The Northern Colorado Nightmare are a Semi-Pro adult football team who plays in the Championship Football League (CFL). The NoCo Nightmare joined the CFL this year after previous seasons in the Colorado Football Conference (CFC), including a 2019 conference title. Owners Dan & Karrie Fahrenbruch are proactive in all aspects of the team alongside son, player rep and head recruiter Trent Fahrenbruch.

The Nightmare opened the season with a dominating 30-0 win over the Colorado Sting (Denver) and lost to the Colorado Longhorns (Colorado Springs) 14-0. Typically the Nightmare play at District 6 Stadium (The Boneyard), but instead opened their first home game at Severance High School against the Rocky Mountain Phoenix (Denver).

The first quarter ended competitively with a 10-7 Phoenix lead. The Nightmare were able to move the ball with crucial catches by Riley Kinney, but the run game was sputtering. Defensively NoCo did a good job of limiting completions and allowing the first quarter to get out of hand.

The second quarter saw a drought of production from the Nightmare with only key defensive plays to hang their hat on. Several breakout plays led to the Phoenix getting another touchdown. The Nightmare visibly upset with their mistakes tried to capitalize on a blocked PAT returned to the end zone that should have resulted in a touchdown, but two unannounced penalties on the return negated a possible two-point game.

After halftime the offensive struggles continued as the interior offensive line crumbled and backup quarterback Riley Kinney was only able to scramble and throw hopes down the field. Starting quarterback Matt Keeling did not return to quarterback in the second half as both players found a lack of options outside of Kinney. The banged up offensive line were not able to support a run game and were out-schemed by opposing rushing attacks.

The Nightmare defense was incredibly resilient as they saw the field more than they wanted to and buckled down each drive. In the entire second half NoCo only gave up three points and showed great consistency despite their endurances being called upon so often. However, the stagnant offense would not fool the Phoenix more than once as they finished the game with a 19-7 loss for their home opener.

The NoCo Nightmare will have two more road contests before coming back to “The Boneyard” at District 6 Stadium for their final three games of the season including Greeley Recreation Night and 5th Annual Salute to Service Night.