EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL PREVIEW – SEMIFINALS
BY: KERRY SHERMAN
Three of the four teams in this weekend’s eight-man semifinal round reached this point a season ago. Only Lyons is new to the group, after the Lions bounced last year’s titlist, Dove Creek, last week. With a new champion guaranteed for a fourth consecutive year, the four remaining teams will be casting their lot as they try to play in next Friday’s championship contest. That will be held at the Neva and Eddie DeRose Thunderbowl on the campus of CSU-Pueblo at 6pm. Both semifinals will kickoff at 1pm on Saturday.
#4 LYONS LIONS (11-0) AT #1 MANCOS BLUEJAYS (10-1)
Last Week:… As mentioned in the intro, Lyons eliminated #5 Dove Creek last week, 62-22, in large part because of a 20-0 first quarter. Miles Dumbauld had a huge day through the air and on the ground, throwing for 163 yards and three scores, and running for 180 yards and three more touchdowns. Malik Sigg-Brown added 158 and two TD on the ground. Finn Oetting hauled in five passes for 90 yards and two scores, and he also had a passing TD. Oetting led the defense with 15 tackles and a pick, while Maregu Sullivan had an interception and a fumble recovery. Mancos pitched its fifth straight shutout, blanking #9 Sedgwick County (the last program to repeat as champion) 38-0. Scoreless after one, the Bluejays scored twice in the second to take total control, and they just continued to tack on the rest of the way. Kail Wayman (133) and Chris Medina (74) combined for more than 200 rushing yards, with each scoring once. Wayman added 115 yards and three touchdowns as a passer, hooking up for scores with Andrew Jaime, Kaiden Wyatt, and Brandon Vannest. Wayman also topped the defense with 14 tackles and two interceptions. Wyatt and Medina each added 13 tackles, while Jonah Ritter and Jacob Martin both had nine.
Lyons: With another 17 passing yards and 17 rushing, Dumbauld would have a 1500-1000 season. The senior has thrown for 22 TD and rushed for 19 more. Sigg-Brown leads the ground attack with 1289 yards and 21 scores. Oetting (18/391/9), Sullivan (17/378/4), Cooper Ucker (14/276/6), and Keenan Young (12/218/4) all provide the passing game big play potential. Henry Johnson helps pave the way for the running game, having racked up 21 pancake blocks to date. Camden Paznokas (125) and Young (106) give the Lions two triple-digit tacklers. Wyatt Fitzgerald (79), Oetting (73), and Dumbauld (62) round out the top five. The Lions have picked off 19 passes, returning eight for scores. Oetting and Dumbauld each have three pick-sixes, with 11 combined interceptions between them. Oetting has also scored three times on punt returns.
Mancos: With their current string of shutouts, and only 104 total points allowed, it’s the defense of the Bluejays that grabs the headlines. Wyatt (80), Medina (76), and Wayman (72) are separated by just eight tackles on the season. Levi Martin and Jaime have combined for 106 as the fourth and fifth leading tacklers, 57 of those belong to Martin. Jaime and Medina each own five of the unit’s 22 takeaways. All of Jaime’s have been on interceptions, while Medina possesses two picks and three fumble recoveries. Offensively, the Bluejays have a pair of runners already over 1000 yards on the season. Wayman leads at 1348 with 27 touchdowns, while L. Martin has 1003 with 16 TD. Wayman has also thrown for 1043 yards and 15 scores. Wyatt leads with 17 receptions and six touchdowns, while Jaime has added a team-high 365 yards on his 13 catches. He’s tied with Vannest for second on the team with four TD grabs.
Last Meeting: These two met in last year’s quarterfinals, with Mancos claiming a 32-18 victory. The teams were knotted at six after one quarter, before the Bluejays scored 18 unanswered points on the board in the second quarter to seize control. L. Martin ran for 152 yards and a TD, while Wayman reached paydirt twice for Mancos. Sigg-Brown registered 110 yards and a pair of rushing scores for the Lions. Dumbauld threw for 230 yards and a TD, but only connected on 15 of 39 attempts. Young led everyone in the game with 23 tackles.
Other Notes: Lyons is looking to make it to the finals for the 10th time in program history, but the first since 2006. A win gets the Lions to their first-ever eight-man championship game. Mancos was in the finals two seasons ago, finishing second to Haxtun. That was the first-ever trip to the finals in program history.
#3 HAXTUN FIGHTIN’ BULLDOGS (10-1) AT #2 SIMLA CUBS (11-0)
Last Week:… Haxtun gave up a first quarter touchdown to #6 Byers and trailed 8-6 until late in the third. The Fightin’ Bulldogs scored the last 20 points in the game after giving up that early TD to claim the 20-8 victory. Haxtun leaned heavily on its running game, piling up 334 yards on the day. Kailin Kelley led with 122 on a workmanlike 23 carries, while Zach Statz added 101 yards and a TD on just eight attempts. Prior to going out with an injury, Ryland Wolff had tallied 89 yards and a TD on the ground. Kaiden Schelling added a touchdown pass to Keegan Colglazier. Grant Statz had a team-high 14 tackles, while Kelley recorded 11 stops and a pick. Simla also had a fight on its hands, as the Cubs trailed #7 Merino early. But, just like this week’s opponent, they put together a strong comeback to pick up a 37-14 victory. Caston Cox was very efficient throwing the ball, completing 18 of 21 attempts for 183 yards and four scores. Brent Bowker was on the receiving end seven times for 122 yards and three of the touchdowns. TJ Eurich hauled in the other TD, to go with his 105 rushing yards. Eurich also provided the big blow on defense, returning an interception 82 yards for a score.
Haxtun: With Wolff’s availability up in the air early in the week, the Fightin’ Bulldogs could potentially have to replace their leading runner (982 yards, 18 TD) and top passer (1150 yards, 19 TD) this week. If that’s the case, they still have three very capable options in the ground game. G. Statz (794 yards, 11 TD), Kelley (552 yards, 6 TD), and Z. Statz (518 yards, 4 TD) are all over 500 yards on the season. Who takes the snaps could be a bigger concern. Colin Cone is the only player behind Wolff with more than four pass attempts. The sophomore has hit on 13 of 26 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. Colglazier and Mason Bornhoft will provide whomever gets the start a pair of top weapons to throw it to. Colglazier leads the way with 24 catches, 618 yards, and 11 touchdowns, while Bornhoft is second with 11 catches and 271 yards. Kelley paces the defense with 117 tackles, but the Fightin’ Bulldogs get a lot of defenders to the ball. Z. Statz (86), G. Statz (81), Colglazier (79), and Wolff (76) fill out the top five. The defense has scored five times on returns, four on pick-sixes.
Simla: Defense has been a calling card for the Cubs, who have posted five shutouts on the season and the 60 points they have allowed are the fewest in the classification. Bowker leads that unit with 103 tackles, while Eurich (88) and Treven Kochera (73) aren’t too far behind. Four others have at least 56 stops. Kochera (22) and Bowker (12.5) are the top two sackers in the eight-man ranks, and have given opposing passers a ton of headaches. The pick-six last week was the second this season for Eurich, and his fifth non-offensive TD of the year. It was also his classification-leading eighth pick of the year. He’s the leading rusher (1130 yards, 19 TD) and second-leading receiver (29/413/11) on the team. Bowker is the top target for Cox, hauling in 42 receptions for 830 yards and 14 TD, while Kochera has added 20 catches for 415 yards and five touchdowns. Cox is the leading passer in 8-man with 1927 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Last Meeting: You don’t have to go too far back to find the last meeting between these two teams, as they met in last year’s semifinals. Cox gave the Cubs a 27-12 lead late in the third on his lone TD pass of the game, but Kelley made it a one score game early in the fourth on his second rushing touchdown of the day. Simla would advance with the 27-20 victory. Haxtun rushed for 286 yards in that loss, 106 by Wolff. He had a 70-yard TD run in his tally. Eurich picked off two passes for the Simla defense.
Other Notes: Haxtun has reached the championship game 11 times in program history, including eight in 8-man. The Fightin’ Bulldogs won the crown in 2021, beating Mancos 40-0. Last year’s runner-up finish for Simla was the first time the program had made the finals in 27 years. A win on Saturday would put them in the finals for an 11th time, all in 8-man.
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