Although the football playoff travel rule has been altered for six of the seven classifications, Class 1A still has a system in place that balances the travel burden of the teams.
As a result, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds on the brackets will have to hit the road as they try and advance to the state championship game. Limon heads to Colorado Springs Christian and Strasburg travels to Wray. The winners of these games will converge at the CSU-Pueblo ThunderBowl next week to battle for the 1A title.
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(1) Limon at (13) Colorado Springs Christian, Saturday 1 p.m.
Since edging out Wray on Oct. 8, Limon has looked unstoppable on the field. The Badgers have won each of their last five games by a minimum of 20 points and have scored at least 34 points in all but one of those games. So far in the playoffs, they’ve outscored their opponents 92-34. The two-headed monster running game of Logan Bottjer and Gabe Schubarth did their usual thing, running for a combined 221 yards and scoring six touchdowns between the two of them. The defense had trouble with Pirates running back Khegan Gunter as he rushed for 82 yards and two scores but Jordan Rockwell grabbed an interception and Ahren Schubarth recovered a fumble to give the unit big plays when it needed them.
CSCS is the big underdog of the 1A bracket. The Lions grabbed a thrilling win over Buena Vista in the first round and battled from behind to beat Yuma in the quarterfinals last week. Jace Velasquez had himself a day as he threw for 339 yards and three touchdowns against Yuma. He also ran for a score, making him accountable for all four touchdowns the team scored. The Lions have shown their ability to run and throw in these playoffs and if they can continue being productive on offense, the Cinderella story could continue into Pueblo.
(2) Strasburg at (6) Wray, Saturday 1 p.m.
Perhaps no 1A team has been more dominant this postseason than Strasburg. Sure Limon has looked really good, but Strasburg has scored 78 points in two games and allowed just seven, by far the fewest for any team still playing this weekend. Zach Marrero had a solid day on the ground, rushing for 263 yards and five touchdowns. Thomas Devlin helped supplement that attack, rushing for 100 yards of his own. As a team, Strasburg cleared 400 rushing yards in their quarterfinal win. Strasburg hasn’t been on the same field as Wray since the 2017 playoffs when it beat the Eagles 35-6.
Wray got itself a little bit of payback last week when it beat Wiggins 35-28. The Tigers won the regular season showdown but the Eagles have responded well since that loss. Samuel Meisner rushed for 89 yards on 20 carries and scored three touchdowns. The other two scores came on passes from Casey Midcap to Chris Arambula. When looking at both regular season results for these teams, part of what makes this matchup so intriguing is that Wray came the closest to knocking off Limon in the regular season. Getting this game at home could give the Eagles an prime opportunity to get into the state title game.
