NIWOT — Nearly two full years transpired before Niwot football managed to earn a victory, but it didn’t have to wait long to earn its second of the 2025 season.
On Friday night on their home turf, the Cougars relied on a taut defense and a flashy offense to pull off a 33-13 win over Wheat Ridge. It was a well-rounded performance in every sense of the word.
“Words can’t describe that feeling,” senior slotback Caleb Roby said of last week’s 49-43 victory over Skyview, which ended a 17-game losing stretch. “That was truly the most emotional and best night, I think, of our lives of playing football. I think that definitely gave us an upper hand, and definitely confidence to know that we have it in us to make big plays and stops when we need it and score in big moments.”
The push toward victory against the Farmers didn’t come without drama.
In their first possession of the game, with a fourth-and-9 staring them down, Niwotap coaches opted to try to convert instead of punting. Senior quarterback Wyatt Volf blessed their decision with a 35-yard lob to Eli Quesada, who took it into the end zone.
“Wyatt just went on schedule tonight,” head coach Nik Blume said. “We had guys open all over the place, and we felt confident that that would be the case when we came in. I was confident that we could go find somebody. A little anxious about whether we’d be on schedule or not, but you just got to have that at home. Sometimes we got to take that risk.”
That set the tone for the rest of the evening, with Volf finishing with 233 passing yards and three touchdowns, as well as 106 yards and an additional touchdown on the run. The Cougars’ offense has been something to behold through their first four games of the season, thanks to their new offensive coordinator, Pat Longseth.
They’ve put up 153 points to date.
“Everyone was clicking,” Volf said. “We were all doing our jobs. It was more organized. It’s just so different in every aspect. It’s just the atmosphere, and our confidence and the way we’re working together. It’s just everything we need.”
Up until Friday night, the defense was the missing piece that the Cougars desperately needed to figure out. Roby was a shining beacon for that improvement. He finished his night with two interceptions. Midway through the second quarter, the Cougars stopped the Farmers on four straight downs in the red zone.
“That was just a (heck) of a game put up by the boys,” Roby said. “I think that was everyone on the D-line and defensive end just putting up stops, and I just couldn’t be more blessed. I think this is (the game) where we had the most heart and the most opportunity.”
The Cougars, now 2-2, will get some well-deserved rest next week before returning home Oct. 3 to take on Evergreen. While Blume knows his team still has some work to do to improve, he’s happy with where the program is headed.
“Tonight, we finally got guys moving downhill and just getting in their scout book and paying attention to what was supposed to be going on this week,” he said. “That was a big step in the right direction for sure.
