Leading up to Saturday’s Class 1A state championship game, Akron’s Brian Christensen, always the controlling coach, was leery of revealing too much about his team’s matchup with Limon.
“I want to keep this low-key,” he said.
Well, it’s a little late for that, Coach.
In a matchup full of odd twists of fate, historic accomplishment and dominance among small-school football, undefeated and two-time defending champion Limon will travel to Akron for a 1 p.m. game against the Rams.
The game pitting Eastern Plains rivals is another in a recent string of major 1A title games. Limon and Akron have dominated the classification this decade, combining for four of the five championships. Saturday’s game will be the eighth title appearance for the teams since 2000.
But there’s more.
The Badgers are riding a 38-game winning streak dating to 2003. Limon’s streak is tied for fifth-longest in state history with, of course, Akron. The Rams’ 38-game streak ended in the 2003 championship game against, you guessed it, Limon.
“It’s amazing all the history that goes into these games,” Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer said. “There are a whole bunch of factors going into the game, how the roles are reversed from three years ago, the fact that we’ve played each other a lot. And there’s a lot on the line. It really does breed a rivalry.”
Christensen, who was a freshman on Akron’s first state title team in 1985, and O’Dwyer, a two-way lineman who graduated from Limon with three football titles, know 1A football history. But do the players?
“Oh, yeah, they do,” Christensen said. “It’s a big game.”
And Limon’s historic dominance among Colorado football teams ranks it well ahead of other schools. The Badgers will be going for their 17th state championship, a state record. Fort Collins is next in line with 12. Akron has its own football history, playing as the Ramblers and Washington County Drylanders in previous decades.
“Our kids know their kids real well,” O’Dwyer said. “But I wouldn’t call it a friendly rivalry. When they strap it on, they want to win. We both want to win.”
Last season, Limon downed undefeated Wray in the title game, 42-2, to cap a dominating season. The Badgers have rolled since. Akron, which lost to Limon 25-6 earlier in the season after leading 6-0 at halftime, beat Wray in the seventh week and hasn’t scored fewer than 38 points in a game since.
“As a team, we’ve come together and gotten better each week,” Christensen said. “We have some speed in some areas and some size in some others. That is something unique about this team; someone new seems to contribute each week.”
Akron will continue with its single-wing offense, running any number of a collection of backs. Austin Woods, Dillon Davisson, Steven Hall and Tyler Pickens have combined for nearly 1,800 yards rushing.
Limon sports a more traditional attack, and will be led by Tyson Liggett, one of 1A’s best throwers with almost 1,400 yards passing. And Liggett and Ty Rohrbaugh have combined for more than 1,500 yards on the ground.
“With the offense that we have,” O’Dwyer said, “we are never out of a game. We can score at any point.
“But Akron runs the single-wing better than any team I’ve ever seen, and we won’t shut them down. We just have to give them a long field to play with, and hopefully our defense steps up before they get to the end zone.”
