Not every word Trevor Hudson used to describe Pine Creek’s defensive performance is allowed in The Gazette.

But the Eagles coach found a suitable description for his team’s effort Friday night at District 20 Stadium against a hot Fountain-Fort Carson team.

“Y’all played your butts off.,” Hudson said after the Eagles’ 14-7 victory against the Trojans. “(Fountain-Fort Carson) is an offense that puts up a lot of points. I’ve given my coaches hell all year about the defense, but they showed up tonight, and they had our backs when we needed it.”

Fountain-Fort Carson (7-3) entered the regular-season finale with wins in seven of its eight previous games. The Trojans’ bruiser, Dakari Releford, stacked 1,312 yards on 165 carries and 18 touchdowns in eight games.

Releford also had at least one score in every game this season and continued that trend on the Trojans’ first drive with an 8 -yard rushing TD. Releford’s 19th touchdown of the year gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead with 6:50 left in the first.

That was the last offensive spark for the Trojans.

“After that, they were done,” Hudson said. “After that first drive, all our guys settled down. When we settle down and play ball, we start playing Pine Creek football.”

The Trojans, who average 36 points per game and have scored at least 13 in each contest, struggled to move the ball. Fountain-Fort Carson punted seven times and fumbled once, which Pine Creek’s Westin Hansen recovered in the fourth quarter.

“The defense did what they needed to do, but I’m mad at the offense,” Hudson said. “We left 12 to 20 points off the board. But I promise you, I’m coming back to find that.”

Pine Creek’s offense, which averages 33.8 points per game and posted 55, 50 and 31 during its three-game winning streak, trailed 7-0 in the first half. Pine Creek (7-3) struggled to start the matchup and found its momentum in the second quarter, but turned it over twice in the red zone in the opening 24 minutes and missed a field goal to end the half.

“We knew we just had to get out there and fix the mistakes we made in the first half,” Xavier Lukes said of the Eagles’ halftime changes. “We needed a big momentum change.”

Pine Creek failed to score on its five first-half drives, but opened the third quarter with touchdowns on back-to-back possessions. Lukes, Colorado’s ninth-leading rusher at 1,229 yards, capped the Eagles’ first drive with a 2-yard run to knot the game at 7-all with 6:07 left in the third.

Then, after an acrobatic 27-yard catch by Jayden Rin, Lukes exploded for a 32-yard run past the Trojans’ defense to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead with 15 seconds left in the third.

“That catch on the sideline was the momentum change that we needed,” Lukes said. “That gave us what we needed and helped us put this game away. We snapped and locked in for the second half and that’s exactly what we needed.”