For the first time since 2015 the Meeteetse Longhorns have returned to the State Championship. The Longhorns will be going for their first title victory since 2013 on Saturday. The Class 1A State Championship will pit two familiar teams together as it will be Meeteetse (8-1) vs. Farson Eden (10-0) in Farson. The Longhorns and Pronghorns met back in the regular season where Meeteetse suffered their only loss of the 2020 season, 35-16. With the re-match looming I caught up with Head Coach of the Meeteetse Longhorns, Zeb Hagen, and he talks about how it feels for not only the team but for the community to see their team in the Championship.
“Oh I think it’s good. I think it’s definitely a bright light considering the year we’ve had so far and everything. Its been really good, the fans have been involved, they’ve been excited. Kind of given us something, you know just something for everybody to do and follow I think. Kind of goes along with girls volleyball had a really good season this year too. It’s been a good positive from the extracurricular in Meeteetse schools for sure.”
At this point in the season there’s not much left to work on other than fine-tuning the little things. Coach Hagen says it’s more mental this time of the year.
“We always can find little things to work on and I think that’s kind been part of our success this year is, these guys haven’t taken the little things for granted and they try to improve upon them week-by-week or even play-by-play for that matter. We’re going into this week treating it just like any other as far as preparation wise. We know Farson, they know us. They’re an extremely good, talented team, well coached team. We’re ready to hopefully get another opportunity at them and see what we can do.”
Now that coach Hagen has has some time to go back and look at some of the film he gives insight into where the team must improve this time around.
“Down there, the first quarter was kind of rough on us. We just kind of dug ourselves a hole and it kind of came down to a couple turnovers. So I think if we can take care of the football, I think we can do okay. Like I said, Farson’s a good team. So defensively, we just gotta be ready to step up and come up and stop whatever they’re going to throw at us. I think that’s kind of the two big takeaways I saw from the film last time: Little bit better ball security and given ourselves a little bit more opportunities on offense.”
With two teams that are pretty equally matched it will be tough to find areas to take advantage of but Coach Hagen does like that his team is strong in all three phases.
“I think you could say that offensively we’ve done pretty well this season. Running and passing the ball, I think it’s been a pretty good mix. So I’d say that’s a pretty good strength of ours. I’d say our special teams is pretty good too. Then defensively, if you look at our team as a whole, I think we’ve done a good job of keeping a lot of teams out of the end zone. I guess I just hope that trend kind of continues. Farson’s good at those things too. So hopefully we get the fight that everybody’s hopefully anticipating.”
And ultimately what is it going to take for Meeteetse to capture the title?
“I think if we just stick together, take care of the football and you know I think defensively it’s going to be key for us, in this game, to get stops. Kind of shut down Farson’s exceptional running attack. I think if we can do that, I think we’re going to give ourselves a really good opportunity to maybe come out with a victory in this game.”
Farson-Eden hosts the Meeteetse Longhorns for the Class 1A 6-Man State Championship Saturday afternoon for a 1pm kick-off. Stay tuned to the Big Horn Radio Network for results.
