NIWOT — After sitting out for an entire year from competing with Niwot football, senior running back Kelly Snyder said he was aching to come back and fight with his brothers.
Myriad injuries, mainly to his head, kept him on the sidelines until June. The first thing he wanted to do in his return, he said, was “I wanted to hit somebody. They had to start me slow, so no tackling, no pads — just helmet and jersey. But as soon as I got to throw those pads on, I was beyond ready.”
That moment came a few weeks later and, in the opening weeks of this fall season, he’s been just what the doctor ordered for the Cougars. On Friday night, in a 43-34 home loss to Summit, he revitalized a once-stagnant Niwot offense by opening up their ground game.
He accounted for 102 yards and a touchdown, which he picked up midway through the second quarter on a short run.
“I was frustrated. I love this sport more than anything,” Snyder said of his time away. “When I came back, even if I wasn’t going to start, my goal was to bring as much energy to the team as I could.”
Whenever he was on the sidelines, he made sure his teammates were always hyped and ready to jump into play at a momentap notice. On the field, he was giving the Tigers defense headache after headache.
The biggest headache of all, however, was Summitap Ty Carter. The Cougars had no answer for his antics, even though they enjoyed their own touchdowns from junior quarterback Braxton Logue (three scores) and senior wide receiver Cameron O’Connor (two scores). Logue connected with O’Connor and sophomore wide receiver Nick Steen on his two passing TDs.
Wholesale, the Cougars looked like a completely different team than the squad that went 4-6 a year ago and 0-9 the season before. Aside from a couple of interceptions early on, the offense was firing on all cylinders.
“Our run game was non-existent last year, so to have a kid (Snyder) who’s willing to run it through the tackles and put the head down and get after it, itap been a breath of fresh air for us offensively,” head coach Nik Blume said. “Itap allowed us to do some different things. … The ground game has definitely gotten better, more than just the power-read stuff that we ran last year, for sure.”
Snyder said that this season, the Cougars are playing team ball first instead of focusing on their individual stats, and thatap been the biggest difference in their 2-1 start. Earlier, they pummeled Littleton 58-14 and Mountain View 44-16.
Now, they’ll look to bounce back at home against Timnath next Friday.
“Itap my favorite thing in the world,” Snyder said. “Nothing compares to it.”
