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Moffat County football team reaches semi-finals during Wyoming football camp

Ben Bulkeley
Sophomore Garrett Stewart, back, spots junior Dario Georgiou Tuesday at the Moffat County High School weight room. Stewart and Georgiou are both part of the MCHS football team, which works out every week at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Joshua Gordon

Some football teams rely on bone-crushing defense.

Others get by with offensive fireworks.

For the 2010 Moffat County High School team, head coach Kip Hafey sees its strengths lying somewhere else.



“The work ethic of these kids is unbelievable,” he said.

At the June 11 and 12 football camp at the University of Wyoming, the MCHS varsity team advanced to the semi-finals, before being knocked out by Sheridan, Wyo.



Hafey said the team flashed a big strength during the two-day camp.

“They never complained once,” he said. “They must have been sore and tired, but they kept working their

tails off.”

The extra work will be needed after losing 13 seniors to graduation.

But, the upcoming group has a chance to be special, Hafey said.

“We lost a great senior class,” he said. “But, we have a good group of underclassmen.

“It’s encouraging to see that a number of sophomores should compete for starting spots. They will push one another.”

A total of 57 players attended the two-day camp.

There were 16 teams at the camp, including Mountain View, Sheridan and Berthoud.

The teams played one another during the camp.

The style of play was tweaked, Hafey said, so that one team would automatically start at the 40-yard line and try to score as many times as possible within 10 minutes.

The team that scored the most in the 20-minute game won, Hafey said.

“The JV had a really good showing,” he said. “They actually won the tournament.”

By the time the camp was completed, the Bulldogs had started to gel, Hafey said.

“I think the kids had a lot of fun and they started to get better,” he said.

The first mandatory practice will be Aug. 16, but the team won’t have much time to waste.

MCHS’ first game of the season is scheduled for Aug. 27 in Moffat County against Evergreen High School.

“This is the first time in our schedule that we have a zero week game,” Hafey said. “We will be playing a game when we would normally be playing a scrimmage.”

The team will continue to work out during the summer, which highlights the importance of packing in as much practice time as possible.

“We have a lot of work to fit in during our first week,” he said. “We’ll only have nine days of practice and one day for pre-game preparation.”

After playing Evergreen, Moffat County will play Aspen, which was one of Class 2A’s top teams in 2009, then Thomas Jefferson, which is a Class 4A team.

The freshmen team will be absorbed into the junior varsity team this fall.

Hafey said that other school districts have decided to combine teams to cut down on travel expenses, so MCHS will also field just one team.

“They will have a full 10-game schedule,” Hafey said.


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