Pagosa Springs junior Colton Lucero surged up to the top of the state’s rushing yardage leaderboard this past week.
And while there’s still time for him to build on his last performance, odds are there’s a bit of a hollow feeling about the accomplishment after his Pirates still came up short in a big game against Bayfield.
Looking to keep pace in the stacked Class 2A Intermountain League, Pagosa racked up 541 rushing yards against the Wolverines. Lucero had 400 of those — one of the top individual game performances of the entire season at any level — on 33 carries. He also scored three times.
However, the Wolverines were just enough bend-but-not-break, securing a 30-28 victory despite only having 262 yards of offense. Four different players scored touchdowns for Bayfield, and Ayden Casillas made one important field goal to provide the winning margin.
Both teams are now 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the league. For Lucero, he’s now gained 1,366 yards on the season — with one less game played than Columbine’s James Basinger (second in rushing with 1,279 yards) and Glenwood Springs’ Mason Markovich (third with 1,223).
Bringing the Wood
Woodland Park is now 6-0 having not won seven games in a single season since 2005. Coach Chad Drummond’s team is ranked No. 6 in the Colorado Preps 2A football poll and surely feeling like its best football is yet to come after rallying to beat Lamar in the final minutes of their game on Friday night.
The Panthers were down 20-17 late in the game when quarterback Joseph Schoenberger found Demetrius Gochis for a go-ahead touchdown — Gochis’ first TD catch of the season. The home Panthers sent their fans back to their cars happy, improving to 2-0 in the 2A South East League while also handing Lamar its first loss of the year.
Woodland Park was one of four teams to enter the 2A top 10 this week, joined by Eaton, Elizabeth and Wellington.
Parity in 6-man
With most teams seven games deep into their respective schedules, there are still 10 teams in 6-man with one or fewer losses, making the end of the regular season super important for playoff seeding. Stratton, the top team in the CHSAA Selection and Seeding Index, appears to have a pretty clear path to that top seed with games against No. 17 Prairie, No. 23 Walsh and No. 32 Hi-Plains remaining.
Others don’t have it so easy. Cheyenne Wells (No 2 in the Index) plays three top-12 teams, while No. 4 Idalia also plays two top-11 teams over the final weeks.
Top billing
Meeker at North Fork, Friday at 7 p.m.: Both teams are 4-2 and 2-0 in the 1A Western Slope League, and last year’s game was decided by a single point. This one won’t be short on the intensity scale.
Byers at Elbert, Saturday at 1 p.m.: A 8-man battle of Bulldogs, Byers is No. 6 in the Index, Elbert No. 10. Elbert has won three straight games as it eyes the Black Forest League title, scoring at least 56 points each time out. Byers’ Kaleb Willoughby had 38 carries for 266 yards and three TD’s in a win last week against Simla.
Cheyenne Wells at Granada, Friday at 7 p.m.: The Tigers can win the league with a road win against the Bobcats. As mentioned above, CWHS is No 2 in the Index; Granada, meanwhile, is No. 5. Granada surely remembers having beaten the Tigers in the regular season last year (58-24) only to have the Tigers oust them from the playoffs in November by a 46-14 count.
