Rattlers hold regional destiny in their hands

The Little Snake River Valley (LSRV) Rattlers have the fortune to decide their own, at least as far as how they will be seeded for the 1A Southwest Regional Tournament.

The Rattlers will spend this week playing a flurry of conference games to determine their seeding, but are guaranteed a spot in the tournament since the Encampment Tigers were unable to secure a conference win this season.

In preparation for the crucible of conference games, LSRV played against three Colorado teams last week. On February 7 they hosted the SoRoCo Rams, were hosted by the Meeker Cowboys on February 9 and hosted the Rangely Panthers on February 10.

“I had hoped to win all three,” said Head Coach Jack Cobb. “Although we made a run at Meeker, they came out on top.”

The Rams were a team LSRV was easily able to handle, dispatching SoRoCo with a more than 40-point difference, 58-15.

“They were a pretty good team last year, but they graduated a lot of kids, so they are young,” said Cobb. “We played well and took care of business in that game.”

Meeker avoided the Rattler’s fangs, giving them a more than 20 point loss, 52-31.

“We played good for a while, but they have a big kid who, once he got going, we didn’t have an answer for at first,” said Cobb. “So we focused on him and then there was a player who shot five threes and he pretty much did us in. We did make a run and got within five, but then fell a little flat. We would have had to play extremely well to have beaten them.”

The Rattlers ended their Colorado foray on a high note by beating the Rangely 65-33.

“It was a fun game and we got to do it at home,” Cobb said. “It was a confidence builder as we get ready to face the week to come.”

Cobb said playing four conference games in six days will set the tone for regionals.

“It is a tough road trip, but I am looking forward to it,” Cobb said. “I hope the boys will be healthy and play well.”

Cobb said Hadley Myers is having strong games.

“Hadley is playing well and having some good games,” Cobb said. “He is getting stronger.”

Cobb said Bridger Cozzens has done well in the past games against the Colorado teams.

“Bridger was going through a little slump, but against Rangley he had 16 points and a good game for us,” Cobb said. “That was good to see.”

Overall Cobb was happy with the week.

“I think we learned a lot,” Cobb said. “Now we need to take what we learned and apply it to the games to come.”

The LSRV Rattlers are 8-7 for the season and 2-3 in conference play. They were hosted by the Farson-Eden Pronghorns on February 13 and the Cokeville Panthers on February 14. They will host Cokeville Panthers on February 17 and Farson-Eden on February 18.