Rampart had a fireworks show at halftime of its homecoming matchup with Ponderosa, and that was about all that went right for the Rams.

Several miscues led to a 37-6 loss, sending the large crowd home unhappy.

“We had a pretty tough week injury-wise, and had a lot of adversity coming into the game, but I thought we’d respond better than that,” Rampart coach Rob Royer said. “Hats off to coach (Jaron) Cohen. Ponderosa played very well.”

The Rams (3-2) fumbled on their first possession of the game, leading to a quick 7-0 deficit. It was a precursor of what was to come.

After scoring on a 2-yard Joey Williams run with 5:20 left in the first half to make it 7-6, everything quickly unraveled for Rampart.

The extra point was blocked, and the ensuing kickoff was returned by Ponderosa (3-1) to the Rampart 21-yard line. Two plays later, quarterback Sterling Ostdahl ran the ball in from the five to make it 14-6.

“I was a little bit salty about them scheduling us for their homecoming game,” Ostdahl said. “They played hard, but we were able to execute what we wanted to do.”

After Ostdahl’s touchdown, Ponderosa recovered a squib kick, and it was 21-6 in the blink of an eye. A blocked punt and a field goal snowballed the Ponderosa lead to 24-6 at the half.

“All week we talked about not being distracted by homecoming,” Rampart running back Xavier Bishop-Falu said. “But this was a good slap in the face and a wake-up call for us. We’re ready to move on to the next game.”

The special teams problems, coupled with an offensive attack that couldn’t string first downs together, doomed Rampart all night.

With the exception of a few explosive runs, Bishop-Falu couldn’t find much room against a stout Ponderosa defense.

That was the plan installed by coach Jaron Cohen – the former Liberty High School coach – and his defense executed it well, holding a Rampart offense which had posted 101 points through four games to just one score.

“Our defense has been playing at a very high level, and our last three games we’ve only given up 13 points,” Cohen said. “It was a close ballgame until we had those big special teams plays at the end of the first half, and Rampart isn’t built to come back from a deficit like that.”

The good news for Rampart is that it has a bye week before the 4A Pikes Peak Conference slate begins Oct. 7 with a trip to Littleton. The Rams are hoping to quickly get past the homecoming setback, and are focused on the second half of the season.

“Our biggest emphasis these next two weeks before the Littleton game is getting healthy,” Royer said. “We did a great job of coming back strong after the loss to Heritage, and we’ll do the same after this one.”