Nick Salas never had a doubt.

The Colorado Springs Christian football coach watched his Lions shutter Woodland Park’s offense most of Friday evening. As Woodland Park had its final play of its home contest, Salas knew the Lions’ defense wouldn’t fold.

Salas nailed his assessment. Colorado Springs Christian survived a furious Woodland Park fourth-quarter rally and won 22-16 to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2023.

“We have a great group of (defensive backs) and I was just thinking on that final play, ‘which of our guys is going to come down with it,’” Salas said.

The Lions required nearly 20 minutes of game time to find their mojo against Woodland Park, which opened the contest with a 51-yard field goal by Barrett Absher to make it 3-0 with 7:50 left in the first. The Panthers (1-2) followed with a 70-yard drive that Woodland Park sophomore Saie Soto capped with a two-yard run to close the first quarter and to give his team a 9-0 lead.

Colorado Springs Christian scored its lone first half touchdown with 5:11 left as Fisher Tenpas found Silas Lambert on a 15-yard pass to make it 9-6. The Lions took the lead with 7:26 left in the third after Tenpas found Dom Gillin, who ran 74 yards downfield for the score. Lambert converted the two-point try to give the Lions a 14-9 advantage.

“You just have to be calm before every play,” Tenpas said. “You have to know your receivers and know what route they have and throw a good ball. Being calm is crucial and that helps you see who’s going to be open.”

Tenpas’ third and final touchdown pass came in the fourth quarter to Gillin, who escaped the defense as the Panthers applied pressure to the Lions QB.

“I saw a wide-open receiver and put it on him,” Tenpas said. “I thought I messed up the play, but we scored a touchdown.”

Gillin waved his hand as a pair of Panther rushers diverged on Tenpas and Gillin said he trusted his quarterback to throw an accurate ball.

“I was supposed to run a slant on that (run-pass-option) and I got behind the backers. I looked back to see Fisher and I could see him running,” Gillin said. “I looped back around and I saw them both sitting there so I put my hand up. He got his eyes downfield and I was able to get it in the end zone and get that touchdown.”

That was supposed to be the final nail. Nate Aichele made it 22-9 with 7:33 left in the game after he caught a two-point conversion pass to pad Colorado Springs Christian’s advantage. But the Panthers continued to battle.

Bryce Bischoff connected with Zach Summeril on a 50-yard passing touchdown with 6:01 left in the game to make it 22-16. The Panthers recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff but turned it over on downs.

The Panthers then forced the Lions to punt and Woodland Park blocked and recovered the ball at the CSCS 25. Salas watched his defense shut down the Panthers comeback attempt and silence Woodland Park’s home crowd.

Colorado Springs Christian’s win Friday night was their second in a row this year and second consecutive victory against the Panthers, who the Lions had previously never beaten in three tries.  

“A win is a win,” Salas said. “It was a gritty, hard fought win. I don’t think we played up to our potential, but I am happy that we got the win.”

Gillin echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“It means a lot,” Gillin said. “Before last year we hadn’t been able to beat them. My freshman year, we lost a close one. This one, we could have done better. But I’m glad we could come out here and get back-to-back wins against them.”