Another year of dominance for the Rocky Mountain Lobos at the Canvas Classic.
Rocky Mountain defeated Poudre in a convincing manner, taking down the Impalas in a 43-6 blowout during the second game of this year’s Canvas Classic doubleheader.
Poudre opened the scoring with a first-drive touchdown in the first quarter, but the Lobos took the game by storm from there.
Rocky Mountain scored 43 unanswered points and was dominant through both its passing attack and run game. Quarterback Bradley Mallette threw three touchdown passes all to different receivers, and the Lobos racked up three rushing touchdowns from three different running backs.
The Lobos defeated the Impalas 26-0 during the 2023 Canvas Classic and felt great following back-to-back years of handing crushing defeats to Poudre.
“I think we had such big confidence in ourselves,” said Peyton Matkin, Rocky Mountain wide receiver. “Everyone came together this week and we all worked towards the same goal, to kick Poudre’s ass.”
Matkin caught a 76-yard touchdown strike from Mallette in the second quarter to lead the Lobos into halftime with a 27-7 lead.
“I looked at the safety, he was sitting flat-footed,” Mallette said. “Went over top, and Peyton made a great play. I don’t think there was anyone 20-yards close to him, so it was good execution on all parts.”
Rocky Mountain, coming off of a loss, made it a point to execute their game perfectly against its rivals in Poudre.
“The last couple games, we haven’t executed well,” coach JP Underwood said. “I challenged the guys in the locker room before the game – this is about us. A game against a cross-town rival, they’re tough kids, they’re well coached, forget what their record is, tonight is about us.”
All areas of this Lobos team came together today to put together one well-rounded, dominant win. Mallette gave credit to his offensive line for their performance tonight.
“The O-line, all year, has been doing amazing,” Mallette said. “I didn’t get touched once today. They make it a little easier for me when they are on their best — and they have been.”
The special teams, as well, contributed to this win in a large manner. With a field goal in the third quarter to extend their lead, as well as a blocked punt from the punt team to set up a goal-to-go situation for the offense, and an eventual 1-yard touchdown run by Cody Arnett to go up 37-6 at the end of the third quarter.
For high school football players, they seemingly find nothing more entertaining than beating their rivals, especially when it comes under the Friday night lights at Colorado State University. Being in the same situation as last year – playing Poudre at CSU during the nightcap – two straight wins from the Lobos establishes themselves at the top of the current rivalry.
“Not at all,” said Mallette when asked if winning a big rivalry game gets old. “This is special. You got to take advantage of this because not everyone gets the opportunity to do this, so to get these two wins, back-to-back years in Canvas, it’s really special.”
The Canvas Classic will return for at least one more year in 2025, with matchups between Fort Collins and Fossil Ridge, as well as between Wellington and Timnath again, headlining the special event for next year.
Reach Devin Imsirpasic at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter at @DImsirpasic.
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