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Craig Middle School football splits with Steamboat

Bulldog 7th-graders take double OT victory; 8th-graders slammed by Sailors

Andy Bockelman
Craig Middle School's Ryan Peck seeks a receiver Tuesday during the seventh-grade football team's game against Steamboat Springs at the Bulldog Proving Grounds. CMS won, 6-0, in double overtime for the first win of the season, while eighth-graders took a 44-0 loss to the Sailors.
Andy Bockelman

Craig Middle School’sCraig Middle School’s eighth-graders will be marking their calendars for Oct. 1, setting their sights ahead with one thing in mind: revenge. eighth-graders will be marking their calendars for Oct. 1, setting their sights ahead with one thing in mind: revenge.

Craig Middle School’s eighth-graders will be marking their calendars for Oct. 1, setting their sights ahead with one thing in mind: revenge.

CMS football teams hosted rival Steamboat Springs Tuesday night as part of the school’s fall sports night, honoring athletes on the gridiron, as well as those in volleyball, cheer and cross country.

The turf of Moffat County High School’s Bulldog Proving Grounds that had seen CMS teams fall to Eagle Valley earlier in the month held a different story for the opening seventh-grade game as Bulldogs and Sailors each made their way downfield repeatedly only to each be shut down by defense in the red zone.



Again and again, Steamboat had the ball practically on the goal line, and each time the Bulldog line turned into a wall on fourth down, though Craig was having little luck finishing on the other side of the ball.

The stands were as noisy as any high school game as the scoreless game went into overtime and then double overtime as teams were each given a set of downs to light up the board from 10 yards. Dylan Zimmerman found running room to nearly take the victory alone, about a half-yard from six points. Ryan Peck claimed the TD on a quarterback sneak that followed.



With the game theirs to lose, the Bulldogs knuckled down and successfully prevented a Sailor score on their attempt to win it, 6-0.

“Our defense was phenomenal the whole game, super-proud of them,” Zimmerman said.

Coach Ben Egger echoed the thought.

“Defense is what won us this game, really proud,” he said.

With the first win of the season in the books for seventh-graders, the older set of CMS players took the field in the hopes of repeating the good fortune.

The result was a 44-0 bombardment by a no-nonsense Sailor squad that scored on every possession, forced multiple turnovers and contained every chance the Craig eighth-graders had to catch up to them.

The night of misreads, blocking struggles and easily broken tackles was a far cry from the weekend before, said coach Tony Maneotis.

CMS traveled to Meeker last Saturday, and though both groups lost — seventh-grade, 12-0, and eighth-grade, 20-0 — their intensity was much better against the Cowboys.

“They played really good ball down in Meeker, just a couple mistakes that cost us the game there,” Maneotis said.

Besides the double-sized shutout Tuesday, the defeat stung twice as badly simply because it was Steamboat.

“It’s kind of hard to be on our home field like this and have them come in and knock our heads off,” Maneotis said.

Bulldogs will face the Sailors Oct. 1 on the road, and the coaching crew intends to have them ready.

“This is our big rival right here, and we wanted to have some of the varsity guys come and pump ‘em up, ready to play some ball, and now we’ll be able to get them ready to get even on Steamboat’s field,” Maneotis said. “We’ll get ‘em.”

Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @CDP_Sports.Contact Andy Bockelman at 970-875-1793 or abockelman@CraigDailyPress.com or follow him on Twitter @CDP_Sports.


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