NIWOT — Fairview senior center back Mark Litwiler doesn’t often get the chance to put his name on the stats sheet. The life of a defender. So when he got a look from more than 35 yards out, he figured, Why not? And later, with a penalty opportunity presenting itself in the final minutes — he thought he might as well take that, too.
Litwiler blistered a brilliant ball in the first half before finishing off the first two-goal game of his career in the final moments of the Knights’ 5-0 win over Niwot on Thursday night. “You play the whole game, and when you have a defensive game, it’s great when you have good tackles,” Litwiler said. “But at the end of the day, it’s so fun to get goals because you (as defenders) don’t get those chances often.
” Oliver Ruzzin and Michael Smit sandwiched their own scores around the three-year varsity player’s third career goal, giving CHSAA 5A No. 11 Fairview a three-goal lead in a 13-minute span in the opening half. Ben Ortman later put away his team-leading 10th of the season ahead of Litwiler’s second of the night as the Knights (5-1-3) pushed their unbeaten streak to seven games.
Now onto their biggest test of the year. On Tuesday, they meet Boulder in their annual crosstown rivalry. The Panthers are currently ranked first in the state and 17th in the nation by MaxPreps.
“We have to go in like killers,” senior defender Ben Mitchell said. “We know they’re a good team. We know what they have.
I’m tired of not b.
