Cowboy football is now 5-3 after a 41-6 loss against Teton High School, from Driggs, Idaho.
“I don’t know that it was ideal for us but better than having a seven game season,” commented head coach Andy Coreyll.
It was a tough week in Cowboy country with the loss of one of their own.
“It felt good that we had football, we got to distract them a few hours a day and over the weekend from everything that was going on,” said Coryell.
Teton opened with a quick drive the field and score and the Cowboys were unable to answer, which was the theme of the game with the exception of multiple Teton turnovers.
The six was scored by Gauge Hicks, his first touchdown of the year, it was a 27-yard pass from Ryan Sullivan with two defenders and a quick three yards into the end zone.
“I think the game could have helped the kids’ perspective in terms of how hard they really need to play,” said Coryell. “We need to play physical football for four quarters to go deep into the playoffs.”
Teton controlled the ball and the clock the entire game, giving the defense a lot of time on the field. Three Cowboys led in tackles with nine each, Brendan Clatterbaugh, Jacob Blazon, and Judd Harvey; Clay Crawford had seven and Hayden Shults had six. Clatterbaugh and Harvey are sitting at number two and three in class 1A for tackles and both are in the top 20 in the state.
“I think in the big picture we played 10 times better against Idaho than against Gunnison,” said Coreyll, “they kept fighting until the end, but this big 3A school was just out of our weight class.”
The Cowboys now move into another bye week and will sit and wait to see how the rankings fall into place Sunday night to see who their first round opponent will be. Class 1A takes the top 16 teams in the state to create the playoff bracket, but it is not all about rankings. Those bottom few teams can be removed from playoff potential, knocked off by a team that has an automatic birth into playoffs for winning their league. This year that is potentially number 15 and 16.
“A bye this time of year is not always bad,” commented Coryell, “there is some worry about the boys not being fresh off of a game, but on the other hand it is good to get some healing in before playoffs begin.”
Even with the loss they held tight in the number three spot in MaxPreps, but dropped to five in CHSAA RPI, which moved them to four in the combined seeding index. Top eight teams host. There are some rumblings about the rankings with a 5-3 team seeded so high and above two teams that are 8-0. It all has to do with strength of schedule.
“I think our schedule and this final game of the season has prepared the kids and helped the rankings,” Coryell said. “Limon plays a tough physical season, their easiest game of the season is during the first round of playoffs and it helps us in many ways playing teams like them and this year we had three.”
With one more regular season week, there could be a lot of movement in the rankings. Yuma is still in the top 16 with a losing record and playing Limon this weekend, if they drop to number 15 or 16 could kick them out of having a playoff berth, number 13 Platte Canyon will play the first actual tough football game of the season against Strasburgh and with the inevitable loss they will move down. In the Western Slope League there is a matchup between Cedaredge and Buena Vista and it has implications for the Cowboys. A loss by Buena Vista and Gunnison wins the league and the Cowboys will likely drop in polls but a dominating win and the league will end in a three-way tie and Meeker will likely hold steady.
“There is a big discrepancy in the top and the bottom of the rankings,” said Coryell, “and we know that any team we play from that north central league will be tough.”
Number one and number two, Limon and Holyoke, faced off a couple weeks ago and the win for Limon came down to the last minutes of the game and the clock running out for Holyoke. From a quality and toughness perspective there is no difference between Holyoke and Limon.
If the Cowboys remain at number four they will have to work past Limon in the semifinals to get to the championship, if they move to three or six it will be Holyoke, either way very tough teams. The difference is mindset, in the last two meetings Meeker has beaten Holyoke, and in the last six meetings Limon has beaten Meeker.
BY TIFFANY JEHOREK
