No. 4 Palmer Ridge football takes down No. 2 Montrose in opener

MONTROSE – On Friday night, second-ranked Montrose hosted fourth-ranked Palmer Ridge in what was the season opener for both preseason top-five teams. On a night filled with high-profile upsets statewide, Palmer Ridge won 35-28 as the outcome came down to the last play of the game.

“That game was one of the hardest fought wins I have ever been apart of,” Palmer Ridge’s Walker Himebach said. ”The difference-maker was our brotherhood and the sheer grit of the team. If these guys weren’t playing for every single guy on the team, we wouldn’t of pulled out the win. The difference in the game is that we came together as a true brohterhood and we were resilent.

“Through all the ups and downs we just stayed together as a family.”

The Bears led 21-7 after the first half. After a defensive stop by Montrose to open the second, the Red Hawks cut the lead to 21-14. Later in the second half, Palmer Ridge scored on a 33-yard play to make it 28-20 and to start the fourth quarter. Palmer Ridge’s Derek Hester found KC Fackerell for a 22-yard touchdown and a 35-20 lead.

Gage Wareham took the Red Hawks down field and scored from four yards out. The two point conversion was good on a pass from Wareham to Zimmer and the score was 35-28 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game. After stopping the Bears, the Red Hawks had 3:30 left to try and tie or win the game. They drove down to the nine yard line but couldn’t punch it in. 

“Montrose  has a lot of warriors,” Palmer Ridge coach Mike Armentrout said. ”That was a battle from start to finsih. I’m really proud of the way our guys responded to adversity.”

“Always proud to coach these boys, ” Montrose coach Brett Mertens said. “We battled all the way to the end and had a chance to win on the last play of the game. What a great high school football game. Palmer Ridge played a great game and are a quality football team. Super pumped about the team and the potential. We have, lot of opportunies for growth.”