Don’t be at all surprised to see caravans aplenty this weekend on Colorado’s major interstate highways.

The biggest football games of the year have arrived for the state’s smallest classifications, and Pueblo is the destination for eight programs looking to add to their school’s legacies in the sport.

Fifty-eight state championships have been claimed over the years from the eight teams remaining, and all but one school can say they have stood atop the mountain in the past 20 years. Wellington, which last won in 1953, would tell you it should have joined that group last year.

But the Eagles, in Class 2A, are back and determined to not let their hopes of winning come down to one play. Wellington faces Elizabeth, which took a major step forward last week in ousting Eaton.

The Cardinals haven’t been in this position in a little while, but they aren’t the only ones. Buena Vista gets its first crack at a title in about a decade, facing Colorado’s winningest program, Limon, in the 1A title game on Saturday at CSU Pueblo.

In 8-man and 6-man, stalwarts Akron, Haxtun, Stratton and Idalia are ready to rock Friday, also at CSU Pueblo.

Some notes on each championship matchup before the team buses turn over their engines.

Class 2A

Elizabeth (10-2) vs. Wellington (12-0), Saturday, 5 p.m.
Elizabeth has won six straight and the Cardinals were pretty much in control of the second half against Eaton last week, holding the Reds to 259 yards. Griffin Widhalm’s 74-yard TD run was the highlight of a four-touchdown day for the senior QB, and senior Calvin Moore logged a pair of sacks. The Cardinals will have to be very, very good to beat Wellington, which throttled TCA last week in a rematch of the 2024 title game. The Eagles have not allowed 200 yards to any opponent in three playoff games. Meanwhile, Tanner Gray continues to assault defenses on the ground and through the air. Elizabeth has one championship, in 2010; Wellington won back-to-back 6-man titles in ’52 and ’53.

Class 1A

Limon (11-1) vs. Buena Vista (12-0), Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
Title No. 23 is right at the Badgers’ doorstep. LHS swooped past Wray last week, and there was no secret to its success: senior Jacob Jaklich has averaged well over 10 yards a carry in the postseason and ran his playoff touchdown total up to 10 with four against the Eagles. If there’s a team that knows Limon’s game, it’s Buena Vista, which beat the Badgers 13-10 earlier this year. The Demons were successful that week in holding LHS to 229 yards and just one offensive score. It’ll be tough to duplicate that feat, for sure, but the Demons have some flow on offense and have been more balanced week to week between the run and pass.

8-man

Akron (12-0) vs. Haxtun (11-1), Friday, 5 p.m.
The Rams used 304 rushing yards and just one pass attempt to beat Clear Creek in the first round of playoffs, and then have passed their way to back-to-back wins — Kolten Randel has eight TD tosses between the quarterfinals and semifinals. Randel had 309 passing yards against Haxtun on Oct. 10, but would it surprise anyone if the Rams were ground-and-pound again Friday? Meanwhile, for Haxtun, the Colin Cone-to-Chase Goddard combo worked wonders against McClave last week (the pair connected for three TD passes) and may need to be a factor in the rematch if the Bulldogs want to bounce the Rams. The play of senior Zach Statz can’t be overlooked, either, for HHS (1,361 rush yards, 19 TDs).

6-man

Stratton (11-2) vs. Idalia (13-0), Friday, 1:30 p.m.
From 1998-2010, Idalia appeared in 11 title games, but the Wolves are back at this point for the first time since. Stratton has been the juggernaut the past decade and has dominated the series with Idalia on the whole, but this 2025 championship pits the two in this all-the-marbles round for the first time. The Eagles had to rally to beat Cheyenne Wells last week, getting revenge on the Tigers who beat them in the 2024 title tilt; revenge will be on the minds of SHS players once again as it was Idalia that put up an 80-spot on them Sept. 26. Gabe Kechter rushed for 300 yards that day for Idalia, and he’ll be coming off a pretty dominant game last week (152 yards, three scores).