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Bulldogs face stiff test

Bruce Tippets

After sitting out the first weekend of play the Moffat County High School boys varsity basketball team will take center stage with three games in three days at the Golden/Alameda Tournament.

The Bulldogs Class 4A regular season begins at 8 p.m. Thursday against the Golden Demons in Golden. On Friday night, MCHS will play at 6:30 p.m. when they face the Niwot Cougars at Alameda High School.

Saturday the Bulldogs will finish the tournament at 8 p.m. against the Alameda Pirates.



“It’s always tough when other teams play and you don’t get to,” said Bulldogs coach Blaine Corlett Monday. “That’s just the way it goes and we are dealing with it. We start tough with three games. We gave them some time this weekend. We practiced Friday morning and we didn’t practice Saturday or Sunday. We are hoping that we are real fresh for the practices that we are going to have this week.”

Golden is 1-0 after beating Pueblo Centennial.



“Golden graduated a majority of their kids,” said Corlett. “It’s in their gym and that will make a little bit of difference. They like to go up and down the floor. We should be right in step with them.”

Niwot is 1-1 after beating Arvada and losing to Thunderridge.

“They are guard-orientated,” said Corlett. “They have one of the top guards in the state. They will do a lot of one-on-one with their guards. They like to get up and down the floor this year.”

Corlett believes the first two games will dictate how MCHS plays in the third game.

“The first two games of the tournament will be the key to how we play on Saturday night,” said Corlett. “I think the first two we have a shot at beating those two teams.”

The Pirates are ranked No. 2 in the state in Class 4A.

“Alameda is tough in their own gym and the prime game of the night,” said Corlett. “It will take an effort to beat them.”

The Bulldogs will start with Jeff Gaylord, a junior, and Justin Magnuson, a senior, in the posts. The guards will be Adam Peer, a senior, Eric Duran, a senior, and Kevin Voorhees, a junior.

Coming off the bench for the Bulldogs will be sophomore Kyle Hazelwood, junior C.J. Rugh, junior Mark Turner, senior Matt Johnston, junior Chris Bergmann and junior Jared Burns.

“We like our chances with that crew,” said Corlett. “By playing three games in a row you are going to have to play a lot of kids. We are just hoping that some of the younger kids that don’t have a lot of experience step in.”

“We feel that if we play our game, everything else will fall into place,” said Peer. “It’s a little rough having three games in three days. Hopefully, the tournament will be a benefit for us down the line.”


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