Class 2A state semifinal preview

Road teams had plenty of success in the first round of the Class 2A state playoffs last week. Out of the four teams that won to advance to the semifinal round, three got their wins on the road. With the major shakeups, the field is wide open. Here is a look at this weekend’s semifinal games in the bracket. <h3><strong>No. 5 Eaton vs. No. 1 Resurrection Christian, Nov. 28, 1 p.m.</strong></h3> The top seed Resurrection Christian Cougars looked the part in its first-round game with Moffat County. A balanced offensive attack saw the Cougars finish with 281 passing yards, 177 rushing yards and five total touchdowns in a 40-14 win. Quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="22707" first="Will" last="Schrotenboer"]</strong> was the focal point of the offense and had his best game of the season under center. He finished with a season-high in completions (18), pass attempts (30) and yards (281) while tying a season-high with four touchdown passes. The big-play receiver in the offense was the speedster <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="58955" first="Eddie" last="Lemos"]</strong>. He caught a touchdown pass and also had a 57-yard rushing touchdown, giving him nine total touchdowns this season. Lemos is also having a big season in the secondary with six interceptions. Perhaps the player that will get the most attention for Resurrection Christian is linebacker <strong>Tanner Applebee</strong>. The 6-foot, 200-pound linebacker has been one of the top sack masters in his high school career with 57.5 total sacks and needs just one more sack to break the all-time state record set by Brandon Desanti of Merino, according to CHSAANow.com and stats for Applebee on Maxpreps. He did not have a sack last week versus Moffat County but still made his presence felt with an interception in the win. Applebee is also the team’s leading rusher with 292 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Resurrection Christian will have to go on the road as the No. 1 seed thanks to the Eaton Reds pulling off a big road win at Pagosa Springs in their first-round game. The Reds dominated in all three phases of the game and pulled away with a 41-7 win, forcing a running clock with a lead of at least 40 points before the fourth quarter. A big reason for that was the run game being so explosive and going for 272 yards and four touchdowns, led by <strong>Ethan Florez</strong> with 121 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 17 attempts. Eaton relies heavily on its run game with Florez, quarterback <strong>Scott Grable</strong> (484 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns) and <strong>Salvador Rojas</strong> (434 rushing yards and seven touchdowns) giving them a trio of top rushers to carry the workload. They have been able to run well behind a big, physical offensive line unit led by the likes of Tanner True and Cameron Shaw up front. The offense was able to get the run game going, but the defense also got back on track in the playoffs and held Pagosa Springs to seven points. A big reason for that were the three fumbles forced by True,<strong> Ryan Dirksen</strong> and <strong>Juan Maravilla</strong> in the win. This season, the Reds have been able to force 15 turnovers, led by defensive back Gage Butler with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. <h3><strong>No. 6 Delta vs. No. 7 Lamar, Nov. 28, 1 p.m.</strong></h3> Both these teams managed to go on the road and beat a pair of teams from the Patriot League to advance. Lamar picked up a win in Sterling 14-6, knocking off the defending state champs and handing them their only loss of the season. Delta, who played Sterling for the state title last year, went to Kersey and defeated Platte Valley 38-6. Now they both will collide at Delta High School with a spot in the state championship game on the line. Delta has had one of the best small-school quarterbacks in Colorado in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="22585" first="Nolan" last="Bynum"]</strong> to lead them, but they have been playing <strong>Nathan Scharnhorst</strong> as the starting quarterback in the last couple of weeks after Bynum suffered a knee injury, according to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel. Scharnhort went 6-for-10 for 144 yards and a touchdown in the win over Platte Valley last week, but look for Delta to continue relying on the ground game like it did last week with 37 rushing attempts. <strong>Timothy Horn</strong> has had the bulk of the carries, but they have seen success from him, Scharnhorst and<strong> Colton Johnson</strong> running the ball at certain points of the season. The defense was solid last week for Delta and bounced back from a tough regular-season finale with Moffat County behind a handful of stars coming up big. Johnson was the top man with 12 tackles (eight solo). <strong>Hunter Goff</strong> also had 12 tackles and is a rangy linebacker that can cover the entire field. <strong>James Goff</strong>, who leads the team with 68 total tackles, had eight tackles and an interception against Platte Valley. The three of them are part of a deep and talented linebacker core that is good against the run and the pass, and they will look to continue their recent success on that side of the ball. Lamar was one of the top teams in Class 2A for most of the season and put it all together in its upset win over Sterling, making them the lowest seed to advance to the semifinal round in all of the playoff brackets in Colorado. It was their team speed on defense that gave Sterling plenty of fits and held them to a season-low six points. The front seven saw linebackers <strong>Devyn Kincade</strong> and <strong>Javier Gonzalez</strong> each record a sack, and they also got one from defensive end <strong>Alex Castaneda</strong>. Kincade is the high man with seven sacks, but Lamar has 11 players who have a number in the sack stat category this season. On the back end is a ball-hawking defensive back in <strong>Damian Antonio Ramos</strong> with five interceptions and 24 tackles. These players make Lamar a disruptive team in the passing game, but they also fly to the football and can contain run games in the process. Speaking of the run game, Lamar ran the ball 47 times and only threw one pass in its win over Sterling. Running back <strong>Jesus Reyes</strong> and quarterback <strong>Zane Larkin</strong> keep things rolling on the ground in the spread offense and can form a dangerous combo in the option game. Should they decide to throw it more this week, Larkin has shown some good arm skills and has 1,178 passing yards and 13 touchdowns with a 50 percent completion rate. Expect both Reyes and Larkin to be the focal point of the offense again this week. Because both teams played on the road last week, Delta will be the home team as they are the higher seed in the playoff bracket.