EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL PREVIEW – OPENING ROUND
BY: KERRY SHERMAN
It’s postseason time in eight-man, with the 16 qualifiers being paired up for eight opening round games this weekend. The defending champs from Dove Creek are in the field, but it’s a different Mountain division team that occupies the #1 overall seed. Mancos, the state runner-up in 2021, looks to get back to the title game and win a second consecutive championship for the division. The Bluejays will have to get through a tough field, all looking to knock them out. All games are listed in bracket order.
#16 FOWLER GRIZZLIES (5-4) AT #1 MANCOS BLUEJAYS (8-1) FRIDAY 6PM
How did they get here?… Fowler finished the regular season sitting 17th in the Selection and Seeding Index, but bumped #16 Holly by winning the championship of the Six County conference. Mancos won the Mountain division and is one of three teams from that league in the bracket.
Gage Gottbehuet leads the Grizzlies with more than 1200 yards through the air and has added seven rushing touchdowns to the 10 he has tossed. Half of those have gone to Cael True and three more have been caught by Brock True. Both have more than 30 catches on the year. Trever Ketner leads the running game with over 900 yards and 10 scores. Harrison Proctor paces the defense with 137 tackles, and Ketner has six interceptions.
Mancos is on the verge of having a pair of 1000-yard backs, with Kail Wayman (1006 yards, 25 TD) and Levi Martin (928 yards, 15 TD) powering the attack. Wayman has also thrown for 862 yards and 12 scores. Five Bluejays have more than 100 yards receiving, with Andrew Jaime’s 249 leading the team. Kaiden Wyatt tops the defense with 62 tackles, just ahead of a pack that includes Chris Medina (58), Martin (52), and Wayman (50). Jaime has been opportunistic, picking off five passes.
This will be the third time these two programs have met in the last five years. All have been in the play-offs. Fowler won 34-28 in 2019, and Mancos took a 59-12 victory in 2021.
#9 SEDGWICK COUNTY COUGARS (5-4) AT #8 WEST GRAND MUSTANGS (8-1) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… The depth of the Plains carried Sedgwick County to the postseason, after the Cougars finished fourth in the league. West Grand was upset by Plateau Valley last weekend, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Mustangs from winning the Northwest division title. They finished with the same league mark as Vail Christian, but owned the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Saints.
The running game has once again been the focus of the Sedgwick County offense, with five backs gaining more than 100 yards. Brady Mollendor leads the group with 715 yards and six scores, while Jaxon Carlson has 598 and 10 touchdowns to go with 548 yards and eight TD through the air. Mollendor is one of the top threats in the passing game, catching 14 passes out of the backfield. Carlson (55) and Mollendor (52) are atop the tackles list for the Cougars, along with TJ Lechman (52) and Owen Harris (50). Mollendor has four interceptions.
Blake Terryberry sparks a West Grand offense that is one of the more balanced units in the classification. The sophomore QB has thrown for 1679 yards and 27 TD, while also running for 532 and 11 TD. Evan Crandall leads with 782 yards and eight scores. The duo of Joe Probst (36/805/13) and Jackson Steinle (29/709/12) haul in most of the passes from Terryberry. Steinle (90) and Crandall (83) are the runaway tackling leaders for the Mustangs, who have five fumble recoveries from Lawson Landrus.
This will be the first meeting between these two programs since Sedgwick County beat the Mustangs in 2017 for the state title. The Cougars also won back in 2010.
#13 AKRON RAMS (6-3) AT #4 LYONS LIONS (9-0) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… Akron finished third in the Plains league, and is one of four teams from the league in the bracket. Lyons controlled the Central division, allowing 48 points in five league games. That division sent three teams to the postseason.
Akron had QB Ryan McCaffrey go down with an injury in late September, but went on to win three of its last four with Anderson Filla carrying an even larger share of the load than he had in the first half of the season. He’s the only player on the roster with more than 200 yards rushing, checking in at 1501 and 23 touchdowns. He’s also the leading receiver on the team, but Brandon Hellyer and Tucker Stahn have also been solid options. Filla’s 110 tackles lead the defense, with Wesley Couch (82) and Marek Charney (70) next. Brock Swedlund has three picks.
Lyons features a tough pairing of QB Miles Dumbauld (1089 yards passing) and Malik Sigg-Brown (1043 yards rushing). Dumbauld has thrown 15 TD and rushed for 14, while Sigg-Brown has scored 17 times as a runner. Cooper Ucker and Finn Oetting each have five receiving touchdowns. Camden Paznokas (101) and Keenan Young (80) are the top tacklers for the Lions, who have received nine combined interceptions from Oetting (5) and Dumbauld (4).
This will be the fifth time these two programs have hooked up in the postseason, with the first three happening in Class 1A. Lyons got a win in the 2020 play-offs.
#12 VAIL CHRISTIAN SAINTS (6-3) AT #5 DOVE CREEK BULLDOGS (7-2) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… The biggest win for Vail Christian was over McClave, but losses to three postseason qualifiers, as well as a second place finish in the Northwest was more than enough to get the Saints in the field. Dove Creek’s losses came to teams with a combined record of 18-2. One was against Mancos and the other was to Melrose, one of the top teams in New Mexico.
Vail Christian has not entered complete stats, but through five games had four players with between 203 and 359 yards on the ground. Will Neumann led that group. Also in there was QB Asher Morris, who had better than 700 yards passing at that stage.
Dove Creek’s running game is headlined by Gage Buffington, who is just 46 yards away from 1000 on the season. Taber DeJane, who is also one of the top receiving threats, is next with 716 yards, and QB Colten Fury has racked up 550, to go with close to 800 through the air. Those three have combined for 32 rushing TD. Nic Aragon has vaulted to the top of the leaderboard for the Bulldogs with 76 tackles, and the sophomore has 10 sacks in that total. Cody Alexander owns three interceptions.
Dove Creek picked up a regular season victory over the Saints in 2020, avenging a loss from the previous postseason.
#14 CALHAN BULLDOGS (6-2) AT #3 HAXTUN FIGHTIN’ BULLDOGS (8-1) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… Calhan only faced two teams that made the postseason, and lost both of those games, but did pick up wins against two others who just missed making the brackets. Together, those four games were enough to get the Bulldogs into the postseason. Haxtun was unbeaten heading into last week’s game with Merino that would decide the championship on the Plains division. The Fightin’ Bulldogs came up short, but the combination of the strength of the Plains and a last second win over Mancos was plenty good to earn them a home game.
Calhan does not have complete stats posted, but as has been the case for many years, the Bulldogs lean heavily on their running game. In just six games, Logan Jack was already over 1200 yards, and Noah Nelson had just short of 900 through eight games. Riley Cochran owns five takeaways, three on interceptions.
Ryland Wolff averages more than 112 yards a game through the air and just short of 100 on the ground for Haxtun. He’s had a hand in 35 touchdowns on that side of the ball, 19 passing and 16 rushing. Grant Statz helps keep the ball moving on the ground, with more than 750 yards, and Kailin Kelley has 400. Keegan Colglazier is the big play receiver, racking up 19 grabs for 546 yards and 10 TD. Kelley (99), Zach Statz (73), Colglazier (68), and G. Statz (67) are the top four tacklers. Wolff has collected five picks and Z. Statz has four fumble recoveries.
These two squads have not played in the MaxPreps era.
#11 SANFORD MUSTANGS (6-3) AT #6 BYERS BULLDOGS (8-1) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… Playing in a league with two of the top five seeds, plus having another game against #2 Simla in the non-league slate was enough for the Mustangs, even with losses in all three of those games. Byers had two wins over play-off teams and finished second to Lyons in the Central, getting the Bulldogs back into the postseason after just missing out last year.
Trason Gartrell has racked up more than 1400 total yards, including returns, and Cash Caldon has added over 800. The duo averages better than 280 yards a game, and when Lincoln Reynolds is added to the mix, that figures climbs to more than 370. Some of Gartrell’s total has come on his six interceptions. He also has two kick returns for scores, and Caldon has one.
Byers also has a talented trio on offense, with QB Chase Long (1233 passing, 20 TD), Kaleb Willoughby (1463 rushing, 23 TD), and AJ Engle (31/703/13) having combined for more than 3600 yards of offense. Engle has five interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Willoughby is the leading tackler with 73 stops, with Kaiden Powell (61) and Preston Lagasse (50) rounding out the top three.
While these two schools have met once at the state basketball tournament (2010), this is the first time their programs have hooked up on the grid iron in the MaxPreps era.
#10 MCCLAVE CARDINALS (7-2) AT #7 MERINO RAMS (5-4) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… McClave won the Ark Valley title, running through the league with a 5-0 mark. It was the second straight year the Cards had at least a share of that crown, but the first time they won it outright in a decade. Merino got key wins over Akron and Haxtun the final two weeks of the regular season to win the Plains championship, and those victories were likely the difference between hosting this weekend and having to travel as a double digit seed.
Gavin Tempel leads the Cardinals with more than 800 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground, while Ethan Bronniman has just under 900 yards through the air. He’s thrown 17 TD and only two interceptions. Ray Mungaray, Tuff Kelley, and Mason Barr all have at least 200 receiving yards, and 13 combined touchdowns. Will Pacino has a small lead in tackles with 60, one up on Barr and six ahead of Bronniman. Barr also has half a dozen interceptions on the year.
As is usually the case, Merino has not posted any stats and will not until after the season is over. The Rams have historically featured a strong running game and play complementary football, where they are tough to run on.
These two teams have played somewhat regularly as of late, including earlier this season. Bronniman ran for a first half touchdown and then tossed the game-winner to Mungaray in the fourth quarter, as the Cardinals won 16-8 at home. Merino had won the previous five meetings.
#15 FRONT RANGE CHRISTIAN FALCONS (6-3) AT #2 SIMLA CUBS (9-0) SATURDAY 1PM
How did they get here?… Three losses to play-off teams helped the strength of schedule for Front Range Christian, and the Falcons had a key win over Vail Christian to boost their cause. They finished third in the Central behind Lyons and Byers. In its bid to get back to the championship contest, Simla held seven of nine opponents to a single score or less, and outscored the rest of the Black Forest league 203-20.
The Front Range Christian offense runs through Jack Edwards, who in the six games entered, had thrown for 878 yards and rushed for 636. He had a hand in 25 touchdowns. Luke Jerome and Caedan Whatmore each had four receiving touchdowns. Whatmore and Edwards were combining for 19 tackles a game, just over 10 belonging to Whatmore. Edwards already had four interceptions at that point.
Simla has utilized an incredibly balanced attack on offense, with the Cubs running for only 100 more yards than they have gained through the air. Caston Cox is over 1500 yards as a passer, with 28 touchdowns against only one pick. He’s also the second-leading runner with 280 yards and six more scores. TJ Eurich leads in both of those categories, as he’s tallied 870 yards and 16 TD. Brent Bowker has brought in 31 receptions for 613 yards and 11 touchdowns, all of which lead the team. Bowker is also the top tackler with 76, right ahead of Eurich (69), Jared Hodgson (65), and Treven Kochera (58). Kochera is third in all of Colorado with 18 sacks, a figure that is tops in 8-man. The Cubs have registered 16 interceptions, five by Eurich, four by Cox, and three by Bowker.
This will be the first time these two programs have played in the MaxPreps era.
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