YOUR AD HERE »

Soroco, Meeker fall to CMS basketball teams

Andy Bockelman
Craig Middle School eighth-grader Ben Robinson drives down court during the Bulldogs’ Nov. 8 game with Rawlins, Wyo. Over the weekend, the eighth-grade A-team defeated Soroco, 47-18, and Meeker, 46-18.
Andy Bockelman





Craig Middle School eighth-grader Ben Robinson drives down court during the Bulldogs’ Nov. 8 game with Rawlins, Wyo. Over the weekend, the eighth-grade A-team defeated Soroco, 47-18, and Meeker, 46-18.
Andy Bockelman

A successful set of games over the course of a weekend has the boys of Craig Middle School’s basketball teams in a good mind frame. Nevertheless, their coaches have no intention of letting them rest on their laurels.

Friday and Saturday translated to pure victory for CMS’s seventh- and eighth-grade hoops teams in road games against Soroco and Meeker. Traveling to Oak Creek on Friday afternoon, the eighth-grade A-team was ready to take home a win against the Rams after a disappointing loss to Rawlins, Wyo.

By the end of the night, they were more than satisfied, beating Soroco, 47-18. Their appetite for winning wasn’t fully sated, as they went on to trump Meeker, 46-18, the next morning.



Coach Drew Morris said he saw a big difference in the Saturday game.

“I think we played a lot better Saturday,” he said. “We didn’t really come out as hard as we should have on Friday, but we made it work. They were two different teams though.”



Morris said the score was relatively even until halftime. Then, the Bulldogs jumped into action.

“They really broke it open in the second half,” he said. “They did some good shooting from the outside, and played really good defense that created a lot of buckets.”

The A-team’s record stands at 6-2. Eighth-grade B-team was unable to play in either game due to a diminished roster for both Soroco and Meeker.

While only seventh-grade’s A-team faced off against Soroco, winning 48-19, both played in Meeker, with B-team topping the Cowboys, 24-12, and the A-team winning, 40-6.

“I’d say it was pretty good. For the first time this year, A-team kept a team under 10 points,” Coach Justin Folley said. “Keenan (Hildebrandt) and Bronc (Hellander) both did great on the rebounds. I think combined, they had about 35 of them. B-team did extremely well making adjustments in the game. They left some holes, but they still got the job done.”

B-team’s record is now 4-1, while A-team remains undefeated, 8-0. The Bulldogs will have the chance to repeat their triumphs Thursday afternoon when Meeker travels to Craig.

“We’re hoping to run our offense a little better for Thursday, slowing things down, getting the movement, finding the holes,” Folley said. “If defense keeps playing the way they have, I won’t need to make any adjustments, they’ve been working hard.”

Morris has his own modifications in store during practice.

“My one goal is to run our fast break more effectively,” he said. “We don’t want to get stuck in a press. The kids from Meeker will be ready to play, so we can’t just go out there expecting to win.”

Click here to have the print version of the Craig Daily Press delivered to your home.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Craig and Moffat County make the Craig Press’ work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.