Week Two Class 1A Breakdown
Some of the Non-Top Ten games from last week were: Colorado Springs Christian over Wiggins 35-12, Crowley County over John Mall 44-7, and Highland over Front Range Christian 40-13. Week 2 has some very big match ups and should be a good week of football.
#1 Bennett travels to face #3 Strasburg. In probably one of the best games in the state of Colorado you have the defending State Champion going against their bitter rival in what should be a great game and a good test to see which team has rebounded the most from last year. #3 Strasburg opened the season with a 24 to 6 victory over Burlington. Burlington is rebuilding their offense from a year ago but their defense came to play and held Strasburg to 24 points. Strasburg on offense did move the ball well racking up 353 yards of total offense. Their rushing attack put up 218 yards no players broke the 100 yard mark and they attacked with 7 different backs. New starting QB Carson Spence had a somewhat rough start going 5 of 10 for 135 yards 1 TD but he threw 2 INT’s. He will need to improve his play if they plan on pulling the upset of Bennett. Defensively Strasburg played well forcing 2 INT’s, 1 Fumble, and forcing 1 sack. Strasburg will need their best defensive effort again this week to stop a run heavy offense. #1 Bennett comes into the season as the preseason #1 and the favorite to win the State Championship. They opened the season with a 58-7 drumming of Cornerstone Christian. In normal Bennett fashion they only threw for 8 yards on 5 attempts but their rushing attack put up a stunning 512 yards rushing on 50 attempts for 10.2 yards per carry. Bennett had 3 players break the 100 yard mark but QB Rocky Lechman led all runners with 128 yards and 2 TD’s. Bennett defensively was also very impressive holding Cornerstone Christian to just 69 yards of total offense. The surrendered 61 yards passing but only 7 yards rushing. Bennett also forced 5 sacks, 1 INT, and 1 fumble. Bennett will be looking once again for their defense to play tough against a reloaded Strasburg offense. Bennett is going to run the ball 40+ times again and they hit for big plays and they will need that against Strasburg. Last year this game was a wild 55-44 game in favor of Strasburg. I could see something like that happening again but Bennett has improved defensively and Strasburg does not have the same offense they had last year. I am going with Bennett to win this game 42-28.
#2 Meeker travels to Holyoke. Holyoke opened the season with a 12-8 victory over Bridgeport NE. Holyoke held on in the fourth quarter to keep their 4 point lead alive. Holyoke has not put any stats in for the game but defensively they were gashed by the run. They gave up 216 yards rushing and 89 yards passing all of them for big plays. Holyoke will need to refocus their defense as they are facing a very high powered offense this week. Meeker has started the season hot winning two games and only giving up a total of 7 points. In week zero they blasted Highland 40-0 and last week they beat 2A Coal Ridge 30-7. Meeker in their win last week was once against very balanced in their offensive attack, throwing for 153 yards and rushing for 170 yards. Logan Hughes once again had a good day passing going 12 of 18 for 153 yards and 2 TD’s. Meeker rushing attack was led by Doak Mantle who had 78 yards rushing and 1 TD. What has been most impressive from Meeker this year has been their defense. We knew their offense would be explosive but their defense has played well. Last week they forced 1 fumble and forced 4 sacks. They also held Coal Ridge scoreless for three straight quarters. Meeker now must take a very long road trip to face a Holyoke team who defensively can force turnovers. Meeker is my pick to win this game 42-14.
#4 Limon hosts Crowley County. In what typically would be the game of the week is overshadowed by the #1 Bennett vs #3 Strasburg game. This game though will be a huge test to see which team has grown the most. Crowley County is still unranked this week but are sitting at #11. They are 2-0 on the season. In Zero Week they beat Colorado Springs Christian 26-7 and last week blasted John Mall 44-7. Crowley County was very effective running the ball. They ran for 262 yards on 34 carries for 7.7 yards per carry and 4 TD’s. Their rushing attack was led by Cannan Geringer 101 yards and 1 TD. They did get some good passing attempts going 8 of 15 for 96 yards and 2 TD’s. Defensively they didn’t force any turnovers but had 5 sacks and kept John Mall off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. Crowley County now must get their offense ready for a huge game against Limon. #4 Limon opened the season with a good 44 to 12 victory over Rocky Ford. Defensively they were very impressive holding Rocky Ford scoreless until the 4th quarter when Limon had most of their backups in. Also their defense forced 2 INT’s and played well against a spread offense that uses their speed. Offensively Limon was dominate. Limon broke the 100 yard mark in passing when starting QB Cannan Bennett threw for 134 yards on 7 of 10 attempts and 2 TD’s but the most impressive part of the game was Limon rushing attack. Limon ran for 394 yards and Junior RB Hauk Hubbard had a very good game. He ran for 178 yards on 21 carries and 2 TD’s. Limon now will be facing another run heavy attack this week against Crowley County. This game will come down to which team gains control of the line of scrimmage first. Whichever team can do that will get the advantage early on and could force the other to change up their offense. Limon returned most of their talent from a year ago and will be very tough defensively. For that reason I am picking Limon in a close 21 to 10 win over Crowley County.
#5 Grand Valley see 2A Breakdown.
#6 Wray host Goodland KS. Goodland KS is off to a 0-1 start on the season. This is a normal game played between the two schools and Wray is a much smaller school. Goodland KS plays 4A in KS and this will be a huge test for Wray. Wray started their season with a win over Ellicott 41 to 12. Ellicott which runs a spread offense and has a ton of speed was able to keep pace threw 2 quarters before Wray used it physical rushing attack to full away. Wray which like most schools in 1A is run heavy and it showed in week 1. They ran for a whopping 490 yards on 56 carries for 8.8 yards per carry and 6 TD’s. Their rushing attack was led by Cade Hillman who had a good day rushing for 196 yards and 5 TD’s. They also got good contribution from freshman RB Junior Arambula 110 yards rushing. Wray had to replace their running back position from a year ago and they did a good job in game one amassing a ton of rushing yards. Wray played well defensively as well holding Ellicott scoreless in the second half and also forcing 2 sacks and 1 INT. Wray well have a chance to play a bigger school and look for a win. This will be a good test for Wray to see how far they have come.
#7 Peyton hosts Highland. Highland got their first victory of the season last week beating Front Range Christian 40 to 13. Highland lost in zero week 40 to 0 to Meeker. Highland which made the playoffs last year will be looking to see how far they have come since zero week against another Top 10 opponent. Highland was effective offensively going 3 of 4 passing for 91 yards and rushing for 213 yards. Their rushing attack was led by freshman Holden Morgan who ran for 97 yards and 1 TD. Defensively Highland played great against Front Range Christian. Highland forced 1 INT and forced 4 fumbles. Highland will need their defense to play great again this week against Peyton. #7 Peyton is 2-0 on the year and they have yet to give up a point but they have also played two teams that are 0-2 and might finish last in their respective league. Last week Peyton blanked Byers 49-0 but were held to only 6 points in the first half which is a big problem offensively. Peyton hurt themselves on offense throwing 2 INT’s and giving up a fumble but they did recover well and still ran for 423 yards on 38 carries for 11.1 yards per carry and 6 TD’s. Their rushing attack was led by Trevor Walker who ran for 108 yards and 1 TD. Peyton though did not throw the ball well only completing 1 pass to his team and 2 to the other team. Limiting turnovers will be a huge priority for Peyton this week. Peyton defensively played very good though. Posting their second shutout of the year and holding Byers to just 86 yards rushing and 69 yards passing. They also forced 2 INT’s, 2 sacks, and 1 fumble. Peyton will be tested much more this week by Highland but should still be victorious. I am going Peyton to win 28-7.
#8 Centauri host Pagosa Springs. Pagosa Springs opened against #8 Salida (2A) and fell just short losing 30 to 22. Pagosa Springs is much improved from previous years and they showed it nearly pulling off the upset in week 1. They did not post offensive stats from last week but I do have some defensive stats. Salida was able to do just about whatever they wanted passing for 270 yards on 18 of 22 attempts & 3 TD’s. Salida also ran for 195 yards and 1 TD. What Pagosa did do well was force 2 fumbles which kept them in this game. Pagosa Springs will be facing a more run oriented offense this week against Centauri and must bring their A game again defensively if they plan on puling the upset. #8 Centauri is flying high after two quality victories to open the season. In Zero week they upset Paonia 20-13 then last week got a revenge win from a year ago blasting Rye 40-0. They have not posted stats for the Rye game but offensively they broke out from their struggle in week 1 by scoring 40 points. We will see how far their offense has come against Pagosa Springs this week. I still have Centauri winning big here 35-7.
#9 Paonia plays Rye on a neutral field in Salida this week. We talked about Rye when they were blanked by Centauri last week. Rye is rebuilding after a few very good years in terms of talent. They will have a somewhat down year but I expect them to be back next year. Paonia had a bye last week and will be looking to fix their offensive problems. Centauri completely shut down Paonia passing attack holding them to 5 yards and 3 INT’s. Paonia though did the run the ball effectively. They ran for 220 yards, 150 yards from Jaden Miller and I expect a similar result again this week. Paonia defensively is still top notch and I expect a similar score from this game as Centauri last week. I have Paonia winning 42-0.
#10 Monte Vista travels to Ellicott. Ellicott is 1-1 on the season. They opened the year with a 34-16 win over Ignacio. Last week they faced Wray and fell 41 to 12. Ellicott was able to keep pace with Wray through 2 quarters before Wray pulled away. Ellicott has not posted offensive stats this year. I do know off of Wray’s stats that Wray ran wild. Wray ran for 490 yards so Ellicott must improve their run defense as they are once again facing a run heavy offense. #10 Monte Vista was very impressive in their week 1 win over Cedaredge 31-8. Monte Vista struggled in the first half with turnovers but in the second half cranked things up on defense and put the game away. Offensively Monte Vista was much more effective this year. They only threw for 28 yards but ran for 259 yards and 3 TD’s. Their rushing attack was led by Jacob Chavez 167 yards and 3 TD’s. The most impressive part for Monte Vista was their defense though. They held Cedaredge to 98 yards passing and 67 yards rushing. They were very good at attacking the QB forcing 5 sacks and they forced 4 fumbles in the game as well. Monte Vista will look to run the ball effectively again this week and contain Ellicott spread offense. I am going with Monte Vista to win big here 42-14.
Non-Top Ten Key Games
Aspen (2A) at Cedaredge St. Mary’s at Burlington
John Mall at Trinidad Yuma at Cornerstone Christian
Wiggins at Platte Canyon
MileHigh Prep Report 