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Joel Reichenberger

Joel Reichenberger's column appears Sundays in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. Contact him at 871-4253 or e-mail jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — Steamboat got what it needed Friday night at Gardner Field — a 24-13 opening-round playoff victory against Berthoud — but it wasn’t always pretty. In a lot of ways, the Sailors struggled.

Much of their troubles were the result of Berthoud being a tough team with big kids who, at times, muscled around the smaller Sailors. And the Spartans weren’t without skilled players of their own. The team’s no-huddle offense moved the ball effectively early in the game.

At times, Steamboat appeared to be on its heels, but two Berthoud miscues made all the difference. The Spartans fumbled on their first two drives, then stalled out on their fourth drive when they failed to convert on an ill-advised fourth-and-6 from Steamboat’s 7-yard line.

The mistakes were often and egregious enough that despite Berthoud’s obvious strengths, Steamboat had opportunities to deliver a knockout punch in the first half after going up 14-0.

Steamboat couldn’t, though.

Quarterback Austin Hinder was sacked four times in the first half alone. Several of those, along with another play in which he was hit just as he threw the ball, were of the skull-rattling variety.

Steamboat struggled to run the ball for much of the game. The Sailors gained just 73 yards in the first half on 18 attempts, a misleading stat considering one of those runs was a 66-yarder.

But those struggles aren’t what should be taken away from the football game.

Instead, what emerged was an intelligent and talented Steamboat team. Despite their struggles, the Sailors mostly avoided the glut of mistakes that Berthoud stumbled into — no easy feat on a bone-chillingly cold night. Equally important, Steamboat capitalized on nearly every break it got.

The Sailors weren’t dominant on offense. They gave up two sacks on their first offensive possession and went three-and-out on two of their next three opportunities. But they pieced together a crucial seven-play, 36-yard drive on the other possession in that string, turning Berthoud’s second fumble into a two-yard Joe Dover touchdown dive and a 7-0 lead.

They followed that drive up with two poor possessions, but when Hinder found a seam rushing the ball in the second quarter, he flew down the field 66 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Steamboat continued to capitalize on big plays into the second half. A long Joe Dover kickoff return set up a field goal. Then Dover returned an interception 70 yards for another score.

Glance at any one series of plays from Friday’s game, and it might not be apparent that Steamboat is one of the state’s top seeds, or even that the team was en route to a big victory against a lower-seeded foe.

Play for play, Berthoud matched up well and played a tough game.

Steamboat dominated with big plays, however, and the Spartans couldn’t even come close to matching the Sailors in that regard.

The Sailors took advantage of big-play opportunities throughout the night. The game wasn’t always beautiful, but it was a very promising sign. Keep mistakes few and far between and punish opponents for their own: That’s how teams win championships.