The Gunnison High School football team dropped its third straight game Friday, Sept. 18, when it hosted the Aspen Skiers.
The Cowboys lost the game 21-20 after failing to score in the second half, but head coach Chase Starman still felt that the boys played like a team. The team now sits at 2-3 and is ranked 26th in Class 2A.
“It was a damn good game,” said Starman. “It was probably the best showing that we've put out on the field yet this year when it comes to just playing Cowboy football and playing as a team. They played hard for the entire four quarters.”
The Cowboys struck first in the first quarter on a Jorge Perez 70-yard rushing touchdown, but missed the point-after attempt. Aspen answered Gunnison with a touchdown of its own, and after making the extra point, the score heading into the second quarter was 7-6.
Perez found the end zone again, this time from 3 yards out, and the Cowboys failed on their 2-point conversion, making it 12-7. Perez completed his hat trick later in the quarter to make it 18-7, and Nolan Witzel completed the 2-point play to make it 20-7 with under two minutes to go in the first half. The Skiers weren’t done, though: They scored a touchdown with under a minute left to make it 20-14 at halftime.
With about seven minutes to go in the third quarter, the Skiers blocked a Cowboy punt and scored just a few plays later to make it 21-20.
For the rest of the game, the two teams traded possessions with nothing coming of them. The Cowboys got their final chance with about a minute left, but turned the ball over on downs at the Aspen 40-yard line as time expired.
“What it really just came down to was, like, four plays where if we would have got them in our favor, it could have been a different end result,” said Starman. “Props to Aspen for sticking it out and executing when they needed to, but a game like that is really hard. Sucks to lose a game like that, but losing a game like that with the effort and attitude and grit that they showed is something that I can, as a coach, personally hang my hat on.”
Asher Woytek completed 6 of his 18 pass attempts for 81 yards. He also ran the ball five times for 13 yards.
Perez finished the game with 134 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. He also caught one pass for 14 yards. Witzel finished with 62 yards on 14 carries.
The team’s leading receiver was Tytus Williams with four catches for 59 yards.
Jacob Frey led the team with eight total tackles, Deegan Bennett led the team with two tackles for a loss and Williams had an interception.
Next week, the Cowboys will host Montezuma-Cortez (1-4) for their homecoming game Friday, Sept. 25, with a chance to get back in the win column. The Panthers are ranked 34th in Class 2A.
“Fine-tuning and just cleaning up our brand of football, and no need to reinvent the wheel, no need to throw in a bunch of trick plays or blitzes or anything like that,” said Starman when asked about how to bounce back. “It's more about just going back to the basics and mastering our craft, so everything that we've been doing since August, it's about, hey, now let's just master it.”
Starman emphasized that it starts with a good week of practice, but the boys are ready to show out for the home crowd on Friday night.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here