The Pueblo County Hornets left their stinger in the backside of at least two Class 3A football powerhouses this season, walking away with one win, one loss and two times the respect.
The Hornets ended a 15-game winning streak for defending state champion Florence with two fourth-quarter goal-line stands, and lost to top-ranked and top-seeded Alamosa by going for a two-point conversion and the win in the fourth quarter.
Now, in the state quarterfinals, Steamboat Springs rolls into Pueblo with a bruising tailback and an impressive playoff résumé to give County yet another huge challenge.
The Hornets are not scared. A hard-edged attitude and physical tenacity has meant the difference between last season’s 1-9 record and this season’s role as the team nobody wants to play.
“When I heard what they’d done this year I thought, ‘What is it about this team?”‘ Steamboat Springs coach Aaron Finch said. “When I watched them on film it was, ‘Wow. I see.’ They are incredibly physical.”
The Hornets aren’t one of those feel-good stories about a school making its first postseason appearance in a decade or more. Fort Lupton, Frederick and still-standing Summit took care of that end. No, Pueblo County (9-2) has reached the postseason in five of the seven seasons since coach Jeff Wilson took over a program that went 0-10 the year before his arrival. The Hornets reached the semifinals in 2002.
Last season, however …
“We were not very good last year. As a matter of fact, we were terrible,” Wilson said.
That has all changed. Somehow.
Ten starters from both sides returned from a team that was more bumblebee than hornet. But the attitude changed over the summer, and the old Pueblo County was back. The guys hit the weight room, had a year to grow up, stumbled in the season opener against rival Pueblo West and then started pounding teams.
The turning point came in the fourth quarter against Florence, midway through the season, on the road and under the lights.
Trailing 7-6, Florence had first-and- goal opportunities on their final two drives and were stood up by Pueblo County both times. The second and deciding stand ended with a Florence field-goal attempt that went wide left with eight seconds remaining. Wilson was a Zen master on the sideline.
“It’s hard to explain, but I had this calm about me,” said Wilson, a 1981 graduate of Pueblo County and former all-league defensive back. “I understood by the way the kids were acting out there that we had (Florence), that the kids knew that they had them. They didn’t say that, but that was the look in their eyes. That moment turned us. That’s when they realized all their hard work was paying off.”
It was County’s first win vs. Florence since joining the South Metro League seven years ago, and the Hornets were taking 40-point beatings most of those years. Pueblo County’s turnaround, and bone-rattling ways, originate with the three Martinez brothers, plus a Martinez who is not a brother.
Linebackers Myles and Ty and nose guard Jarret Martinez have as much fun rattling the brains of a wide receiver trying to run a route across the field as they do establishing themselves as legitimate state title contenders.
“That’s the main thing, being physical. That’s everything. That’s what we do, hit people,” Myles Martinez said. “The best part is playing with my best friend and my brothers. Us Martinez boys, that’s the fun part. Even last year, they didn’t care about their record. They still had fun.”
Myles Martinez is part of the three- and sometimes four-pronged rushing attack led by the unrelated best friend, Zach Martinez. Zach has grinded out 930 yards this season, and Myles has another 700. Joe Pullara has added 700 yards on the ground in the I-formation, two-tight end scheme that uses misdirection and criss-cross handoffs to punish the opposition.
Quarterback J.T. Greenhood can run the ball, too, with almost 1,000 yards.
Those Hornets were flying high when Alamosa came to visit late in the season. Just about everybody with an opinion picked the Mean Moose as hands-down the best team in 3A, and heading into the eighth week of the season they were proving everybody right. The offense was averaging better than 54 points a game; the defense shutting out four of the seven opponents.
After matching the Mean Moose punch for punch, Pueblo County drove down the field and scored a touchdown with time running out. The Hornets opted to go for two, and the win.
“We went into that game believing that we weren’t going to be intimidated by anyone, we weren’t going to be outhit by anyone. We went for it,” Wilson said.
Now, that’s tough.
CLASS 3A | QUARTERFINALS
ALAMOSA (11-0) AT RIFLE (8-3)
Bears have few rivals in the wilderness, but even the baddest Grizzly would think twice about picking a fight with a Mean Moose. The Mean Moose of Alamosa, a team that lived up to its billing as 3A’s best team going into the season, and the Bears of Rifle are programs familiar with the postseason, but the schools haven’t played since the 1999 quarterfinals that ended in a 20-0 Alamosa victory. Since then, both programs have won a state title – Alamosa in 2001, Rifle in 2004 – and have qualified for the playoffs six years in a row. Coach Manny Wasinger made it a point this fall to institute a stronger running game to go with an intimidating air attack after Alamosa was grounded in the semifinals last season. The Mean Moose will be tested Saturday on Rifle’s home field, the frozen site of the past two 3A state championship games. Quarterback Clay Garcia and his favorite target, Dustin Bolt, would like to continue lighting up the scoreboard. But if they don’t, two-time state wrestling champion and linebacker Sonny Yohn leads a defense that has allowed just one team (Pueblo County) to come within 21 points of beating the Mean Moose.
PALISADE (8-3) AT FLORENCE (9-2)
Florence, the defending state champion, and Palisade have combined for seven state titles in the 12 seasons since 1994, and the schools beat each other in the 2002 and 2003 title games. The Bulldogs must be close to earning an honorary lifetime membership to the postseason. Palisade has made the playoffs each of the past 14 seasons except one, 1999, when the Western Slope school was playing in 4A. Palisade is doing it this season by doing what it always does – grinding out yards on the ground over and over again and then striking with a big pass play here and there. Safety and multiple offensive threat Tanner Whaley is the team’s leader, and Alex Hays is the biggest force on a tough line. Some people have said that this is not the same Florence team that destroyed the field on the way to a state championship last season, and those people may be right. But this still is the same Florence program. Coach Mark Buderus’ latest offspring, Bryce, like brothers Clint and Ty before him, is a tenacious, never- say-die football player. Bryce Buderus has nearly 1,900 total yards this season and is a big part of a hard-hitting defense along with Frank Morelli, Jake Webb and Scott Fowler.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS (10-1) AT PUEBLO COUNTY (9-2)
Steamboat Springs is playing for its third semifinals appearance in four seasons and its eighth consecutive victory. There were big expectations heaped on the Sailors at the beginning of the season, and they have handled the pressure. Running back Jay Hanley does not shy away from contact, and he has picked up his 1,240 rushing yards running inside and outside the tackles. Tanner Stillwell balances the offense, and he has completed half of his pass attempts for 1,120 yards while keeping turnovers to a minimum. Westin Cofer is a force on defense, and he will be counted on, along with Nigel Hammond and Joey Melius, to stop a proven Pueblo County running game. The Hornets defense prides itself on lighting up ball carriers and anyone else in the way, and Sailors coach Aaron Finch has noticed. “They’d fit in well in our league,” Finch said, referring to the hard-nosed Western Slope.
ENGLEWOOD (9-2) AT SUMMIT (11-0)
This could be called the “Luck of the Draw” game because of the way the 3A playoff bracket filled out. Could the Pirates or the undefeated Tigers, teams that landed in the softer bottom part of the bracket, beat Berthoud, which didn’t lose in the regular season and took a top seed into the playoffs only to face powerhouse Florence in the first round? Or could either team beat Sterling, which was eliminated by the most dangerous bunch in the playoffs, Pueblo County? The answer doesn’t matter, and the Pirates’ loyal and vocal fans would be the first to challenge the statement that their team has somehow lucked its way to this point. Englewood and Summit have simply found a way to get it done, and one team will reach the state semifinals. The Pirates, with the ankle-breaking moves of running back Bryce Penn and a big-play defense, won a depleted North Metro League and pulled out a first-round victory over a hungry Frederick team by tapping into the poise that comes with a program that has appeared in six of the past seven postseasons. Summit, in the playoffs for the first time since 1997, began the season with a 14-12 victory over Eagle Valley, a school that made waves in the playoffs last year and belongs to the brutal Western Slope League. The Tigers eked out three more close victories and rode the momentum to a league title and a convincing 26-0 shutout of Moffat County, another Western Slope team, in the first round.
