The Meeker Cowboys opened conference play with a strong showing Thursday night, defeating Cedaredge 36-14 to improve to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Meeker relied heavily on its rushing attack, finishing with 347 yards on 55 carries for an average of 6.3 yards per carry.
Senior Cade Mills led the Cowboys with 94 rushing yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. He also completed 1 of 4 passes for 3 yards. Senior Tucker Chinn added 62 yards on six carries and a touchdown, while fellow senior Said Rodriguez rushed nine times for 93 yards. Junior Jaxen Mills scored twice on eight carries for 45 yards, and Jonah Lee added 45 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
Cade Mills credited the offensive line and blocking for helping the Cowboys establish their ground game.
“The O-line was working hard to keep pushing and letting our running backs have room to make moves and get those few extra yards,” Mills said. “Which helped get a good start to the first conference win.”
The Cowboys’ performance came after facing two Class 2A opponents earlier in the season in Delta and Coal Ridge.
“Also playing up to those bigger schools helped us be a better team as the season goes on,” Mills said.
Meeker finished with 350 total yards of offense and scored five touchdowns.
Head coach Andy Coryell said the Cowboys handled the short week well and pointed to the offensive line and perimeter blocking as two of the night’s biggest positives.
“I thought the kids did a good job on a short week,” Coryell said. “The offensive line and guys blocking on the perimeter were the real bright spots.”
Defensively, Meeker recorded 47 tackles and six tackles for loss while holding Cedaredge to 14 points.
Chinn and senior Wesley Thompson led the Cowboys with six tackles each. Lee and sophomore Jake Griesser each recorded five tackles, while Griesser added a tackle for loss. Senior Carlos Carrillo recorded two tackles for loss, while sophomore Bryant Turner and Thompson each added one.
Griesser also came up with the Cowboys’ lone interception, returning it 36 yards. Meeker finished with four passes defended.
“I feel like we defended the pass well, which slowed their offense down,” Griesser said. “The defense had been preparing all week. We did a good job of stopping their rushing game, and did our best to keep them out of the red zone.”
Griesser said the defense was prepared for Cedaredge to take shots downfield late in the game.
“They had been trying to go deep all night, so we knew what was coming when they got the ball late in the fourth,” Griesser said. “They had been targeting No. 7 all night, so there was a good chance it was coming my way.”
Griesser said creating turnovers has been important to the Cowboys’ success.
“It was important for the defense to keep getting turnovers because it allowed our offense to keep scoring and increasing our lead,” he said.
The sophomore also said the Cowboys’ earlier games against larger Class 2A schools helped prepare them for conference play.
“We learned a lot from playing those tougher 2A teams,” Griesser said. “We learned what we needed to improve on and focused on that during practice.”
Griesser credited Meeker’s upperclassmen with helping the younger players continue to develop.
“The upperclassmen are great leaders and are always teaching me new things every day,” Griesser said. “We are really starting to come together as a defense.”
The win gave Meeker its first conference victory of the season after opening the year with wins over Yuma and Coal Ridge and a loss to Delta.
“It was nice to start our league schedule with a win, but it’s going to be tough moving forward,” Coryell said.
As of Sept. 21, Meeker was ranked No. 8 in the Class 1A CHSAA seeding index.
The Cowboys are scheduled for a bye next week before returning home to host Olathe on Oct. 9 for Homecoming. Coryell said the team is still hoping to find another game in the next two weeks to replace Roaring Fork, which was scheduled for Sept. 25.
Meeker senior Said Rodriguez, No. 5, goes up to deflect a pass intended for Cedaredge wide receiver Dane Brown, No. 7, during the Cowboys’ 36-14 conference-opening victory Thursday, Sept. 17. RICH KLINZMANN PHOTO