Fueled by Johnny B Good’s Diner, Steamboat Springs football is undefeated at home this season. 

The Sailors invited a tough Glenwood Springs team to town Saturday for a day game, where Steamboat managed a statement 17-6 victory over the Demons. The boys are now 5-3 on the season, with three of those wins coming at home. 

“We have an awesome team culture at home and an awesome culture with the fans,” said sophomore running back Eli Bever. “I think it really brings us along to play our best football… We can move it and we can stop big, strong dudes. We are a good football team and we are ready.” 

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After trading punts to start the game, it was Steamboat’s special teams unit that pushed momentum on the Sailors’ side. Steamboat launched a punt straight into the sky that was muffed by the Demons returner. Junior Cohen Vanderbosch sprinted down the field and dove on top to recover the football. 

Deep in enemy territory, the Sailors utilized all four downs multiple times to advance toward the goal line where the ball was eventually punched in by Bever for six. Bever later kicked the extra point to give the Sailors a 7-0 lead. 

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“In a lot of games we’ve had to come from behind, so to score first and get up and get that momentum was huge for us,” Bever said. “It put a lot of wind behind us and we knew we could win after that.” 

Steamboat managed to take the 7-0 lead into halftime after a Blu Willis interception halted the Demons offense from a score on the final play of the half. 

In the locker room, head coach Scott Przymus reminded the Sailors about the theme of the week — conviction. 

Przymus said that Steamboat played with a lot of confidence and conviction early in the season but lost some of that in the middle weeks. This game was about getting back to that mentality and finding a way to win. 

Glenwood put the pressure on the Sailors early in the second half with a rushing touchdown, but a missed extra point left Steamboat in the lead, 7-6. 

Steamboat later responded with a field goal off the crossbar of the upright to make it 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Desperate for a score, Glenwood elected to fake a punt on fourth down which was stuffed by Steamboat. On the very next play, junior quarterback Tanner Cobb found Vanderbosch up the middle for a 50 yard touchdown pass, making it 17-6. 

With little time on the clock, Glenwood is forced to go for it on fourth down but again, the Demons are stopped. The Sailors running attack overcame Glenwood to drain the remaining minutes off the clock and propel the Sailors to the 17-6 victory. 

Przymus said, “the defense played lights out…” and noted the unit forced four three-and-outs as well as multiple stops on fourth down. 

A huge contributor to that defensive success was senior linebacker Waylon Lott. 

“This whole week we had been practicing blitzing,” Lott explained. “Blu (Willis) and I practiced doing trick blitzes where he would cross in front of me and I would go around him or dodge to the side. It just worked out.” 

Przymus also referenced the offense never quitting despite slow moments in its attack. 

“Both Eli (Bever) and Thomas (Krupp) ran hard,” Przymus said. “Their defense did a good job of causing some difficulties and plugging up some holes but we were able to hold to our conviction in what we wanted to do and then we came out on top.” 

The Sailors host their final game of the regular season on Friday night against Rifle. The game will celebrate the seniors on the team who hope to get a convincing win and be included in the state playoff tournament. Kick-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. 

“For Rifle we are going to prepare just like anybody,” Przymus said. “We need to get that win if we want to keep any hopes alive. We are sitting on the bubble so if a couple teams win and a couple teams lose, we could be looking at playoff hopes. I’m not looking that far, we have to get past Rifle first.”

Glenwood Springs 6, Steamboat Springs 17
GS: 0 0 6 0
SS: 0 7 3 7