Will play Holyoke Dragons Saturday at 1 p.m. in Meeker
A six-plus hour bus ride didn’t phase the Cowboy football team, who shut out the Center Vikings 47-0. The team will play the Holyoke Dragons this Saturday at Starbuck Stadium at 1 p.m.
TIFFANY JEHOREK PHOTO
MEEKER I The Meeker Cowboys wrapped up their final game of the regular season with a definitive win over the Center Vikings 47-0. The team spent six-plus hours traveling to the game, the longest trip of the season.
“Center is a long way from Meeker,” commented head coach Shane Phelan, “I was happy that our boys got off the bus and performed at a high level.”
The Meeker Cowboys dominated from the first quarter and with just a few minutes left in the second and a Cowboy turnover and score, the mercy rule took effect.
“Everyone got to play,” said Phelan, “a lot of players contributed in a variety of ways and I was happy with the overall team performance.”
The running clock in the second half meant the game only lasted another 24 minutes and the Cowboys achieved their third shutout of the year.
“Center had some big athletic kids, but it is also a young team and their quarterback is only a sophomore,” commented Cravens.
Center has also had a lot of turnover in just this year, with three head coaches. Their starting head coach was fired, the first interim coach fell ill, and during the Meeker game they had their third head coach of the season.
The Cowboys didn’t have to wait long to find out who their next opponent was going to be. Last week it was looking like Yuma, but some movement in the polls when both Yuma and Wiggins lost last weekend, Holyoke moved into the number 11 spot and will once again be coming to Meeker for the first round of playoffs.
Kelton Turner led this week in rushing with 166 yards, for a total of 1377 in the regular season, and that included a reception with a 65-yard return. Casey Brink and Dagon Dade led in receiving yards with 30 and 22 respectively. Defensively Zack Eskelson had 14 tackles, Elijah Leblanc and Brendan Clatterbaugh each had eight to lead the Cowboys. Five Cowboys were in on sacks: Clatterbaugh, Hayden Shults, Teagan Sheridan, Judd Harvey, and Joe Mckay; Shults also had a fumble recovery.
#16 Connor Blunt makes a play.
Scoring this week was Liam Deming, Porter Hossack, Jacob Blazon, and Dagon Dade each with one, Turner with three, and John Hampton Hightower with five PAT’s.
This will be the sixth time since 2014 that the Cowboys have taken on the Dragons, the Cowboys are ahead in the matchup 5-0 and are looking to extend the win streak to six.
“We are excited to get to play in front of a home crowd,” said Phelan. “Holyoke is a solid, tough team.”
Holyoke is in a tough league on the eastern slope with Limon, Wiggins, and a lot of teams that have made it to the playoffs this year.
“The Dragons have been in the big games all season against some of the best teams in the state,” commented Phelan. “They are effective with their passing game, the Sprague brothers, and that Sprague to Sprague connection has created a lot of yards.”
Holyoke is pretty even in rushing and passing, their quarterback, the youngest of the Spragues, is also their number two rusher and tackler, he is number 2. The older of the brothers, number 10, leads in receiving yards, rushing, and tackling. Other top performers for the Dragons are number 7 Legarreta who is third in rushing, number 9 Weber who is second in receiving and number 4 Mosenteen who is third in receiving and fourth in rushing.
With a win against the Dragons the Cowboys would travel to the winner of Gunnison versus Buena Vista. No matter the outcome of this game, the Cowboys will travel.
The Meeker/Holyoke showdown is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Starbuck Stadium.
By TIFFANY JEHOREK – Special to the Herald Times
