In Colorado’s smallest 11-man high school football classification, five years can seem like a lifetime.
In 2000, the football team from Nucla, a town situated near nothing in particular, halfway between Durango and Grand Junction, stormed through the Class 1A playoffs before defeating Limon 20-7 in the championship game.
Nucla hasn’t won a playoff game since.
Limon, on the other hand, owns two consecutive titles and a 26-game win streak, and seemingly always qualifies for postseason play.
Such is life competing in small-school football, where the size of a student body and the corresponding number of football players never seem stable.
But in those smallest of small-school programs develops an us-against-the-world attitude that can lift a team over significant odds.
Nucla, which will be one of three San Juan Conference teams to drop to Class A 8-man next season, has one last, long shot among longshots to win an 11-man title.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us as a smaller school in a small town,” Nucla coach Kelly Arnold said. “We know it’s going to be a tough road. But when football season rolls around, when it’s in your blood, it stays there. And you know you can win. I certainly look at us being right there in the hunt.”
In 2004, Center, a school in the sparsely populated San Luis Valley, was coming off a 3-4 season and hadn’t made the playoffs since 1988, then the longest postseason drought in 1A. The Vikings were also-rans, and few expected them to reach .500.
But Center went on a tear in the Southern Peaks/West Central Conference and won the league’s first playoff seed. Then the Vikings beat a Goliath, posting a 28-7 victory over Akron, one of 1A’s best teams.
“Last year, beating Akron was huge for us,” Center coach Kevin Jones said. “Realistically, you can play your best and compete with those teams, but nine times out of 10, they’ll come out on top. But that’s why we coach; it’s for the chance to win that big game.”
Fortunes can turn quickly in 1A. Center is the most recent model for what a small school can accomplish.
“You can always use that as inspiration, because a team can always come out of nowhere,” Paonia coach Jeremy McCormick said. “It’s nice that you always have that chance. There’s always that chance going into the season.”
At Nucla, coaches and administrators have, in the past five years, watched the school’s enrollment steadily sink. The most recent figure, 120 students, put Nucla below the Class A 8-man/Class 1A cutoff. The football team topped out at 29 players, up from 20 last season.
Limon, on the other hand, has an enrollment near 200 and a roster that goes three-deep at many positions. The Badgers are the model for success in the classification.
“Everybody is going to try to play up to Limon,” Sargent coach Terry Vanbibber said. “What they did last year was phenomenal.”
Other than large numbers, Nucla seems to have plenty going its way this season. The Mustangs are coming off an 8-2 season and return eight starters. Quarterback Cole Zunich, who first saw action as a sophomore and started for the Mustangs last season, will lead the offense. Daniel Herron will get the bulk of the carries running behind fullback Brandon Morris. And the X factor for Nucla might be the addition of Tucker Lane, one of the state’s best wrestlers. Lane, who didn’t play football last season, will get playing time at running back, tight end and linebacker.
“We don’t have a lot of turnover with new students,” Arnold said. “So when we win, it’s us doing it with what this town has. We work with what we’ve been given and hope for the best.”
But the most difficult, and most crucial, step to becoming one of 1A’s elite teams is learning to be successful.
“Turning around the old mind-set and learning that winning is possible is the first step,” Peyton coach Shane Kelley said. “Then anything is possible.”
At least three teams – Nucla, Norwood and Dolores, all of the San Juan – will play 8-man ball next season. But none is ready to concede this 11-man season.
Nucla is one of three teams to win a 1A championship this decade, along with Limon and Akron. That’s something the Mustangs will draw on during their attempt to win a state title this season.
“If teams haven’t finally gotten over that hump and tasted that success,” Arnold said, “it’s hard for them to understand. Successful teams expect to win and it makes it much easier to know that it’s not something that comes along every day.”
Nick Groke can be reached at 303-820-1960 or ngroke@denverpost.com.
