The top seeds in Class 1A spent Saturday afternoon flexing their muscles throughout the state semifinals.
No. 1 Limon, the defending champion in the classification, and No. 2 Centauri defeated No. 5 Wray and No. 3 Buena Vista by a combined score of 84-14 on their way to securing berths into the state championship game starting at at 1 p.m. next Saturday at CSU-Pueblo’s Thunderbowl.
(1) Limon 42, (5) Wray 8
Three-time defending Class 1A champion and No. 1 overall seed Limon traveled to league rival Wray for a semifinal state playoff football game on Saturday.
Much like one could expect from a team chasing its fourth straight title and steamrolling its way through the 2021 postseason along the way, the unbeaten Badgers (12-0) took care of busines to the tune of a 42-8 victory.
“I thought our young men came out hard and played physical against a very good team,” Limon head coach Mike O’Dwyer said. “Jeremiah Leaper ran for 125 yards, as did Gabe Schubarth. We didn’t throw the ball a lot, but we were effective going three for three, two of those for touchdowns, one to Stephen Murray and the other one to Kailer Schmidt.”
Saturday’s game was also a matchup of two extremely familiar teams.
Limon won the regular-season matchup between the two teams, 41-0, and the teams have met the last two years in the playoffs. Limon defeated Wray last year in the semifinals, 24-14, and in 2019, they downed the Eagles, 41-14, in the quarterfinals.
Limon leads the head-to-head series 13-3 dating back to 1939. The Badgers are on a 22-game win streak dating back to Nov. 9, 2019.
In the teams’ latest meeting, Limon scored first on a 48-yard run by Jeremiah Leaper. The Badgers scored on a 40-yard pass from Trey Hines to Murray, Schubarth scored on a 17-yard run, and the defending champs led 20-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the Badgers scored again on a 14-yard pass from Hines to Schmidt to take a 28-0 lead into the third quarter. After Hines returned a fumble 82 yards for a touchdown. Casey Midcap got Wray on the scoreboard by throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Bryant Schenthal Schubarth scored on a 9-yard run to make the final 42-8.
The Badgers now face Centauri and go for their fourth straight title.
(2) Centauri 42, (3) Buena Vista 6
Both No. 2 Centauri and No. 3 Buena Vista entered the Class 1A state semifinals with matching umblemished records, but it was Centauri’s clean sheet that survived the penultimate round of the postseason.
On Saturday afternoon, the Falcons shut out the Demons through three quarters on their way to a 42-6 victory that secured their spot in next week’s championship game. For a team that has been eliminated in the semifinals in each of the past three seasons, it was a relief to finally break through with a convincing win.
“Just for us coaches and our kids, you know, these seniors who have made it to every semifinals, it was nice to get over this little hump and give us a chance to go fight for that state championship,” Centauri head coach Kyle Forster told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show.
When the Falcons take the field at CSU-Pueblo Thunderbowl for the 1A title game, it will be their third time playing for a championship. If they win, it will be their program’s first football state title.
Centauri will be facing three-time defending champion Limon. The Falcons are the last team to have beaten the Badgers in the postseason before their dominant run began, eliminating them in the semifinals back in 2017.
“I know a lot of people thought it would be us two at this point and we’re just excited to be here so we can take our crack at them,” Forster said.