It was just a few minutes before game time Friday when a big, black cloud rolled in from the southwest. As it neared Boulder, it decided to kick out a couple of loud lightning strikes, the second one loud enough to send people scrambling to their cars — and the team to their locker rooms.
So it was that the Jefferson High football squad’s much-anticipated match-up against Malta got delayed by 30 minutes. Fortunately, it was a fast-moving storm: After dropping enough rain to moisten the field, it moved on to the Townsend area, and the teams came back to play on what turned out to be a beautiful evening for high school football.
The Panthers wasted no time putting points on the board — and as the first quarter ended, they held a 14-0 lead. Then they broke it open in the second period. First, it was Parker Wager with a 20-yard run to the Malta 5, then a touchdown spring by quarterback Luke Oxarart. Malta rebounded: On its first play following the kick-off, a receiver found just enough room to slip through Jefferson’s line, scampering 80 yards for a score.
