FOUNTAIN – The rivalry between Doherty and Fountain-Fort Carson goes back much further than five years. But in the last five years, that rivalry has been intensified because of the implementation of the shield.
 
It was the brainchild of Trojans head coach Jake Novotny and former Doherty coach Jeff Krumlauf. Fountain-Fort Carson won the first Shield game before Doherty took the next two – the second of which came at Guy R. Barickman Stadium. 
 
COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the 2020 game but on Friday night, for the first time in four years, it was the Class 4A No. 9 Trojans raising the shield and taking it to their fans to celebrate.
 
The 42-9 win over the Spartans was Fountain-Fort Carson’s first win in the rivalry showdown since that first Shield game in 2017.
 
“Ever since we took that loss (in 2019), it’s been personal,” Trojans running back Dezmen Oliver said. “We just felt like we had to come out here and handle business.”
 

That very feeling was the point of establishing a traveling trophy between the programs. There is a mutual respect between the players on the field, but with the added element of hardware at stake, passions and tempers have a tendency to run a little bit hotter than normal.
 
"We were the two biggest programs in the area," FFC coach Jake Novotny said. "And we were really only playing each other from a local standpoint so to add that element really made it fun for the kids."

And since then, it's been a big party of the rivalry and that remained true on Friday.

“It’s everything,” Spartans coach Dwight Hale said. “Two years ago, we did the same thing to them but on their own field, so they had that taste in their mouth. Hopefully our juniors that just gave that shield away have that taste in their mouth so that next time we play, we have that fight and we have that energy.”
 
It would’ve been easy for the Spartans (0-4 overall) to be deflated early. On just the third pass of the game, a tipped pass from Kaden Becker was intercepted by Myles McClarity and taken back for a touchdown to put the Trojans (3-1) up 7-0.
 
On their second drive of the game, the Spartans found some rhythm and marched their way down the field where Becker found the end zone from three yards out to tie the game.
 
It wasn’t until there was 1:06 left in the first quarter when the Trojans ran an offensive play. But that wasn’t going to slow them down. They amassed 103 rushing yards as a team with Dezmen scoring three times. Two on touchdown runs and one on a punt return.
 
In the blink of an eye, it was a 28-7 lead and the Trojans cruised the rest of the way. 
 
As a freshman, Becker watched as the Trojans handed the Spartans, and his older brother Brandon, the Shield for a second straight year. His goal heading into next year is going to be getting the work done so that he and his teammates can hoist that shield for Sparta once again. 
 
“I was here and my brother was playing,” Becker said. “(The shield) was the reason they won that game. I wanted to do that and I wanted to do the same thing for the team. But we’ll get them next year.”
 
With Fountain-Fort Carson’s win, the series since the induction of the shield now stands at 2-2.