PARKER — James Willis did just about everything he could as a quarterback on one of those brilliantly sunny fall afternoons that we enjoy in Colorado.
However, he still needed more — and he provided it to his Lutheran Lions teammates in style.
On his first series of the season on defense as a safety, Willis turned in an interception deep in Lions territory with just 12 seconds to go.
Ultimately, it capped the Lions’ dramatic 22-16 victory over a gritty Fort Morgan on Saturday afternoon to keep a piece of the Colorado 7 League as well as stay on top of Class 3A.
Now 6-0 overall, 3-0 in league — and tied with Vista PEAK — Willis and the top-ranked team in the appreciated the competition as the state moved into stretch run of the regular season.
“I’m really blessed,” said Willis, a poised 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior who threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. “I have great teammates, great coaches … it was their decision to put me in. It was the first time I’ve played there all season. it was their decision to put me in.
“I’m not going to take responsibility. Luckily, I was in the right place against one of the hardest-working teams I’ve been around.”
Ninth-ranked Fort Morgan (4-2, 2-1) scored the first 16 points of the game and had just given up the lead with 2:15 to play, when Willis connected with Alex Nemmers on a 9-yarder.
But there the Mustangs were, including under the watchful eye of former Mustangs All-Colorado tight end and recently retired Bronco Joel Dreessen, driving for a possible winning score. But on first-and-10 from the Lions’ 34-yard line, Willis lunged to his left near the 20 and picked off Joey Schneider’s attempt.
Fort Morgan had threatened to run away before Willis capped an 80-yard drive right before half with a 9-yard scoring toss to Joshua Clausen. Willis (15-of-19 passing for 156 yards) later got the Lions within range on a 27-yard scoring run on third-and-two in the third quarter.
Admitting that Fort Morgan “punched us in the mouth” early, Lions coach Blair Hubbard said “we just decided to put the ball in James’ hands.”
It worked.
Fort Morgan coach Harrison Chisum was thrilled with his team’s effort if not the outcome. “I think we ran out of gas,” he said. “It was one of the things I was worried about because we won our last four games and our varsity hadn’t played past halftime. That’s tough. But Lutheran’s a good team.”
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/neildevlin
Fort Morgan 6 10 0 0 — 16
Lutheran 0 7 7 8 — 22
FTM — McBride 2 run (kick failed). FTM — Kosman 45 fumble return (Kembel kick). FTM — FG Gonzalez 27. L — Clausen 9 pass from WIllis (Kjergaard kick). L — Willis 27 run (Kjergaard kick). L — Nemmers 9 pass from Willis (Hall run).
