After going 5-5 in 2014, the Sedgwick County Cougars football team has been almost perfect. Over the last six seasons the Cougars have amassed 70 wins against just 2 losses, while hoisted five consecutive state championship trophies. On Thursday at 6:00 p.m., top-seeded Sedgwick County (8-0) will play for their sixth straight 8-Man state football championship against second-seeded Sanford (7-0) at CSU-Pueblo.

Sedgwick County has dominated their opponents through the playoffs thus far. The Cougars built a 45-0 halftime lead in the first round against Crowley County, eliminating the Chargers 45-12. Dove Creek was unable to provide much more of a challenge in the semifinals, as the Cougars rolled past the Bulldogs 46-6 to get back to the championship game.

Their opponent, Sanford, has never played in a state championship game. The Indians are 7-0 after getting by Mancos 36-28 in the first round of the playoffs, then edging perennial contender Merino in the semifinals 16-14. Prior to the playoffs, the Indians won their five regular season games by an average 39.6 points per game.

Thursday’s 8-Man championship at CSU-Pueblo will be the first year that the game will be played at a neutral site. All prior games have been played at the home site of the higher seed.

In the year of COVID-19, the season hasn’t been an easy one for any of the programs, no matter how the numbers on the scoreboard ended up. Cougar head coach Chris Michel says “the COVID aspect of it has been probably more stressful than the x’s and o’s and game planning aspect of it.” He said “First, we thought maybe we’ll have a delayed season. Then they said no season, we’ll go in the spring. Then they came back and said we’re going to reconsider. So, they reconsidered it, they voted, and then they said no, we’re going to leave it the way the original plan was. Another week went by and they said we’re going to give you a choice. You can play in the fall or you can play in the spring. It was kind of a mess.”

Whether the lead up to the season was a mess or not, once things kicked off it appears to have been business as usual for the Cougars since. Sedgwick County breezed through all six of their regular season games, winning by an average of 41 points per game. Over the last six years, the Cougars are 70-2, and coach Michel truly believes that winning breeds winning. “Those kids, they understand what it takes to win. And they understand the work that comes with it, to where when that becomes the norn you know, when doing extra stuff becomes normal, I feel like that helps that success continue.”

If the Cougars are successful on Thursday, they will become only the second team in Colorado high school football history to claim six straight titles. The first was Limon who won six in a row from 1963 to 1968.

The 8-man championship game will the second state football title game to be played on Thursday and will follow Fleming vs. Stratton/Liberty in the 6-man game. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. MST.