You gonna bet against Granada coach Manuel Gonzales?
You’d be making a big mistake if you did.
Gonzales, the Bobcats’ head coach for 35 years, has seen just about everything there is to see, that is until last Saturday. Gonzales stood across the field from a coach that had been doing it longer than he had, Dove Creek’s Ken Soper.
“It was strange, we had never met, and he’s one of the oldest guys around,” said Gonzales, whose team dismantled Soper’s Bulldogs 35-0. “I felt pretty young.”
To keep their coach feeling young, the top-ranked and undefeated Bobcats will travel north to Haxtun, to take on another group of Fightin’ Bulldogs, this time with a trip to the title game and a chance at their first championship since 1988.
“This is one of the best teams I’ve had in a long time,” said Gonzales, who also coaches baseball and boys basketball and is also athletic director. “A lot of it though, goes back to our schedule (in the Arkansas Valley Division). Every week, it was a battle, we never took a week off.”
The onus will be on the Haxtun defense, which blanked rival Merino 16-0 last week, to shut down the potent Granada running game. Tyndan Marquez, Dustin Bohlander, Ryan Schultz and Tyson Thrall scored last week. For the season that foursome has rushed for more than 3,100 yards, 1,200 coming from Schultz.
“We controlled both sides of the line of scrimmage, and I’m really happy with the ground game,” Gonzales said. “That and we really picked it up and played hard-core defense.”
That defense shut down one of 8-man’s most explosive players in Dove Creek’s Matt Stiasny last week, and will see a completely different running style from Haxtun’s feature back Garrick Biesemeier. Whereas Stiasny is a power back with speed, Biesemeier is a shiftier speed back who has teamed with backfield mate Gerry Brown for more than 2,000 yards this season.
“He’s a fine tailback, an elusive runner that really seems to follow his blocks well,” Gonzales said of Biesemeier. “Anytime you get down to the final four, it’s always going to be a tough game. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”
CLASS A 8-MAN | SEMIFINALS
GRANADA (11-0) at HAXTUN (8-2)
Both teams are coming of big quarterfinal shutouts: Granada over Dove Creek 35-0 and Haxtun beat rival Merino 16-0. These are two 8-man stalwarts, and it will be the sixth time the teams have met in the playoffs, the first since 2001. Granada has a 3-2 series edge, but Haxtun has twice downed the Bobcats (1990 and 2000) for the gold ball. The Bulldogs are trying to go to the title game for a third straight season, and will have to do so with the running of Garrick Biesemeier, Gerry Brown and quarterback Garet Groshans. Longtime Granada coach Manuel Gonzales is looking for his first football title since 1988.
NUCLA (9-2) at STRATTON (10-1)
Talk about dangling a carrot in front of your team. The winner of this tilt will host the title game. If Nucla gets it, the Mustangs will force a 400-plus mile trip out to the Western Slope and Montrose County for its opponent. Nucla’s Daniel Herron followed up his 407-yards performance against Wiley in the preliminaries with a 224-yard outburst against Sangre de Cristo last week, as the Mustangs avenged their regular-season loss to the Thunderbirds. Quarterback Brandon Galarza is a dual threat, having passed for 17 touchdowns and run for 10 more. Stratton has taken to the air behind quarterback Todd May, who passed for 306 yards and three touchdowns in the come-from-behind victory over Sedgwick County last week. Seth Isenbart and Wesley Williams are two of May’s favorite targets as well as running back Dave Brachtenbach. Expect plenty of points in the first playoff meeting between the schools.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-954-1354 or jyunt@denverpost.com.
