Fort Collins football remains undefeated with road win against Arvada West

ARVADA — Fort Collins football is off to its best start in over a decade.

The Lambkins improved to 6-0 on the season with a 45-0 road victory against Arvada West on Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex.

It’s the best start for Fort Collins since 2014. The Lambkins won their first 11 games before losing to Longmont in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.

It didn’t start perfect for Fort Collins at the NAAC. Junior quarterback Jace Garcia threw an interception the first drive by the Lambkins, but Fort Collins scored touchdowns on its next five possessions to grab a 35-0 lead at halftime.

Garcia tossed touchdowns to senior Cullen Tearman and junior Luke Rusnak in the first half. Garcia also had a 5-yard touchdown run himself. Seniors Diego and Vicente Romero both had rushing touchdowns to close out the five touchdowns for the Lambkins in the opening half.

A-West (0-6, 0-2 in Class 5A Southwest Metro League) couldn’t get much going offensively. Freshman running back Jahbril House had a nice run late in the second quarter, but an interception thrown by sophomore quarterback Santana Soriano ended the drive.

The non-league game went into a running-clock situation with 7:27 left in the third quarter. Junior Preston Mozer became the sixth different Lambkin to find the end zone on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to push the score to 42-0.

Fort Collins freshman kicker Graeme Cumbers Wenzel got into the scoring act with a 32-yard field goal with 9:25 left in the fourth quarter to make the final score 45-0.

It was the first shutout loss for A-West since Sept. 29, 2023. Chatfield defeated A-West 42-0 three years ago.

Things don’t get any easier for the Wildcats. A-West faces cross-town rival Ralston Valley (4-2, 1-1) at 7 p.m Friday, Oct. 9, at the NAAC. The Mustangs suffered their first league loss of the season and saw their 3-game losing streak come to an end Thursday night at NAAC. Mountain Vista (5-1, 2-0) rolled to a 45-21 victory.

Fort Collins (6-0, 2-0) get back into 5A Front Range League play next week against Fairview. The Knights (3-2, 1-0) will host the Lambkins next Friday night in Boulder.