Football notebook: Bureau County products chasing championships

Blair Hubbard leads Broomfield back to Colorado State finals

Bureau County products James Mautino (left), Grant Foes and Blair Hubbard are all in the hunt for championships.

Three people with Bureau County ties are in the hunt for football championships.

Blair Hubbard, a 1987 Princeton High School graduate, has led the Broomfield Eagles back to the Colorado 4A state championship game. Broomfield (13-0) will meet the Loveland Red Wolves (12-1) at 11 a.m. Mountain Time on Saturday at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver.

Broomfield beat Erie 36-32 in last week’s semifinals.

Blair Hubbard is taking the Broomfield Eagles back to the Colorado 4A State Championship.

Hubbard, who only played football his freshman year at PHS, is one of the most accomplished coaches in Colorado high school history. He has won more than 200 games over a 20-year career, and has led three different programs to the state playoffs, including six state championship games, three state titles and a semifinal finish.

Hall graduate James Mautino and the Aurora University Spartans (11-1) are headed to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals for the first time in program history. The Spartans beat Alma College 48-26 last weekend to punch their ticket to Saturday’s quarterfinals at Wartburg College (12-0) in Waverly, Iowa for a noon kickoff.

James Mautino

This is the first meeting between Aurora and Wartburg since 1993 when Wartburg beat Aurora 27-7 at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Aurora holds a 3-1 edge in a series dating back to 1933.

Mautino, a senior from Spring Valley and a former BCR co-Player of the Year, has four touchdown receptions and two punt returns for scores.

Also making school history at Indiana Wesleyan University is 2021 Princeton High School graduate Grant Foes. The No. 5 ranked Wildcats are making the most of their first appearance in the NAIA FCS playoffs by reaching the semifinals at No. 3 Northwestern (11-1).

The IWU team drove right past the Princeton exit 56 Thursday on the way to Davenport, Iowa before completing the trip to Orange City, Iowa.

Grant Foes

Indiana Wesleyan beat No. 6 Benedictine 24-13 in last week’s quarterfinals at home in Marian, Ind.

Foes, a sophomore lineman, is a former BCR co-Player of the Year.