by CJ Blaskowski
Photos by Noah Duran
25 Feb. 2016
What Happened: The Eaton Boys Basketball team (18-2, 14-2 Patriot, 1-0 Postseason) defeated Estes Park (6-15, 4-12 Patriot, 1-1 Postseason) Tuesday, Feb. 23, 70-59 at home. Estes Park was coming off a big play-in game victory over Valley Saturday, Feb. 20. That extra game seemed to wear on the veteran Bobcats late in the game. Eaton’s fresh legs sprung them to victory and in a position to play rival Platte Valley in Eaton Thursday, Feb. 25. The game started off with playoff intensity and energy, but slowly the Reds wore on Estes Park and their depth won them an early district game. A soon-to-be commonality for this team’s postseason.
By the Numbers: Eaton’s Jared Foss (16) finished with 14 points and shot 6-12 from the field. He went 2-6 from the free throw line, all four of his misses from the line came from technical foul shots on top of the original foul’s two shots. JT Mossberg (16) led the game for the Reds, scoring 15 points, and played scrappy, winning almost all of the 50/50 loose balls. The match-up to watch in was on the block with Jaxon Hobbs (17) and Nick Johnson (16) of Estes. They battled all night and found success when their counterpart left the game. The Bobcats’ Spencer Woodard (16) finished with 16 points, shot 4-7 from the free throw line and led the game in scoring.
Should’ve Seen It: About a minute and a half stretch of the second quarter will be dubbed with the honor this time around. With 4:30 left in the quarter, Estes picked up the tempo, making it a more exciting game. As Estes heated up, Eaton cooled down and on odd-man rushes, the Bobcats found success. Eaton trying to keep the tempo at their pace, held the ball and tried to get a lane to drive. Foss found a lane and as he put up the floater, he was pushed by Daniel Pierce (16) of Estes. Not a real push but extended arms and a flop by Foss created a technical foul called by the official. The call was a block on Pierce and on top of the shooting foul, there was a technical foul for the pushing motion. A total of four free-throws were granted to Foss. He missed all four shots, increasing the momentum for Estes Park. At the same time, Hobbs was on the bench with two fouls in the second quarter. So, Estes had momentum and controlled the boards. Right before the half, that could’ve been what Estes needed to mount a comeback.
Tournament time heating up: All across the state, high school teams are live and in action for the Districts, Regionals, and finally State. Dreams are made and broken this part of the year. The Patriot League had a couple of upsets Tuesday, Feb. 25. Strasburg was beaten by Platte Valley. Frontier who poses tons of problems, was knocked off by Liberty Commons, a charter school from Fort Collins. Sterling escaped Brush with a huge second half. The matchups for the fifth, third, and first place will all be decided Thursday night, Feb. 25. Eaton plays Platte Valley in Eaton, Liberty will play Sterling at Sterling, Estes Park will travel to Strasburg to face the Indians, and Frontier will face the Beetdiggers at Frontier Academy’s gym. The winners of the Platte Valley game and the Sterling game will face off at Bank of Colorado Arena Friday, Feb. 26 for the 3A Patriot League District Championships and will lock up a huge home-court advantage for the Regional Tournament.
Up Next: The Platte Valley Broncos stroll into town, Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.. The rivalry game will be renewed as postseason implications come into effect. The Reds own the head-to-head category, winning by a large margin at the Barn in Kersey and a close win in Eaton earlier in Feb. Admission is $5 for adults and only CHSAA passes are accepted.
