Class 1A Football State Championship Preview

Class 1A Football State Championship Preview

By: Anthony Garcia

We are down to the final two teams in Class 1A. Both semifinal games were very competitive with both teams leaving it all out on the field. The game will be at Noon at CSU-Pueblo on Saturday. Good Luck both teams as they fight to win the State Championship.

#1 Limon (12-0) vs #6 Strasburg (10-2), Saturday at 12pm

Last Week: Limon eliminated #4 Meeker last week 28 to 7, in large part to the Badger defense allowing just one score in the game.  QB Jordan Rockwell stepped up big on the offensive side of the ball, passing for 96 yards and 2 TDs and rushing for another 296 yards and 2 TDs.  Keon Bandy (78 yards rushing) and Lance Beedy (61 yards receiving) were also big factors offensively for Limon.  Treyton Marx led the defense with 14 tackles, 4 TFL, 2 Sacks, and a forced fumble.  Keon Bandy also played well with 11 tackles, 1 fumble recovery, and a blocked field goal.  Strasburg moved into the State Championship with possibly one of the better games of the year defeating #7 Wray in OT 28 to 27.  Strasburg had a big stop on the two-point conversion in OT to grab the win.  Once again QB Landen Martin had a huge offensive performance with 217 yards passing, 54 yards rushing, and 3 total TDs.  Paul Smith was also a factor rushing for a TD while catching two passes for 88 yards and a receiving TD.  Damien Garcia also added a receiving TD in the game.  Defensively Strasburg had 6 players break double digit tackles in the game.  Aiden Anderson (12 tackles), Cameron Manahan (12 tackles), and DJ Cannon (12 tackles) were the leaders for the Strasburg defense.  Thomas Devlin and Paul Smith also forced interceptions on defense. 

Limon With another 25 yards QB Jordan Rockwell will eclipse his last season total of 1250 yards passing.  Rockwell is just 8 yards short of 3,000 yards passing for his career.  Rockwell is having a terrific season with 15 passing TDs to just 4 INTs and that is not including the 562 yards rushing and 6 rushing TDs.  Beedy (23/444/6), Bottjer (12/270/5), and Bandy (12/203/1) are the main targets in the passing attack.  The rushing attack is led by Lohgan Bottjer who has 164 carries and 1279 yards with 22 TDs.  Keon Bandy is the #2 rusher with 92 carries, 878 yards rushing, and 12 TDs.  Treyton Marx (101), Keon Bandy (100), Nathaniel Coonts (53) leads the Badgers in tackles on the season.  Rounding out the top five are Bottjer (47) and Jacob Jaklich (45).  Treyton Marx leads the Badgers in TFL with 28.5 and sacks with 7.5.  Limon has 10 INTS on the year with two being returned for touchdowns.  Rockwell (3) and Beedy (2) account for half of the INTs for the Badgers.

Strasburg Landen Martin is just 1 yard shy of 1400 yards on the season and last game eclipsed the 2500 mark for his career.  Also, if Martin can rush for 155 yards in the finals, he would eclipse the 1000 rushing mark on the season.  Martin is currently having his best season as a QB with 17 passing TDs to just 8 INTs.  Austin Velasco leads the WR core with 28 catches for 628 yards and 9 TDs, Paul Smith (11/219/3) and Julian Valencia (9/159/2) are the other targets in the passing game.  The rushing attack has been powered by Thomas Devlin who has 101 carries for 1062 yards and 17 rushing TDs.  Martin (845/18) and Smith (316/8) are the other weapons in the rushing attack.  No players currently have over 100 tackles for Strasburg, but they do have 5 players over 50 tackles and 13 over 20 tackles on the season.  DJ Cannon (96), Thomas Devlin (73), Austin Velasco (65), AL Dickens (62), and Paul Smith (59) are the five players with over 50 tackles on the season.  Austin Velasco leads the team in the pass rush category with 5.5 sacks while adding another 11 tackles for loss.  The Indians have 16 INTs on the year.  Paul Smith, Cameron Manahan, and Ayden Dodge account for 10 of those INTs.

These two teams have meet each other in the playoffs three times since 2016.  All three meetings have been in the state championship and this year will make it #4.  Limon is 3-0 against Strasburg in the State Championship defeating them in 2018 (13-7), 2019 (26-13), and 2020 (28-0).  These two teams also meet this season with Limon defeating Strasburg 49 to 21.  It was 21 to 7 at halftime with a 21-point third quarter being the difference maker.  These two teams also have 3 common opponents.  Limon went 3-0 defeating Wray (35-7), Holyoke (28-22), and Wiggins (42-21).  Strasburg went 2-1 defeating Wray (28-27) and Wiggins (27-22) and falling to Holyoke (33-7).  Limon is your defending State Champions.  They have reached the State Championship every season since 2018 and are 4-1 in the State Championship.  Strasburg since moving to Class 1A in 2016 has made the playoffs every season.  Strasburg also has a pair of state titles in 2016 & 2017.  These two teams have made up at least half of the State Championship since 2016.