By Jim Thomas

The Class A Football State Playoffs have been whittled down to the final eight. One of those games looks to be a good matchup.

The Bulldogs (10-0) must travel to Wiggins High School. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, in the quarterfinals. Wiggins is located just off Interstate 70 between Denver and Fort Morgan out on the plains.

Dolores County easily handled Custer County 37-0 in the first round on Nov. 6 at Weber Park in Dove Creek. The Tigers traveled to perennial powerhouse West Grand at Kremmling and won 49-21. Wiggins is now 7-3 overall under second-year coach Ryan Werhman.

"I think it will be a great game," Werhman said in a telephone interview. "I know Dolores County has a very good team. We are looking forward to playing them."

Offensively, the Tigers will operate out of the I-formation. While they like to run the ball more (like Dolores County), they will throw the ball as well when the opportunity or need arises.

"I would say we are pretty balanced," Werhman commented. "Although we would rather run the ball, we will throw it. We set up the pass with our running game."

The Tigers are led by quarterback Daniel Neal and running backs Travis LaFever and Mike Miller. Neal’s throwing targets are Robby Rogers and Kurt Westhoff. Key personnel on the line are Jacob Shepard and Martin Beauprez.

Defensively, Wiggins is in the basic 4-3 but will change defenses as well. He said LeFever, Miller, Rogers, and Shepard are the mainstays. Werhman said the defense has been the strength of the team, especially the play of the linebackers and defensive ends.

"I don’t know a great deal about Dolores County yet, but anytime a team is undefeated they must be doing something right. Right now I’m just glad to be able to play at home," he said.

The Bulldogs are led by quarterback Justin Wyatt who has a good arm and he’s a good option runner. Dove Creek likes to throw at least 40 percent of the time. Terence Gardner, Keith Pierce, and Nick Montgomery have all caught the ball this season. However, their running game certainly can’t be overlooked with strong runners in Jade Huskey, Ron Ernst, Jarrod Wyatt, Joseph Buffington, and Dallas Coker.

Defensively, Dolores County has played very well at times and has given the team excellent field position. The Bulldogs shut out five opponents during the regular season and Custer County last week in the first playoff game. In their other games they allowed three others to score only a touchdown. Durango JVs racked up the most points with 26, but most of those came with the JVs playing.

"Right now we can’t be worried too much about what our opponents are going to do," longtime DCHS coach Ken Soper said. "We just have to go out and work hard and try to refine on what we do best. We are not going to change our defense for this game. We may play a different defense than we did (against Custer County). And we are not going to do anything different offensively. We are just going to work on timing and trying to execute a little better."