WESTMINSTER — At midweek, Frank Ybarra was worried. The Horizon football coach thought he had lost his top running back in practice before facing Fairview.
Cade Verkler took a shot to his left shoulder as he was dropped by a defensive lineman in a drill that nearly went very wrong.
But Verkler used some ice and rest, and he was in the starting lineup Friday night against the Knights, who have recently owned the Class 5A Front Range League. Good thing too, as the junior ran 35 times for 183 yards, helping the Hawks upset the Knights 18-14 in a league opener at Adams 12 North Stadium.
Fairview, now 2-1 overall and ranked No. 6 in The Associated Press 5A media poll, saw its 21-game winning streak in the regular season snapped.
“We wanted to be the team that ended it,” Verkler said.
They were. The Hawks (2-1) rallied from a 14-0 deficit, came up big on defense and rode a solid effort by their offensive line for Verkler to handle the load. Also, the Hawks were able to evade Fairview star Carlo Kemp, whom Ybarra called “probably the best defensive player in the state.”
Twice in the second half the Knights turned it over on downs inside the Hawks’ 5-yard line. They also muffed a punt at the two-minute mark that the Hawks recovered to run out the clock.
Horizon quarterback Art Toldeo threw for a touchdown and ran for another TD; Koy Bowen contributed two big receptions, one for a score; and the Hawks, despite not much depth, fared well inside.
Horizon, which gets Legacy next, hadn’t defeated Fairview since 2011.
“I said, ‘Hey, it will take everything we’ve got. Play 48 minutes, and if we try to minimize the mistakes that killed us last week (in a 10-7 loss to Chatfield), we could be the ones to end the streak,’ ” Ybarra said.
A bubbly Verkler said, “It wasn’t just me, it was the whole team.”
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
