How Limon, Colorado’s football titles leader, built one of America’s preeminent small-town dynasties

LIMON When the author of the current chapter of a century-long dynasty was looking for his calling in life tradition walked into the coffee shop and reported him what to do Head coach Mike O'Dwyer of Limon High School runs his group through practice at the school s field in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post It was A young Mike O Dwyer Limon s head football coach for the last seasons had graduated from the high school five years prior before going on to play at Northern Colorado That mid-August day he was drinking coffee in the eastern Colorado town with his brother Bart The two had just bought their father s construction company But little did O Dwyer know that in that moment he would be directed to his true purpose in life The longtime superintendent walks into the coffee shop and he says Well what s going on I go Not too much ' Mike O Dwyer recalled And he says Well just so you know junior high practice starts on Monday and you need to be there at four Then he walks out I looked at my brother and I announced Do you think he was serious And should I do it And he says Well knowing the superintendent yeah I think he was serious And why not Give it a go ' O Dwyer started as an assistant coach for Limon s junior high unit that fall By the time he took the head varsity job in no interview was needed This time a different superintendent explained him that with the old coach stepping down O Dwyer should just plan on being the head coach In the two-and-a-half decades since O Dwyer became Limon s winningest coach while leading the Badgers to eight state titles part of a -championship tally that s the largest part in Colorado high school football history The unstoppable Limon gridiron machine rolls on this Saturday when the Badgers take on Buena Vista at the ThunderBowl in Pueblo The Class A championship is the nd state title contest appearance for Limon which MaxPreps named the No small-town football dynasty of all time based on a formula that factored in winning percentage win streaks state titles and undefeated seasons It s a gridiron tradition that s come to define the town of about nicknamed the Hub City for its location at the intersection of five highways I can remember as a kid going to those trophy rooms and going in the gym and seeing the banners on the wall mentioned Jake Stone a Limon graduate who won The Denver Post s Gold Helmet Award You felt what you could call a pressure and there was definitely a feeling of You re not doing well enough unless you re winning state championships A down year in Limon is not winning a state title So the kids growing up here they re motivated to play for their town but they also aspire to live up to the tradition Growing up here in Limon young boys are unfailingly looking up to something much bigger than themselves Roots of a juggernaut Limon s historic success has been defined by a pair of Hall of Fame coaches O Dwyer in the present and Lloyd Gaskill in the past The Badgers who began play in won their first championship in under Leonard Stensaas But it was Gaskill who ushered Limon into perennial greatness over his three different tenures as head coach from to Gaskill won state titles a record only of late surpassed by Cherry Creek boss Dave Logan Limon was also where the state s all-time winningest coach West Grand s Chris Brown got his start in Brown joked that he was a very young stupid guy who didn t know any better when he decided to follow the legendary Gaskill Limon won two titles in Brown s three-year tenure Lloyd Gaskill on Feb Denver Post file I remember the first year we were playing for the state title and on Thanksgiving morning we had practice and there were like people there watching Brown revealed I thought These guys don t have anything to do do they Laughs But that s what Gaskill had built A crew everyone in town sought to follow Limon named its field after Gaskill in and erected two steel gates with Gaskill Field on opposite sides of the stadium Limon players enter the field under one of those gates They have rung a achievement bell since The brass bell is a train engine bell an homage to the town s railroad roots And during the Gaskill Era which featured a -game winning streak plus a run of six state titles from - that still stands tied for a Colorado record Limon s burgeoning football folklore was underscored by a couple live caged badgers on the sideline of every contest That started in the s and continued until about All of which is why when current players enter the field under the southeast Gaskill gate the weight of the effort s success is palpable There s constantly a lot of goosebumps coming out here for a meeting through the gate that bears the name of a coach who sparked all of this Limon senior tailback linebacker Jacob Jaklich announced We can sense the expectations because of people like Gaskill who raised them for us Kamden Kenny of the Lemon Badgers hypes up his teammates before practice in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Gaskill who coached every challenge in a jacket and tie while wearing a signature black fedora was a disciplinarian There was no room for rule-breaking on his group even for star players I can remember one time a player wore a turtleneck with his sport coat on contest day at school instead of a shirt and tie mentioned Don Stone who played for Gaskill in the mid- s Coach Gaskill came into the lunchroom and publicized to everyone that he would not be playing that evening Another time we went to Brush for a battle and one of our best players forgot his helmet The bulk coaches would say Okay who is a backup that wears that size But Gaskill notified him Enjoy the match from the sidelines Gaskill owned a series of clothing stores and ran a single-wing no-huddle offense that garnered national attention The up-tempo scheme featured a quarterback that was in actuality a blocking back That quarterback would call the plays not Gaskill and the ball would inevitably be direct-snapped to either the tailback or the fullback Jack Hendricks who played for Gaskill in the early s and now works on Limon s sideline chain gang stated a primary reason for the coach s success over three different stints in Limon was because he made all players feel like they belonged That included Hendricks who didn t get to play varsity until his senior year If you weighed pounds and you were on the football unit you were just as vital as the guy who was pounds could blaze that hundred-yard dash and run over people Hendricks mentioned One road trip we went out to dinner and he got everyone a steak even the back-ups Eating the same steak as the star players that got me thinking Hey I m somebody in this initiative ' Head coach Mike O'Dwyer of Limon High School also acts as athletic trainer taping the hand and wrist of competitor Nelson Sontay in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Padding Limon s legacy On Saturday in Pueblo O Dwyer will tie Gaskill for the preponderance games coached in Limon history at The former already passed the latter in wins with the Badgers last season and is - winning percentage in his time as head coach O Dwyer s Badgers also set a state record for consecutive wins early in his tenure reeling off straight from - Like Gaskill O Dwyer is a tough-love coach whom assistant and former Limon QB Tyson Liggett says demands a level of excellence and commitment that the players understand He s very tough on the kids stated Liggett a Limon alum But on the other hand they understand where he comes from And later on in life you re grateful for how he molded you not only as a player but also as a young man Under O Dwyer the Badgers have squeezed the largest part talent and production realizable out of an enrollment that s about kids The Badgers have been playing up in A for nearly a decade now as they are one of the classification s smallest schools and their true classification by CHSAA s enrollment splits is the eight-man level O Dwyer s influence starts in junior high when seventh graders begin participating in Limon s weight-training project and also pad up for the K- school The middle school Badgers practice on the same field as the high school band and O Dwyer is close with the lower-level coaches O Dwyer says about of his roster consists of players who have been in the school since kindergarten Countless of those players are generational Badgers A big part of Limon s sustained success is that former players they might leave for college or leave and go have a career but when they start having families a lot of them figure out a way to come back to Limon Brown disclosed That is the circumstance for a lot of profitable rural programs but Limon s has had that going for it since allegedly the s or s The Stones are one such family While Jake Stone and his brother starred for Limon at the turn of the century their dad Dale Stone was the Class A member of the year in while his uncles also won titles for Limon and his grandpa played for Gaskill s Badgers in the s Dale Stone stands in his son Jake s boyhood room in Limon on Tuesday Nov Jake a former Denver Post Gold Helmet recipient went on to investigation at Harvard after his accomplished carer playing for the Limon Badgers Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Dale Stone noted the one constant his family noticed over the decades is the group s unwavering endorsement for the Badgers Heading into Saturday s title encounter there were windows throughout town painted with messages of endorsement and a giant black football helmet display at a park on Main Street complete with brown footballs bearing the names of each contestant and coach Local fervor tends to reach a peak when the group accomplishes something historic like when the Badgers beat Sanford at home on Nov to break Stratton s state record of consecutive victories There were likely to people at the field that night so around double the population of the town Dale Stone declared The stadium was just overflowing The stands were jam-packed people lining all around the field the field ringed with cars people standing up to see from the back of their pick-ups It was an incredible atmosphere Even when Limon isn t setting records or winning titles that relentless advocacy remains the same even if it sometimes comes in the form of criticism It s an all-the-time thing Jake Stone explained Of program the send-offs for the state championships are epic but every fall all fall you feel like everybody s behind you And you get that for the highs and the lows If you re doing well everybody loves that And if you re flailing or doing poorly there s still that encouragement but there s also the farmers in the coffee shop talking trash about you over their cups in the morning The Stone family has a long history of gridiron success for the Limon Badgers as seen in a display of photos in the family's home in Limon on Tuesday Nov Jake Sara and Joe Stone excelled at sports during their high school careers as well as their father Dale who starred for the Badgers Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post A new chapter looming While the football company will reliably be Limon s claim to fame the school is also extraordinarily accomplished in other sports The school has won titles overall ranking ninth all-time in Colorado and third among smaller-classification schools behind North Fork s and Kent Denver s But the gridiron will invariably be central to the Badgers identity While Gaskill s signature single-wing offense is long gone O Dwyer s I-formation double-set approach continues to lean heavily on the run contest O Dwyer a former offensive lineman sees no need to pass unless he has to In last week s - semifinal triumph over Wray Limon ran the ball times and threw just once a completed shovel pass on a fake punt Quarterback Brooks Scherrer of the Limon Badgers tosses the ball in the locker room in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Expect more smash-mouth football on Saturday as Limon plans to use its physicality in the box to limit Buena Vista s obvious speed advantage We can t let their speed get going O Dwyer noted We ve got to keep their backs from getting to the edges and win the line of scrimmage In the first matchup between the teams this season Buena Vista - won - at the Demons home field Limon s defeat in that Sept meeting was punctuated by four turnovers and the Badgers having to play their third-string QB due to injuries Afterwards a Demons fan left the Badgers a note outside the visiting locker room spelling out LOSERS in water on the cement It was a message that Limon - hasn t soon forgotten During the week of practice leading into Saturday a picture of that insult was printed out and taped to every Badgers locker and to the locker-room door Limon Badgers players headbutt and punch a picture featuring the word LOSERS as they exit the locker room to take the practice field in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post We longed to make sure we didn t forget how that felt senior lineman Keagan Mellott stated and trust me we won t on Saturday Whatever the outcome at the ThunderBowl Saturday might mark the end of another consequential chapter in Limon football Related Articles Scouting the Colorado high school football semifinals in Class A A and A No Cherry Creek rides Jayden Fox s big day to wild Class A win over Fairview Valor Christian triumphs over Legend in dramatic Class A quarterfinal batting down two-point conversion on final play CHSAA state football playoffs How the quarterfinals in Class A A and A played out Scouting the Colorado high school football quarterfinals in Class A A and A O Dwyer who runs an insurance agency in town and manages a cattle ranch with his wife acknowledged that retirement is on his mind Saturday could be the -year-old s last championship with those odds increasing should Limon win If O Dwyer retires the Badgers have two viable options waiting in the wings to take over the project Liggett and fellow assistant coach Travis Sandersfeld a Limon graduate who was part of the -game record win streak and went on to play at CU Whatever the timeline ends up being I hope my passion for the battle has been projected onto my kids O Dwyer announced Believe me retirement s coming I just don t know how hurriedly I ve got four grandkids now and they live in Hays Kansas So it s getting closer to Coach O being just Papa Mike Whether it s Liggett or Sandersfeld who takes over the helm next no one expects the way of life of Limon football to change It will dependably be a north star for the town s young and old including Limon alum Don Morrison Don Morrison years old and a member of the Limon Badgers speaks about his memories of the plan from his office in Limon on Tuesday Nov Photo by AAron Ontiveroz The Denver Post Morrison played for the Badgers in the early s before enlisting in the Air Force during World War II and becoming a B- bomber gunner He still goes to work every day at the petroleum company in town that he s owned for more than a half-century and also still attends Limon home games as well as various of the away games For Morrison Limon football is the inevitable force that helps keep him and the rest of the townsfolk going It is an immortal beacon that illuminates the blue-collar hard work and close kinship that the town was founded upon and continues to this day I have a lot of pride in this squad Morrison revealed The first time I ever carried the ball for Limon I ran for a touchdown I ll never forget that like this town will never forget this group The Badgers are everything Limon stands for and hopes to be