When Ben Startzer took over as head coach of Northfield football, he might as well have been buying prep football penny stocks.
At that time in 2020, the Nighthawks were amid an inauspicious football genesis. Northfield had only opened five years prior, and the football program was struggling to find its footing. The Nighthawks were 3-17 across their first two seasons in Class 3A, with the majority of their defeats coming via running clock.
“I really thought Northfield was a diamond in the rough, but in my first program meeting, only 23 kids showed up,” Startzer recalled. “The meeting was in a classroom, and it wasn’t even full. And I was like, ‘Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting.’ There was so little hope in the program at that time.”
In the five seasons since, Northfield football has turned into a growth stock. The Nighthawks continued that ascent on Friday at All-City Stadium, smashing Skyline 38-15 in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs in a game that was never close.
The victory improved the Nighthawks to 9-3 on the year, setting a program record for wins at a school that is showing no signs of letting up in its athletic progression. While the football program, which will move up to Class 5A for the next two-year cycle that starts in 2026, has established itself as a perennial playoff team under Startzer, other Nighthawks programs have also burst onto the scene.
Both boys and girls soccer have won state titles, with the former already claiming two and in the running for a third this fall. The track and field programs are strong, with the boys winning the 2024 Class 4A title. And both basketball programs have recently made deep state tournament runs.
Startzer believes the time for his program’s breakout is next at the fledgling DPS high school located in northeast Denver. The Nighthawks’ participation (about 160 kids in the program this season) and talent just continue to increase.
“We’re starting to retain some of the talent that would naturally go down south, and go down I-225 and attend some of those (suburban) schools,” Startzer said. “They’re starting to stick around, and the jump to 5A is going to help even more with that.
“If I don’t screw it up, we should be pretty good for the years to come.”
On Friday against outmatched Skyline, the Nighthawks displayed the talent that’s allowed them to morph from a team that got continually mercy-ruled into one that has made the playoffs in five of the six seasons under Startzer.
Senior safety/outside linebacker Elian Oliva, an Air Force commit, was a dynamo. The team’s defensive headliner led Northfield with 96 tackles (41 solo) with 11 tackles for loss and five sacks coming into Friday, and Skyline had little success containing him.
Oliva caught a pair of two-point conversions to help Northfield race out to a 16-0 first-quarter lead, recovered a fumble, and also had an interception that set up another score early in the second quarter. He looked like he did not belong on a high school field as he made a play on the ball every time Skyline attempted to throw his way.
Up front, senior Kahlil Williams and junior Rico Henderson plugged up the middle of the line, while junior Ben Rink and sophomore Lucas Lawson brought athleticism to the defensive end positions that Skyline couldn’t match.
“Urban Meyer or Bill Parcells would say it all starts with your defensive line, and that’s really the strength of our team right now,” Startzer said. “They can affect the game in so many ways.”
On the other side of the ball, junior quarterback Cash Lacy threw pinpoint passes while efficiently managing the Nighthawks’ no-huddle offense. Add in a potent running back combination in senior Zavious Chineth and junior Kaeden Williams; hard-to-guard wideouts in sophomore DJ Lewis and sophomore Antione Collins; and a jackknife in junior Jayanthony Yancey, and the only thing that stopped the Nighthawks offense on Friday was occasionally themselves.
Now, the going gets steep for Northfield to make a deep push in the Class 4A playoffs, especially considering its undersized offensive line. They play at Pueblo West (7-3) in next week’s second round. A win over the Cyclones would likely set up a showdown against top-seeded, undefeated Dakota Ridge in the quarterfinals.
“This team is really confident right now,” Cash Lacy said. “We’ve gotten a lot of pieces back from injury (down the stretch). If we play to our ability, we think we can win it all.”
Whatever happens the rest of way, Oliva believes Northfield is in position to emerge as a Class 5A force in the coming years thanks to rising enrollment as well as the program’s increased attractiveness to youth players, both in the school’s attendance area and outside of it.
“As we move towards 5A, and as our school continues to develop and age, I think we’re coming close to the point where we’re getting really good young classes and it’s going to be something special in a few years,” Oliva said. “Down the road, the coming freshman classes will be bigger (in physical size and in numbers) and they’re already getting more skilled.
“In the next five years, as we build the program in 5A, we should be a playoff contender every year.”
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