Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Top seeds to meet for state six-man football championship
Meeteetse junior running back Dalton Abarr takes off on a run during the Longhorns semifinal win at home in Class 1A 6-man football competition. Meeteetse plays Kaycee for the state title in Laramie this morning at 10 a.m. in War Memorial Stadium.
LARAMIE – Kaycee runs the ball with reckless abandon.
Meeteetse relies on a balanced offense, using whatever strategy suits it best.
Two of the more successful Class 1A six-man football teams in recent years clash for the third straight year – this time in the state championship game. Kickoff is set for 10 a.m. today at War Memorial Stadium.
The quests by the Meeteetse Longhorns and Kaycee Buckaroos for the title will be played out on the big stage after they met in the quarterfinals the past two seasons. They represent the top seeds from their respective conferences in the playoffs.
Both have good ideas of what their opponents will bring to gridiron.
Kaycee (9-1) will try to run rampant with a committee of bruising running backs. Meeteetse (10-0) not only spreads the field sideline to sideline but also vertically to try to keep defenders guessing.
The team that counters with the best adjustments on defense could determine the outcome.
"(Meeteetse) runs mostly a spread offense," Kaycee coach Lee Kramers said. "They will send receivers way down the field and have the quarterback either run or throw the ball.
"If we make one mistake, all our help could be 30-40 yards down the field in pass coverage. We will have to be really disciplined, keep our heads on a swivel with the quarterback for run or pass before we commit to going hard after him – smart defense."
Meeteetse quarterback Dalton Abarr is the elusive catalyst. He has rushed 58 times for 876 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing 69 of 102 passes for 1,290 yards and 28 scores.
His main weapon is receiver Carter Johnson, who has 33 catches for 805 yards and 16 touchdowns. Johnson also has carried the ball 36 times for 648 yards and another 16 touchdowns.
"We have a pretty good group of kids, but not a star like we had a couple of years ago," Meeteetse coach Matt Jensen said. "If you try to take away one player, another player steps up. We play well as a team."
That star, Seth Bennett, set a state championship game record with nine total touchdowns and 56 team points during the Longhorn' 65-30 win against Midwest for the 2013 title.
He ran for 304 yards and passed for 103.
Kaycee's Buckaroos counter with a host of backs who rumbled for a 1A best 391.7 yards per game on the ground.
They are led by Taylor Rouse's 850 yards and 14 touchdowns on 58 carries; Hayden Fauber's 600 yards and eight touchdowns on 52 attempts; and Danny Ramirez's 544 yards and eight scores on 42 rushes.
Kaycee attempted only 31 passes this season, but it was efficient with quarterback Hunter Rouse completing 25 of 29 for 336 yards and four touchdowns.
"Our kids understand Kaycee is a team that has players who are big, strong and fast," Jensen said. "We are focused on trying to stop what they do best, and that is running the ball."
Meeteetse also won a title in 1993 when it played nine-man football.
Kaycee started its program in 2006 and first played a varsity schedule in 2009, making the playoffs each year.
The Longhorns defeated the Buckaroos in the quarterfinals the past two seasons, 45-20 last year and 65-14 during their title run in 2013.
"We've done a lot of things differently since we met them in the playoffs," Kaycee's Kramers said.
"We've revamped our offense, and our defense doesn't make very many mistakes. When we do, we are disciplined enough to absorb those mistakes and they don't go on to hurt us."
