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Steamboat Springs — You can't teach size and speed.

It's an old football adage that will be put to the test at 1 p.m. Saturday at Pueblo County High School, when fourth-seeded Pueblo County welcomes No. 13 Steamboat Springs High School for the opening round of the 16-team Class 3A football playoffs.

The Hornets easily are the bigger team, outweighing the Sailors on both sides of the line by an average of 60 pounds. But Steamboat has been successful using its athletes on the outside to create big plays. Whether the Sailors indeed are the faster team and whether they can at least put at bay the Hornets' overwhelming size are the two biggest factors coming into Saturday's game.

"Our lack of size up front presents a challenge," Steamboat coach Aaron Finch said. "It's hard to tell on film how fast a team like Pueblo County is. We know they're big and strong, but hopefully, we can use our speed. We're hopeful, but that's always the challenge of the playoffs : watching teams perform against teams you don't know."

The teams met two years ago in the second round of the playoffs, resulting in a 41-7 Pueblo County win.

Although two years is a long time in high school football, the Hornets still are very much the same team.

In addition to their size up front - led by 245-pound defensive tackle and offensive guard Jarret Martinez - the Hornets like to line up in a double tight end, I-formation and run the ball with Marshall Stout (133 carries for 1,013 yards) and Mike Hasenack (115 carries for 548 yards).

"Obviously, their approach to the game from a scheme is the same as two years ago," Finch said. "They have the same personality, but when you change personnel, there are some things you do different."

That personality is mean and tough. Finch said Pueblo County is very reminiscent of the way Palisade plays football - a team the Sailors and Hornets have lost to this year.

"We've got to have a lot better technique," Steamboat lineman Carl Steele said. "We have to get lower than them and try to get the advantage on them. But as a team, I know we're psyched about the playoffs."

With Finch conceding that Steamboat will have a tough time matching the physicality and size of Pueblo County, he said the game will come down to whether the Sailors can get the ball-controlling Hornets offense off of the field and whether the high-powered Steamboat offense can utilize its speed.

"If we're going to have success, we have to find a way to be faster than them, because we're certainly not as big as they are," Finch said. "We have to take care of the football. On offense, we've lived and died with the big play. That's who we are. It'd be nice to grind out some drives, but that's not necessarily who we are. But we do have the athletes to make big plays."