What we learned in Rocky Mountain football's home opener vs. Cherokee Trail

It was really a tale of one half.

Several early turnovers allowed visiting Cherokee Trail to build a big halftime lead and the Cougars clamped down on Rocky Mountain to spoil the Lobos' home opener with a 24-0 win on Thursday night at French Field.

"It's just one of those games where it seems like everything that could go wrong, it went that way for us," said Lobos coach Phil Underwood.

This was Underwood's home debut as head coach with Rocky fresh off a 20-16 comeback road win at Chaparral to open his tenure.

Here are some takeaways from the Lobos' loss:

Rocky offense needs plenty of tuning

The effort is there.

Even though Rocky still very much runs the ball, it doesn't look completely like your older brother's Lobos offense under departed former coach Mark Brook.

Rocky Mountain (1-1) regularly lined up four receivers out wide. The first play of this game was a passing attempt.

But things have yet to click for this offense.

The Cougars (1-1) largely contained Rocky's two-headed rushing attack, limiting Abe Chatila and Cody Arnett to well under 100 yards.

That, plus the early deficit, put pressure on the Lobos' passing ability. They rotated semi-incumbent junior Riley Honick and sophomore Bradley Mallette at quarterback and neither had much success.

Overall, Rocky only completed six passes, none for longer than nine yards. The offense as a whole didn't surpass 100 total yards until the fourth quarter.

Sacks piled up in the second half as Cherokee Trail pinned its ears back. There were two intentional grounding penalties, multiple miscommunications with receivers and Mallette threw an early interception.

"It's all 11 spots on our offense right now," Underwood said. "That was so far from our best performance. Thankfully, we have a week until we play again to figure it out."

Lobos' special teams far from special

The Rocky Mountain special teams unit has typically been a strong spot in recent seasons.

This was a game to forget.

Rocky Mountain turned it over three times on special teams plays — twice on consecutive kickoff return fumbles — and missed a 38-yard field goal.

"It's just uncharacteristic for us," Underwood said. "We have no choice but to learn from our mistakes and get better."

One second-quarter sequence was a backbreaker. Cherokee Trail had just scored on a 39-yard passing touchdown and then returned a Rocky fumble on the ensuing kickoff for a score.

All of a sudden, a 3-0 game was 17-0 and spiraling away from the home team. Another fumble immediately followed again on the next kickoff. While the Lobos defense held, the tone was set.

Then, right before halftime, a snap sailed over punter Danny Krieger's head and the Cougars recovered in the endzone for a 24-0 halftime advantage.

"Those errors led to 14 points," Underwood said. "To give a team like Cherokee Trail 14 points in a matter of seconds, that's a pretty big hole to recover from."

Rocky defense will keep Lobos in games

This may be a lone reason for optimism, but it was a bright one.

Rocky Mountain's defense is a legitimately good unit.

The Lobos only allowed 10 offensive points and routinely gave the offense every chance to get them back in the game.

"Our defense was absolutely phenomenal," Underwood said.

Honick and Isaak Simpson each nabbed an interception. Honick's was a spectacular toe-tapper along the sideline that came off a bobble after Simpson forced the ball from a Cherokee Trail receiver's grasp.

Senior linebacker Gio Marconi recorded two sacks, part of a physical effort from the front seven.

Even with the game slipping away, this Rocky defense didn't allow an offensive point or even a redzone trip over the game's final 30 minutes. Cherokee Trail also didn't cross 300 total-yard mark despite a big time-of-possession disparity.

Marconi recorded two sacks, part of a physical effort from the front seven.

Effort was the key word here, as this defense swarms to the ball and sets up gang tackles for teammates.

"They just play with relentless effort," Underwood said. "There's never a play when they don't believe they can make a play for us.

"As a program, we need to rally behind their effort."

Rocky Mountain returns to French Field next Friday night, hosting Legacy in a non-league matchup.

Fort Collins falls in road blowout

It's been a tough start to football season for Fort Collins.

Mountain Vista (2-0) blasted the Lambkins 63-0 on Thursday night at Echo Park Stadium in Parker. The Golden Eagles forced three turnovers and led by 42 points at halftime.

Fort Collins fell to 0-2 on the season after a 56-21 loss at Ponderosa in Week 1. No further stats were immediately available.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado high school football: Cherokee Trail shuts out Rocky Mountain