MEEKER | Last weekend the Cowboys went 2-2 for the week.
“Three out of our four games were good games, we were tested, and they were really exciting,” commented head coach Klark Kindler.
As reported last week the Cowboys lost in overtime to Moffat County on Tuesday, the next day they hosted Vail Mountain. Vail Mountain was able to pull an immediate six points ahead in the first quarter, but the Cowboys rebounded in the second to only be down by one at the half, 18-19. The third quarter was even and in the final quarter, one extra goal for the Rangers put them ahead by three to seal the win 42-39.
North Park came to Meeker Friday and it gave the Cowboys the opportunity to play the majority of the players, and there was a lot of contribution from the bench. A final score of 70-33, the Cowboys put a quick 20 points up in the first quarter and didn’t allow the Wildcats to close the gap.
Saturday was the third close nail biter of the week with Vail Christian.
“We had a really good second half,” said Kindler.
The Cowboys were down 34-21 going into the second half, but the defensive turned it up. They held Vail Christian to 14 points for the entire half while adding 30 more to their side. Final score was 51-48 the Cowboys with the victory.
A recap of Cowboy stats for the week, this includes the Moffat County Game.
Points:
Liam Deming: 43
Ethan Drake: 35
Ryan Phelan: 52
Spud White: 43
Total Rebounds:
Drake: 13
Phelan: 27
White: 25
Zagar Brown: 11
Braydon Garcia: 7
This week the team will have three away games. First a non-league game against Hayden on Tuesday in Hayden, games to begin at 5:30. Thursday the final regular season league game at Rangely, JV will begin at 4 p.m.
The game Saturday is dependent on the outcome of the Vail Christian and Vail Mountain game on Thursday. This year, due to COVID, the league has been split in half, north and south leagues. Both first place teams will play each other to determine who wins the league and the second league teams will do the same to determine who gets second. This year in the southern half of the league DeBeque has secured the number one spot, unless there is a major upset, and Caprock is number two. If Vail Christian beats Vail Mountain then Meeker will have secured the number one spot in the northern half of the league and will take on DeBeque in DeBeque on Saturday. If Vail Mountain wins then the Cowboys will be second and take on Caprock, neither outcome finds the Cowboys playing at home as they lost the coin toss.
There will be no district tournament this year, the season will move straight into regionals once the league games are finished.
This year the top 24 teams will play at home sites that are determined by the higher seed. The ranking and who those top 24 teams are is determined by the combined ranking of MaxPreps, Packard, RPI, and Coaches Poll. It does not matter if a team had a previous away game, the team with the higher seed will always have a home court advantage.
The top eight teams will have first round byes, which means teams seeded 9-16 will host teams seeded 17-24. Right now the Cowboys are looking to secure the 15th or 16th seed and that is all determined by the outcome of their games this week. If they have a great week their first game will be at home, but the rest will likely be on the road.
This year state will consist of the top two teams only, from each class. All other games will be played at home sites.
By TIFFANY JEHOREK – Special to the Herald Times
