The Class 2A preview will be short by comparison to other weeks as there seems to be very little suspense entering the final weekend. Based on official ranking numbers released by CHSAA on Tuesday, the eight postseason bids are spoken for and there’s just one game on the schedule that may impact the seed order. PHOTO BY CINDY HALEY
That one contest is the annual Weld County rivalry game between Eaton and Platte Valley. Set for Friday night at 7:00pm in Eaton, the game is considered a toss-up at this point but the winner should land a top four seed and play at home in round one of the playoffs next week.
Platte Valley is #4 and Eaton #5 in the official rankings released by CHSAA. Both teams sit only a few percentage points back of Pagosa Springs so the winner could jump ahead of the Pirates and into the third spot. And the loser may not fall farther than fifth as both teams have a comfortable edge on Moffat County in the race for that position. Moffat County gets a forfeit win over Middle Park this week and Pagosa Springs is off. The Pirates were slated to play Manitou Springs and the Mustangs ended their season a few weeks ago.
The Reds and Broncos are both 4-1 on the season and each has a blip against Sterling on the resume. Eaton fell to the #2 Tigers 14-10 in week two and Platte Valley lost 31-21 the following Friday. The Broncos have won two straight; beating Fort Lupton 49-6 and Wray 48-38. Eaton has captured their last three; allowing just six points in beating Fort Lupton (55-0), Brush (28-0) and Severance (51-6).
Eaton overall has allowed just 26 points this season with 14 coming in the loss to Sterling. Ethan Florez (47), Morgan Tribbett (35), Juan Maravilla (30) and Tanner Ture (30) are the top four tacklers. The defense has recorded 28.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage including 10.5 from Tribbett. He’s picked 2.5 sacks; trailing Ryan Dirksen (3.0) for the team lead. Gage Butler, with four interceptions, heads up a secondary that has picked off seven passes overall.
On offense, the Reds get most of their offense on the ground; averaging 246 yards per game. Florez leads the way with 418 yards and eight touchdowns. Scott Grable is next with 344 and six scores and Salvador Rojas has also contributed 309 yards and four touchdowns. Grable has thrown for 448 yards and four scores with two going to Maravilla.
Platte Valley’s offense has created at least 21 points in every game this year including at least 34 in each of their four wins. They jumped to a 34-6 first half lead on Wray last week and then held on for a wild 48-38 decision. Kade McDaniel and Devyn Lauer were huge in the win. McDaniel finished with 315 yards and three touchdowns passing and 171 and one score on the ground. Lauer caught nine passes overall on the day. Six came on offense for 169 yards and three touchdowns. The other three were interceptions and he returned one of those for a score as well.
On the season, McDaniel has 1,590 yards of offense and 16 touchdowns in just five games. Weston Meyer (302) and Logan Curtis (200) have also contributed over 500 yards rushing and have combined for eight touchdowns. Lauer has the most catches (17) and six of the eight touchdown receptions but teammates have also picked up 29 catches and two scores.
Lauer has four interceptions overall and Ty Uyemura three. The Broncos, on the season, have forced a dozen turnovers.
Platte Valley has won the last seven regular season meetings between the two including a narrow 14-10 decision last season. That’s the only one of the seven decided by single digits. Eaton last won in the regular season in 2012 (49-30) but they also scored 9-6 win over the Broncos during the 2017 playoffs.
Resurrection Christian and Sterling have locked down the top two seeds and it appears the Cougars will sit atop the bracket with the Tigers at #2. Both are favored to win their regular season finales rather easily. Resurrection Christian meets Severance (3-2) on Saturday night and the Cougars’ defense will go for a sixth straight game of not allowing a point. Sterling also plays on Saturday as they host Alameda (0-4). A win will be the Tigers 20th straight against in-state opponents.
As mentioned, Pagosa Springs (5-0) will be idle this week but the Pirates should plan to host a playoff game next week. They should end up third or fourth in the bracket when it’s released on Sunday.
Moffat County (3-1), Delta (4-1) and Lamar (4-1) should make up the rest of the bracket. Moffat County, as mentioned, has already earned a forfeit win over Middle Park. The Bulldogs are coming off two important wins; beating Woodland Park (27-23) and Delta (26-20). Evan Frink ran for 142 yards and Caleb Frink 67 and both scored twice in the win.
Delta won’t play this week as their game with Elizabeth was cancelled by the Cardinals. The Panthers are the defending state runners-up and lost to Sterling in the title game last Fall. The way the seeds fall right now, they could visit the Tigers in round one next week.
Lamar goes to Alamosa and they hope a win may push them up the bracket ladder a bit more. Right now, they would head to Resurrection Christian for the state quarterfinals. The Savages barely broke a sweat last week; scoring 41 first quarter points in a 53-0 shutout of Trinidad. Zane Rankin threw for 226 yards and five touchdowns with two going to Blake Buxton. Luis DeLaTorre, Devyn Kincaide and Greyden Martinez also caught one.
Alamosa broke into the win column this year by beating Alameda 58-6 last week. Kasey Jones threw for 166 yards and two scores and Dante Gonzales added 181 yards and three TD’s on the ground.
University and Valley are 9th and 10th in the CHSAA official rankings and only have a chance to break into the bracket if Alamosa springs the upset of Lamar. And even that may not be enough as the Bulldogs trail Lamar by .114 in the standings and Valley is .144 back. University has picked up a game with Berthoud this Friday while Valley has yet to line up a contest after Brush dropped out due to COVID.
Below are the playoff standings as released by CHSAA on Tuesday. The standings combine the vote totals of Packard, MaxPreps, CHSAA and RPI into one set of rankings.
| CLASS 2A | RATING | RECORD | |
| 1 | Resurrection Christian | 0.968 | (5-0) |
| 2 | Sterling | 0.955 | (5-0) |
| 3 | Pagosa Springs | 0.834 | (5-0) |
| 4 | Platte Valley | 0.830 | (4-1) |
| 5 | Eaton | 0.811 | (4-1) |
| 6 | Moffat County | 0.720 | (3-1) |
| 7 | Delta | 0.703 | (4-1) |
| 8 | Lamar | 0.694 | (4-1) |
| 9 | University | 0.580 | (2-2) |
| 10 | Valley | 0.550 | (3-2) |
| 11 | Severance | 0.498 | (3-2) |
| 12 | La Junta | 0.494 | (2-3) |
| 13 | Woodland Park | 0.478 | (2-3) |
| 14 | D’Evelyn | 0.462 | (2-2) |
| 15 | Brush | 0.446 | (1-3) |
| 16 | Weld Central | 0.434 | (0-4) |
