In their second matchup of the year, the Meeker Cowboys took on the Buena Vista Demons in the 2023 Class 1A Colorado State Football Championships quarterfinals.
The Cowboys came out strong, putting up seven on their first drive down the field.
“It was a nice change from our previous games watching the boys come out strong and limit Buena Vista,” commented head coach Coryell.
There were immediate and noticeable differences between how the Demons approved the game.
“Coach Flavin made adjustments from our previous game, but that is the good thing about having seniors on the team, they were not fazed, they adapted and got it done,” said Coryell.
Buena Vista has had an even running and throwing attack throughout the season and the Meeker defense was able to limit them to just 29 yards on the ground and 149 through the air.
“There are a lot of good kids on their team with tons of kids to go to for their offense,” commented Coryell, “they have a lot of offensive weapons.”
The score was 21-0 at the half and the Demons came back out to first possession and they changed to a primary passing attack, and were able to put up seven points.
“I think playing Teton benefited us with the passing game, Teton was a great passing team and we got a good look at what needed to be done to shut it down,” said Coryell.
The defensive line, led by Buzz Clatterbaugh who had 14 tackles, put a lot of pressure on the quarterback that allowed Jace Mobley to come up with two interceptions and 30 yards.
“Their quarterback was continually stressed and under pressure, he was unable to make sound choices and we won the turnover game,” commented Coryell.
The final score of 28-7 ended up being a game won on the line of scrimmage.
“Games that close with good teams can quickly change,” said Coryell, “ I don’t think there was a time any of us was comfortable.”
Meeker had possession of the ball with two minutes and 30 seconds left and a first down, quarterback Ryan Sullivan took a knee and the Cowboys were headed to the semifinals for the first time in many years.
There were some big offensive numbers put up by Clay Crawford who had 159 rushing yards, and Cade Blunt who had 75 yards rushing. Sullivan found Mobley for 28 yards.
Defensively the Cowboys had five tackles for loss by Blunt, Clatterbaugh, Hayden Shultz and Judd Harvey.
The Cowboys now turn their attention to the Limon Badgers, the second team during the playoffs that they have history with from just this year. In their previous meeting, the score was tied seven-all with two minutes left in the third quarter before just a couple of big plays allowed the Badgers to go up three touchdowns and win the game 28-7.
“These are two very different teams,” said Coryell, “both teams have kids in different spots than our previous game. We will be going back to the basics, more tackling and working on the takeaways.”
The Badgers will host the semifinals as they are the higher seed. Game time is 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18 in Limon.
