WHERE
Tiger Stadium, Erie High School, 3180 Weld County Road 5, Erie.
WHERE THE TEAMS STAND
Faith Christian Eagles (3-0, 0-0), ranked No. 3 in The Denver Post/9News Class 2A poll vs.
Erie Tigers (3-0, 1-0), 2A’s No. 2, in Flatirons League play.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
No Einsteins are required. League or classification, it’s the same thing. The Flatirons also contains top-ranked Holy Family, which the Eagles get next week. Erie is to meet Holy Family the final week of the regular season.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Faith Christian, Colorado’s defending 2A champion, makes private- school haters cry – the Eagles, who have won 16 games in a row, are 48-5 since 2003 and 79-16 in more than eight seasons under coach Blair Hubbard.
KEY MATCHUP
This is 2A, where rushing the football makes and breaks teams as if they’re on an assembly line. The double-wing – “You have to know your role,” Tigers coach Larry Gartrell said – will be relevant with bigger, experienced lines and the ball primarily in the hands of the Eagles’ Seve Carbajal and Andrew Tyckson, and the Tigers’ Alex Ortega, Chase Heffner, Gregor Reese and Cody Fulton. The one difference is Carbajal, who has thrown six touchdowns, so the Tigers can’t get caught cheating into the line of scrimmage.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
They have played once, last year in Week 4, when the Eagles won 36-0. The Flatirons debuted in 2006 after realignment drew Faith Christian from the Metropolitan and Erie from the Patriot.
