Rattlers fall in Colorado

The Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers went to Colorado over the past weekend to face two 2A Colorado teams. Head Coach Jack Cobb said these teams tested his boys in a positive way, getting them ready for the race in the Southwest Conference where one excellent team will be left behind when going to regionals 

The race just got tighter as Encampment beat Cokeville over the weekend raising LSRV to the number two spot, right behind Saratoga. Cokeville beat Saratoga earlier and is now tied with Farson-Eden for 3rd.

Cobb played the Meeker Cowboys earlier this season and lost by 18 points. The Cowboys are on top of their conference with only one loss. 

“We came out and took the lead and kept it almost the entire game,” Cobb said. “There was even a point we were ahead by 10 points.”

As the clock wound down, the Cowboys hit two 3-pointers back to back as the Rattlers went a bit cold at the free throw line.

“The game went into overtime,” Cobb said. “Then they ended up getting six more points than we did and the game was over in their favor. It was a good game all the same, where the boys played really hard keeping their heads up high, but in the end, we lost.”

The Cowboys won 55-49.

The next night, the Rattlers faced the Rangley Panthers who are in the same conference as Meeker.

“We came out against Rangely and did well, but like Meeker that team came out hitting some key 3 pointers that were hard for any team to defend against ,” Cobb said. “I put three freshmen for a different look and they did well, but shots didn’t go in when they needed to. We had a chance at the last shot to tie, but it didn’t happen. We only lost by three points against a strong physical team, but it was tough to take two losses in a row, no matter who they are.”

The Panthers won 41-38.

Cobb said these games, as tough as they were to lose, were excellent preparation as he faces the Encampment Tigers on February 15, at home,  the Saratoga Panthers at Saratoga on Friday and Cokeville on Saturday at home.

“We have to win some games this week,” Cobb said. “Honestly, now that Encampment has won a game and there is a pigtail game, we could lose our position through three bad games and be the team that plays in the pigtail. That is something that I would definitely like the team to avoid. We can control our destiny and I hope we don’t stumble. We do not want to lose all three games, I know that for sure.”

Cobb believes Encampment could easily win all three of its last games and be out of the pigtail with two other teams taking their place.

“It will all be determined this week,” Cobb said. “The only team that is not in danger of being in the pigtail in our conference is Saratoga. We have to win at least one game this week to be out of it and that is not a given.”

Cobb said he still can’t tell who is going to be the leading scorer on the team because one night a player will be on and the next night cold as ice.

“We don’t have that consistency that you hope for from two or three players night after night,” Cobb said. “Like the game against Rangely, Hector Hernandez, my big kid scored well along with three of my freshmen guards, while my top scorers Hadley (Myers) and Zane (Matheson) were cold, so night in and night out the games are a combination of finding the balance that works.”

Cobb said it will be an interesting week for all the teams in the Southwest Conference.