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Shutout on scoreboard, but not in heart

Richard Chittick
Running a play from its own 1-yard line, Tigers quarterback Drew Arnesen hands off to tailback Nick Nilsen in second quarter play.
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FARMER’S KORNER – To hear Summit High School football head coach Rob Royer talk about the boys after Friday night’s game against Front Range powerhouse Englewood, one would hardly believe that the Tigers lost 38-0.

“They are one of the toughest group of kids I’ve ever seen,” Royer said. “They come out and play these bigger teams and give everything they’ve got.”

It’s worth noting, as Royer did, that Summit’s football program is small. Forty-five kids is roughly the size of Englewood’s varsity program, yet it is Summit’s entire program, which has no junior varsity. Royer indicated that to hold the seventh best football program in the state to only 38 points is one of the boys’ bigger moral victories.



“The character of these kids, I can’t say enough about them,” Royer said.

As two players came off the field with injuries, including starting quarterback Drew Arnesen, Royer had to adjust his line in ways which included moving his best running back, Brandon Ives, to quarterback.



The Tigers faced up to the changes with aplomb, driving hard to gain 40 yards when the scoreboard showed less seconds to play than Englewood’s total points.

Other plays stood out as well. Bryndon Tarafa chased down Englewood’s quarterback for a beautiful sack and Ives, in his stand-in roll as quarterback, completed a pass to Mike Holloway that got the Tigers one of their three first downs in the final minute of play.

“Next Thursday, we’re going to make them come out and play hard against Alameda,” Royer said. “And they’re going to do it. They’ve got big hearts.”


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