I guess. We came out flat, I came out flat . . . that was the game. I was just trying my hardest. I didn’t even know I had him until I looked up.”
The Lightning also survived another sluggish offensive performance. Legacy ran only 15 plays from scrimmage in the first half and trailed 14-13.
However, its ability to take advantage of turnovers and get a home run late was enough.
The biggest play came on an 89-yard touchdown pass from Luke Bublitz to Travis Sears, who was consistently getting behind the Impalas’ secondary. A play after Legacy picked off its third pass — by Ashton Renshaw, who nabbed it a yard into the end zone and returned it to the 22 only to have it marked at the 11 after a personal-foul penalty — Sears had time to get open as Bublitz rolled right.
Sears slipped behind two Poudre defenders and scored untouched. Bublitz bootlegged left for a two-point conversion.
“We had a makeshift defense, but made a stop when we needed to,” Lightning coach Wayne Voorhees said. “Travis was open all game and made a play. We’re pretty happy where we are.”
Legacy set a defensive tone early, on the third play of the game, when Bo Yurko picked up a Jason Haferman fumble at the 7 and ran it in.
A methodical Poudre drive — 15 plays, 80 yards — resulted in a 1-yard Morton touchdown run to tie it at 7, but Legacy’s defense had the advantage again late in the first quarter.
Ryan Paulson picked off an errant swing pass to set up the first of two field goals by Kip Smith that sandwiched a Poudre trick play — off a double pass, M Dick threw a wobbler that Anthony Crenshaw caught, then outraced the Legacy pursuit for a 60-yard touchdown.
Legacy 10 3 0 8 — 21
Poudre 7 7 0 0 — 14
L — Yurko 7 fumble return (Smith kick). P — Morton 1 run (Rodarmel kick). L — FG Smith 40. P — Crenshaw 60 pass from Dick (Rodarmel kick). L — FG Smith 23. L — Sears 89 pass from Bublitz (Bublitz run).
