BYERS — It’s easy to spot the upper-echelon football teams with a storied history. They are the squads that come away feeling as if they played poorly after waxing a quality opponent.
Take No. 2 Limon, for instance, which trounced ninth-ranked Byers 44-14 on Saturday on the Bulldogs’ home turf in the Class 1A South Central League opener.
“We came out to stretch before the game, and it seemed like everyone was still in bed,” Limon quarterback Matt Brown said. “I guess we don’t like these early starts, but we’re going to have to get used to them because that’s what they are in the playoffs.”
Limon (4-1) didn’t appear to be sleepwalking when it scored two touchdowns in the first 4 1/2 minutes, but the Badgers later surrendered a 76-yard touchdown pass from Travis Adamson to Chris Halsenbalg and a 79-yarder from Adamson to Evan Steitz.
The explosion plays transformed what appeared to be a rout in waiting into a fairly tight game.
“It gives us that good feeling back. I just wish we had a little better effort in how we won,” said Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer, whose team was coming off an emotional loss to top-ranked Akron. “We didn’t execute very well, and I think everybody in these small towns is struggling with the flu.”
The Badgers got 153 yards rushing and three touchdowns from tailback Jerome King, and another 149 on the ground from Brown, who rushed and passed for a touchdown and had a good game from his safety position on defense.
“Sometimes I think it’s cheating, having a kid like Matt,” O’Dwyer said. “He’s just a tremendous student of the game.”
Limon gained 324 of its 415 yards on the ground, but allowed Adamson to throw for 305 yards.
“It felt good to get a few deep ones there, but we should have been doing it all game,” said Adamson, who was 18-of-36 passing. “I made a lot of the wrong reads.”
Byers (3-2) trailed 21-14 after Steitz’s touchdown, but Limon pushed the lead to 14 at intermission on a touchdown by fullback Chandler Dohe. King then put it out of reach with two short touchdown runs in the second half.
Limon 13 15 7 9 — 44
Byers 7 7 0 0 — 14
L — King 13 run (M. Brown kick). L — Scherrer 28 pass from M. Brown (kick blocked). B — Hasenbalg 76 pass from Adamson (Hasan kick). L — M. Brown 6 run (King run). B — Steitz 79 pass from Adamson (Hasan kick). L — Dohe 1 run (M. Brown kick). L — King 3 run (M. Brown kick). L — King 6 run (kick failed). L — FG Brown 27.
