MEEKER — Playing a rare away/home game in Olathe Saturday, the Meeker Cowboys were able to completely dominate the Mancos Bluejays in a game where both teams traveled to a neutral sight.
Meeker was considered the home team in the contest and were able to run up 40 first half points and finish with a 48-0 victory over the visitors from Mancos.
Meeker had five different individuals contribute to the scoring for the Cowboys.
Changing kickers for the day, the Cowboys Brock Campbell, who did a little bit of everything on Saturday, took over the kickoff duties.
The Bluejays were able to bring the ball out to the 28-yard line, but could only gain 16 yards on seven plays before punting the ball away to the Cowboys.
Campbell returned the punt 22 yards to give the Cowboys field position at the 40. A 24-yard run by Bubba Mazzola, followed by Colton Brown’s 10-yard pickup and Tyrell Gerloff’s gains of eight and 11 had the Cowboys on the six-yard line before a 10-yard holding penalty moved them back to the 16.
Here Brown hit Campbell for a 16-yard score to start the scoring onslaught.
Mazzola converted the point after for an 8-0 Meeker lead. Meeker held Mancos on the ensuing series and started from their own 27-yard line. An incomplete pass, and then Brown picked up 12 on an option. Running the option left, Brown then turned in his best run of the day as he covered 66 yards for the Cowboys second score. A conversion pass to Campbell and the score was 16-0 Cowboys with 21 seconds left in the first quarter.
Meeker’s defense continued to harass the Jays as Trenton Schindler from his defensive end position sacked the Mancos quarterback for a nine yard loss forcing them to punt. Four runs by Cowboy Mitch Jacob mixed with a 12-yard pass to Schindler had Jacob scoring from 14 yards out.
Mazzola converted the points after for a 24-0 lead with 8:11 left in the second quarter.
After another defensive stop, it was Tyrell Gerloff’s turn to put points on the board. Gerloffs’ two runs netted 26 yards and a Brown to Campbell pass picked up 13 more before Gerloff crossed the goal line from four yards out for a Cowboy touchdown.
Jacob added the conversion points and it was 32-0 Meeker.
Mancos was starting to put together a drive on the next series before Campbell stepped in front of the Mancos receiver and intercepted the pass, returning it 43 yards for the Cowboys final score of the half. Brown converted the extra points and it was Meeker 40-0 at halftime.
Invoking the 40-point mercy rule, the clock only stopped in the second half for injuries, timeouts and quarters, but it did not help Mancos. Brown closed out the scoring for Meeker in the start of the fourth quarter with an 11-yard run. Mazzola again converted the two points and finished the scoring for the Cowboys and the game at 48-0.
Offensive statistics for the Cowboys had Brown gaining 105 yards on seven carries and while scoring two touchdowns and an extra point. Jacob had 67 yards on seven carries with a touchdown and an extra point, Gerloff 82 yards on eight carries and a touchdown and Mazzola 39 yards on eight carries and three extra points. Brown was 6 of 9 passing for 73 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
For the game, junior Brock Campbell accounted for 162 yards and 14 points. He ran the ball one time for nine yards, caught five passes for 61 yards, a touchdown and an extra point, returned an interception 43 yards for touchdown, returned three kicks for 49 yards, and averaged 50.4 yards per kick on seven kickoffs. He also counted for seven tackles on defense, including five solo tackles.
Around the league
Hayden thumped Dolores 48-14, Hotchkiss beat Paonia 23-8, Rangely stopped Grand Junction JV 26-12, and West Grand handled Lake County 40-9. This week Rangely is at Hotchkiss, Hayden at Paonia, and Meeker travels to West Grand. Cowboy game time kickoff is presently scheduled for 7 p.m. in Kremmling.
Meeker 16 24 0 8 — 48
Mancos 0 0 0 0 — 00
