There may not be a more battle-tested team in the Class 1A football playoffs than Limon. Every team on the Badgers schedule is on a playoff bracket, including Florence who is the No. 3 seed in 2A.
And throughout the course of the season, Limon has seen little difficulty with its opponents. Only one game was decided by one score and that was a 13-8 win over Wray on Oct. 8.
The Badgers are the clear favorite to win the 1A title with playoff games beginning this week.
(Note: Colorado Preps will be live at the CSCS vs. Buena Vista game on Friday. Follow Dan Mohrmann for coverage of that game.)
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(16) Flatirons Academy at (1) Limon, Saturday 1 p.m.
The Badgers went undefeated in the regular season and outscored their opponents 323-99. Gabe Schubarth rushes for nearly 120 yards per game and has scored 13 touchdowns. The defense has also been outstanding and has forced 18 turnovers. Dontarius Arnold leads the way with four interceptions.
The Bison went 7-2 in the regular season and Devin Glowicki was a big reason why. In just six games, he rushed for 760 yards and Nolan Sheppard led the team in rushing touchdowns with 13.
(15) Burlington at (2) Strasburg, Friday 7 p.m.
Strasburg faced three playoff teams to start the year and went 2-1 in that stretch. The wins came against Wiggins and Holyoke which is a big reason why it is the No. 2 seed in the 1A tournament. Zach Marrero has put together a good season, rushing for 1,187 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Burlington faced 1A playoff team after 1A playoff team through the season and didn’t see a whole of success in the process. Garrett Richardson produced the most offense with 466 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
(14) North Fork at (3) Wiggins, Saturday 1 p.m.
Wiggins suffered three losses during the regular season and all were to highly-seeded teams in the 1A state tournament. The Tigers came away with some impressive wins in the process, including last week against Wray. In that win, Julio Flores rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown and will be a focal point of the team in its playoff run.
North Fork started the season 2-3 but rattled off three straight wins to make it into the playoff field. The Miners have rushed for 1,926 yards as a team with Hayden Moreno leading the way with 594 yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
(13) Colorado Springs Christian at (4) Buena Vista, Friday 6 p.m.
The Demons suffered losses to Gunnison and Limon during the regular season but otherwise played well enough to get the No. 4 seed for the postseason. Haden Camp has done a solid job of leading the offense with 795 passing yards adn 731 rushing yards to his name. He shares the team lead in rushing touchdowns with nine.
CSCS got tripped up against Monte Vista, Woodland Park and Rye during the regular season. The Lions beat Ellicott and Peyton with matching 53-8 scores to close out the regular season. Ashton Lofton has been a solid running back with 1,071 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns.
(12) Rye at (5) Yuma, Saturday, 1 p.m.
Yuma started the season incredibly hot and finished it on a big cold streak. It enters the postseason having lost three straight games, although all of them were to teams that made the postseason. Yuma’s production is reliant on a committee as four different players have rushed for at least 335 yards with Ethan Goeglein leading the way with 503.
Rye’s lone loss of the year was to a 2A team in Salida but the Thunderbolts have struck often and hard through the rest of its schedule. Dylan Hurne has been a tough back to slow down. He has rushed for 120 yards per game and has scored 13 touchdowns. Nolan Schauer has complimented the running game well by throwing for 1,137 yards and 12 touchdowns.
(11) Meeker at (6) Wray, Saturday 1 p.m.
Losses to Limon and Wiggins in the last month of the season definitely hurt Wray’s seeding in the state tournament, but the Eagles are still very capable of making a deep run. Samuel Miesner and Brady Collins have each rushed for over 500 yard and have combined to score 18 rushing touchdowns this season.
Meeker’s schedule included a non-league game against Limon and then league opponents in Buena Vista and Gunnison. Although they went 0-3 against those team, the Cowboys should be plenty battle-tested coming into the postseason. Clay Crawford and Connor Blunt share the team lead with 10 rushing touchdowns each.
(10) Gunnison at (7) Centauri, Saturday 1 p.m.
The defending state champions appear to be peaking at the right time. The Falcons were the first team to hand Monte Vista a loss and that was a big help in making the memory of their 1-2 start extremely distant. Austin Stockebrand rushed for 665 yards and 10 touchdowns in the regular season while Leighton Curtis added 596 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns of his own.
A win over Buena Vista on Sept. 17 put the Cowboys on the map and they nearly surged into the playoffs on a six-game winning streak. However, they dropped the regular season finale against North Fork. As a result, they’ll hit the road to face Centauri.
(9) Holyoke at (8) Monte Vista, Saturday 1 p.m.
Monte Vista likely would have been a much higher seed if not for a Week 10 loss to Centauri. The Pirates have played well in 2022 and Deangelo Archuleta has been a big reason, averaging 117 rushing yards per game. He and Khegan combined to score 30 rushing touchdowns.
A three-game losing streak didn’t derail Holyoke’s playoff hopes but the Dragons have their work cut out for them from the get go. Wyatt Sprague has the talent at quarterback to lead the team to an upset or two. Through just five games this year he threw for 1,118 yards and 14 touchdowns.
