NIWOT >> Fairview senior center back Mark Litwiler doesn’t often get the chance to put his name on the stats sheet. The life of a defender.

So when he got a look from more than 35 yards out, he figured, Why not? And later, with a penalty opportunity presenting itself in the final minutes — he thought he might as well take that, too.

Litwiler blistered a brilliant ball in the first half before finishing off the first two-goal game of his career in the final moments of the Knights’ 5-0 win over Niwot on Thursday night.

“You play the whole game, and when you have a defensive game, it’s great when you have good tackles,” Litwiler said. “But at the end of the day, it’s so fun to get goals because you (as defenders) don’t get those chances often.”

Oliver Ruzzin and Michael Smit sandwiched their own scores around the three-year varsity player’s third career goal, giving CHSAA Class 5A No. 11 Fairview a three-goal lead in a 13-minute span in the opening half.

Ben Ortman later put away his team-leading 10th of the season ahead of Litwiler’s second of the night as the Knights (5-1-3) pushed their unbeaten streak to seven games.

Now onto their biggest test of the year.

On Tuesday, they meet Boulder in their annual crosstown rivalry. The Panthers are currently ranked first in the state and 17th in the nation by MaxPreps.

“We have to go in like killers,” senior defender Ben Mitchell said. “We know they’re a good team. We know what they have. I’m tired of not being in the papers. I’m tired of it all being about them. We got to show them what’s up. We got to show across the state and across this country — we got to show the world who we are.”

Niwot, ranked 4A No. 7 coming into the night, awaits its own marquee game. Beginning play in the newly formed 4A/3A Granite Peaks League next week, it starts at home against No. 6 Longmont on Oct. 3.

Before stumbling against the Knights, the Cougars (6-2) had won five straight games in shutout fashion and were outscoring teams 14-2 on the season. Coach Stephen Dimit thought his team may have been “complacent” in the program’s largest margin of loss since before 2009.

“We were riding a five-game shutout streak coming in, and then to just give up more goals than we have all season, in a half, it’s a punch in the gut,” he said. “We have a lot to clean up, honestly. But it’s good that we’re getting a challenge like this going into conference.”

In the teams’ first meeting in at least more than 15 years, Fairview took command with goals in the 9th, 17th and 22nd minutes.

Ruzzin put away his first career goal off a cross into the box from senior Conor Marriott. His placement into the net, above keeper Lucas Willard’s hands, was about as ‘nothing you can do about it’ as Litwiler’s long-distance splash or Smit’s putback.

Ortman added to the lead in the 46th. His 10 goals put him one behind Boulder’s Xander Sevian, who is tied for third in 5A with 11.

After the Fairview-Boulder game Tuesday, both the Knights and Cougars begin play in their newly-formed Granite Peaks Leagues.

The 4A/3A Granite Peaks League includes three teams in 4A’s top 10 (No. 3 Silver Creek, No. 6 Longmont and No. 7 Niwot) as well as 3A No. 1 Holy Family. The 5A version of the conference starts with defending champ Broomfield (5A No. 3) followed by Legacy at No. 9 and the Knights at 11.

“It is harder than I thought it would be when it formed a year ago,” Dimit said of the 4A/3A league. “Which is saying something because I thought it was going to be really darn good. It’s the best in the state bar none in 4A, and I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same in 5A as well.”