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Category: Q&A

  • Q&A: Holy Family alum Vic Lombardi talks high school sports media coverage

    Vic Lombardi
    Altitude TV’s Vic Lombardi. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    There aren’t many people in Colorado that know the media scene quite like Altitude’s Vic Lombardi. The former sports director at Channel 4 consumed Colorado media as a high school athlete at Holy Family before coming back to his hometown to become a part of it.

    He is perhaps the best known member of Denver sports media.

    But this is far from the media that Vic grew up with. That became apparent last week when the Denver Post wiped out its entire prep sports staff in a matter of 24 hours.

    A longtime advocate of the kids, Vic took some time to address the status of high school sports coverage today and how it got to where it is.

    [divider]

    Question: What do you remember from high school sports coverage when you were playing up at Holy Family?

    Lombardi: I remember two things. I remember the local paper being where you go for box scores and write ups. And I remember Marcia Neville. At the time, Marcia Neville was the most important person in town.

    If she came to your event, or to your school or covered your game, you had made it as high school athlete. When she first arrived at Holy Family for a game against Denver Christian, everybody in the school was like, “Whoa. Marcia is here. This is big.”

    Q: So looking at what happened with the shakeup at the Denver Post last week, from your outside perspective, what are you seeing in terms of high school coverage today?

    Lombardi: I think it’s more than high school coverage. I think it’s just a lack of community involvement and community responsibility. I think newspapers and radio stations and TV stations in general have a responsibility to the community and when you ignore high schools, which is the root of our community, it’s wrong.

    I know financially why they do it. I get it. I’ve been told that. It happened to me at my TV station. They consider it a territorial thing to cover. No one cares about certain high schools taking each other on except for those high schools. But I always felt it was deeper than that.

    If you cover the high schools, then they have a reason to cover you. A reason to follow you. It’s just a community, grass roots effort. And when you lose that, you lose the community.

    Q: So when a guy like Neil Devlin, who has done this for 34 years, is suddenly out of a job on the paper side, how damaging is that to a metro area like Denver?

    Lombardi: I think it’s very damaging because it’s a slap in the face to experience. It’s a slap in the face to contacts. He knows everybody. He knows how high schools operate. He knows the coaches, he knows the (athletic directors). He knows the history. Everyone wants to go young and cheap now and yeah, you can still cover athletics. You can still cover sports. You can still cover it all.

    But when you take away the people who have been doing it their entire lives and you tell them they’re not necessary anymore, you can’t tell me that the product doesn’t suffer.

    Q: So it seemed like they were going mainly digital and the very next day they layoff Morgan Dzakowic, who heads up their preps online coverage, does it give you the impression that the Post is shying away from preps coverage all together?

    Lombardi: Very much so. They’ve taken the lead of the TV stations. Only one TV station in this town, Channel 9 (KUSA), makes an effort to cover prep sports. They actually have a person that’s a prep sports specialist, they have a photographer that covers prep sports, they have a platform digitally and mainstream media that offers prep sports.

    They’re the only ones in town. One by one, each of the local stations stopped doing it. And now the paper? It’s sad.

    I can remember myself as a kid, you sought that out. It was a big deal to be in the paper, it was a big deal to be on TV. And now these kids today, what do they get? There’s nothing for them. There’s no reward. There’s no gold pot at the end of the rainbow for them.

    Q: So when you were the sports director over at Channel 4 (KCNC) and you are a big advocate for high school sports, what are you being told when you’re trying to do something high school related?

    Lombardi: We just didn’t have the resources. We can do as much as we possibly can. But most of the time there were conflicts.

    If the Broncos have a press conference or a there’s a Nuggets press conference or anything professional sports related and it competes with high school, guess which loses? The high school loses.

    It’s unfortunate because we couldn’t devote the necessary resources to get the good stories. I’ve been in this business for 26 years and the best stories are at the high school level. Always. The most pure stories, the most raw stories, the most real stories are at the high school level.

    I guess people don’t want stories anymore. They want to follow pro teams. And that’s the message that’s been given to us.

    Q: We get into this line of work because we like sports, we like the games. So when did it get to the point that it’s more important to talk about Von Miller cropping John Elway out of an Instagram post rather than a state baseball championship?

    Lombardi: Because more people in the community can relate to Von Miller. People in Erie can, somebody that lives in Colorado Springs can. People that live in Aurora, Arvada, they all know Von Miller.

    But if you took all those points and said what do you think about Englewood High School, nobody knows.

    And I think just that relative unknown is what scares people. But if you grow up here like I did, I know all the high schools. I knew who was playing. I knew what was what.

    I think we are a victim of our own growth. Too many people here aren’t from here so they don’t care about the high schools. If you come in here as an adult, why would you care about a high school unless your kid is at that high school?

    We become detached because of all the transplants that live in our community.

    Q: Even when there’s a kid like De’Ron Davis that will go big time at Indiana and has a good shot at getting an NBA look?

    Overland Doherty boys basketball De'Ron Davis
    De’Ron Davis. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

    Lombardi: I completely agree with you. I think a guy like De’Ron Davis… my De’Ron Davis was Chucky Sproling from Manual High School. Everybody knew Chucky Sproling. When we were in high school, we’d look at the box score to see how many points he scored.

    If you just polled random people in Denver today, and asked them who De’Ron Davis was, nine of out 10 of them wouldn’t have a clue.

    It’s not a bad thing, it’s just an unfortunate thing. Because we are not devoting the necessary attention. We in the media have a responsibility to chase the story that means something, not only to the masses, but means something to the local community.

    De’Ron Davis is going to mean something to the local community. Just like Chauncey Billups does. Everybody is on the Chauncey Billups bandwagon now that he’s made it as a pro and he’s retired. Back in the day, I remember Chauncey growing up. Everybody covered Chauncey. Chauncey was a big story, he was as big a story as any of the pro teams back when he was the King of Park Hill.

    We’re losing that now. We don’t have that association with prep athletes like we used to.

    Q: At the risk of getting myself into trouble, is that laziness on the part of the reader or laziness on the part of the media? Or maybe a little bit of both?

    Lombardi: I think it’s just a little apathy out of everyone. When I was doing local news, it was easy to send a camera to the Broncos and just get another coach’s soundbite. That’s easy rather than going to a local high school and digging a little bit to find a great story and put that on the air.

    It takes more work, it takes more effort and it takes more resources.

    I think it’s a little bit of everything. When you take resources away from these media entities then the people who work in those entities have to do what’s the best fit for them. And what fits best is easiest, simplest and most accessible. And apparently what most people think is news.

    It’s funny what people think is news. How many different times can you talk about Von Miller’s contract? How many different ways can you cut across that story when there’s a local swimmer who is on the verge of becoming the next Olympian, the next Missy Franklin, and we’re completely ignoring that swimmer because we’re not willing to delve into it.

    Q: When did you begin to see that shift?

    Lombardi: I saw it shortly after I arrived. I got here in 1998 and when I got here, prep sports were still vastly important to news coverage. Every station had prep reporters, we all covered them very closely.

    Year by year, I saw a shift. Staffs got smaller and the first thing to be eliminated was the prep side. It was the very first. Ask any staff in town. And kudos to Channel 9 for at least maintaining that.

    But every other staff in town, newspaper, radio, television started chopping off the prep reporters and the prep coverage because it required resources.

    Q: So when you look at everything outside of Denver such as Colorado Springs, whose TV stations are very active in preps, same thing with the guys in Grand Junction, the small newspapers throughout the state who’s sports sections are dominated by high school coverage, is Denver just becoming too good for high school sports?

    Lombardi: Denver is too big a city with too many pro sports options. When I worked in smaller communities like Austin, Texas there were two things. University of Texas sports and high school football.

    You covered both equally. We covered it madly, we were feverish when it came to high school football. We did shows on Friday nights. When I was in Indiana, we did basketball shows.

    But Denver is a major pro sports town. You have a lot of different things to hit on, even in the summer. And lost in the shuffle is preps. They’re no longer a priority. There’s pro, college, pro again, Broncos and then preps.

    Q: Is it realistic to think preps can get back in that mix or has that ship already sailed?

    Lombardi: I think you’ll see prep coverage more on a digital level now. The digital sphere has opened up.

    The beautiful thing that has happened in our industry is that local high schools are broadcasting their own games. Students are now doing play-by-play, they’re being reporters because they’re allowed to be. The web has given them that access.

    When I was in high school, I would’ve killed to do play-by-play of a game somewhere, but we didn’t have cameras. We didn’t have a studio. You don’t even need a studio, you just need a computer. I can listen to my kid’s lacrosse games on my computer, they’re streamed live. It’s really cool. I like it.

    You lose out on the masses because the masses don’t hear it, but the communities that do care about it get a chance to listen to that stuff.

    Q: When you see Colorado kids reach that national level, is there a part of you that wants to turn back to the TV stations and the reporters now and ask why they weren’t covering these kids five years ago?

    Lombardi: You lose that attachment. I’ll give you a great example.

    When I worked in Arizona, I did a high school sports show. It was a half hour, once a week. And I went out and found great stories. I went out and found a kid who went to a high school just north of Phoenix and he was supposed to be the next big thing.

    He was 6-foot-7, he jumped out of the gym. I did a standup where he jumped over me to dunk a basketball and I forged a friendship with his kid because he was so good at what he did.

    His name was Richard Jefferson.

    So 15 years later, I’m at Pepsi Center and Richard Jefferson is playing for the Spurs and this is late in his career. I walked up to him in his locker room and I felt kind of silly. I said, “Hey Rich, I don’t know if you remember me…”

    Before I said anything else, he said, “Of course I do. Vic Lombardi. I remember the show, I remember our shot.”

    It was really cool to have that association that impacted his life. It was a big deal for him to be on that show. It was a big deal to featured like that because he was a high schooler. Now it happens every day. But when you’re a high schooler, it means so much more.

    Q: You work for a station now in Altitude that tries to do it’s part for high school kids. It broadcasts weekly football games, it covers state championships. What does Altitude do that other stations or outlets can take and use to boost up that coverage?

    Lombardi: I’ll give Altitude credit in this regard, Altitude doesn’t have to cover high school games because they don’t make any money doing so. It’s not a moneymaker. It’s never been a moneymaker.

    They do it, but I think they’re community-minded and they understand that there is somewhat of an audience there. They have the capability, the teams and the resources to get it done.

    Again, would I love to see our outlet cover high school sports religiously? Yes.

    But it always comes down to resources. At least we cover games. At least we cover the state championships. We cover the Friday Night Light games. So there are things that are being done at Altitude that make me happy.

    I just wish everyone did it, that’s all.

  • Q&A: Sand Creek boys basketball standout D’Shawn Schwartz talks hoops and music

    Lewis-Palmer Sand Creek boys basketball
    D’Shawn Schwartz. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)

    D’Shawn Schwartz is quite good at basketball.

    So much so that he has become a big-time target for CU basketball coach Tad Boyle among other schools in the Pac-12.

    So with his senior season looming, it was time to figure out where Schwartz is in his decision making process. And since we had him, we wanted to get the scoop on his experience with USA Basketball, what he does in his down time and his thoughts on the athletic culture at Sand Creek.

    [divider]

    Question: You recently spent time at the USA Basketball U17 tryouts, what was that experience like for you?

    Schwartz: I really liked the experience. Just going up there was a blessing and a great opportunity being the only one there from Colorado. I thought it was just really cool to mesh with new guys and play with some great players.

    Q: Was it a different style or level of play than what you’re used to when you’re playing club ball or playing with Sand Creek?

    Schwartz: I think basketball is pretty universal. It’s nothing much more than I’ve already seen and to me, the club ball adjustment definitely helped transition for USA. And definitely training as hard as I was.

    Q: Is it something that factors into what you’re going to be going through in the next couple of months with your college decision looming and your senior season starting up?

    Schwartz: I don’t really know. I’m just trying to look at what’s going to fit me. I don’t really look too much at other people and what they’re doing.

    Lewis-Palmer Sand Creek boys basketball
    (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: But speaking of other people, Hunter Maldonado just announced that he was going to head up to Wyoming. It’s a guy you know and have played against. What are your thoughts on his commitment and and did it get you thinking that it’s getting to a point where you have to make a decision?

    Schwartz: I was definitely happy for him. I’m happy he got something. A lot of kids get overlooked out here so I’m really happy for him. But as far as affecting my decision, it didn’t really do much for me. I’m really just trying to see what’s the best I can get in July.

    Q: I’d probably get fired if I didn’t ask right now, but have you narrowed your choices down to a top five or top three considering the offers you have?

    Schwartz: I’m expecting to get a couple more, hopefully in July; a couple more Pac-12 schools. Then hopefully I’ll take my visits. But I know for sure I’m going on a visit to CU and Stanford.

    Q: When are you hoping to make a decision?

    Schwartz: I just want to do it before the (high school) season.

    Q: Going into your senior season, you have a new coach and it’s going to be a different atmosphere. Do you have any goals for what you want to do with Sand Creek next year?

    Schwartz: There’s a lot. Obviously (I want to win) a state championship, Gatorade Player of the Year, everything I can get out of this year. I want to go out with everything I can and leave Sand Creek proud and leave a legacy.

    Q: With you being considered one of the top players in the state, does that add a lot of pressure on you or are you able to still have a lot of fun with your high school season?

    Schwartz: I think it adds a lot (of things). It puts a target on my back for sure, but I don’t think I have any pressure. I deal with pressure pretty well now that I’ve gotten into music and stuff and I have good people around me to help fill with down time.

    Q: What do you do in your down time?

    Schwartz: I just make music. I have a lot of ideas and I just put them out there.

    Q: Is that something you want to do when you go to college, regardless of where you go?

    Schwartz: Yeah. I’m probably going to try and major in business and minor in music.

    Q: What kind of music are you centered on?

    Schwartz: It’s just off the computer, I don’t play a real instrument.

    Q: You’re more mixing stuff together then?

    Schwartz: Yes and no, I just make beats and stuff.

    Q: Do you every do anything with it that you try and tie back into basketball? Do you make warmup tracks or stuff you want to play in the gym during a game?

    Schwartz: I have thought about that. They’ve asked me, but we’ll see how that goes. I don’t know yet.

    Q: Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed the Sand Creek athletic department is really trying to boost its level of competition and it’s overall image. Is that something you guys feel as much as I’m trying to see it from an outside perspective?

    Schwartz: Yeah. Mr. Felice, our athletic director, I think he’s wiped out every coaching staff when he came in. He’s just really trying to change the culture for every sport. He’s really trying to make some moves.

    Q: Does that excite you for what can happen at the school if the trend continues?

    Schwartz: No doubt. I’m definitely going to be coming back as much as I can. I know a lot of young kids that will be coming to Sand Creek, so (it’s nice) to see them actually want to come instead of going to (other schools).

    Q: What’s going to be different about your game with Coach Hawkins being there?

    Schwartz: Oh man. He’s going to put a killer instinct in me. He’s got that attitude and he’s really going to drill it in me.

    Q: In what way? What is he going to have you do this year that you didn’t do a lot of next year?

    Schwartz: First off, we don’t have Jordan (Phillips) anymore. I’m sure I’ll have to take on more of a load and I think he’s going to make sure I’m taking what I deserve and not being so passive when I should be shooting. He really wants me to be great.

    Q: In order to do that, what do you have to do for the rest of the summer in order to be that great player for Sand Creek as well as Colorado high school basketball?

    Schwartz: Just keep competing and try to stay healthy. As of now, I just started a diet and I’m trying to lose a couple of pounds so I can try to get faster and more explosive. Just doing the little things to help my game.

  • Q&A: Fountain-Fort Carson football coach Jake Novotny on his new gig

    Fountain-Fort Carson football Jake Novotny
    Jake Novotny (Photo courtesy of Bill Sabo/CSU-Pueblo Athletics)

    An eventful spring at Fountain-Fort Carson is leading to what looks like an exciting summer.

    After the retirement of football coach, Mitch Johnson, the school had to find a new coach for the first time in 37 years. In May, the Trojans looked down the road to CSU-Pueblo and were able to hire Jake Novotny, an assistant with the Thunderwolves.

    With time already spent as an assistant at the high school level with Heritage and on the staff of a national championship winning team, Novotny found the job at Fountain-Fort Carson to be too good to pass up.

    In doing so, he became the latest in a series of football coaching changes around the state this offseason.

    With his tenure underway, Novotny took some time to chat with CHSAANow.com about the challenges that come with following a legend and what he brings to the table at Fountain-Fort Carson.

    [divider]

    Question: Was it difficult to come into a situation following Coach Johnson with the way he was beloved in that role?

    Novotny: I’m going to speak to things that happened before I was here, but I’ll the you this, being at CSU-Pueblo and being at Heritage High School from 2009 to 2011, I got to see what Coach Johnson has done from afar and the way he ran things and how he operated as a coach and a human being.

    From that perspective, I have nothing but great things to say about Mitch. He’s a class act and he’s been a guy that’s done great things for kids. He’s an advocate for kids. He’s a good football coach, too.

    Coming into this situation, I know from the football perspective that the kids were going to be in a good place in terms of what he’s done as a coach and setting them up to be successful at the next level.

    Like I said, I have nothing but respect for Johnson and he’s a class act and the kids are prepared because of the things he had done in the past and traditions that he had established. My job is to make sure that I embrace the past, but also have a direction and a vision for the future.

    Q: When this job became available, was it something that intrigued you and that you sought out or did Fountain-Fort Carson make its way toward you?

    Fountain-Fort Carson football team
    (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)

    Novotny: It was something that intrigued me and I sought out. I was at a pretty special place in CSU-Pueblo. For me to leave there and go somewhere, it had to be just as special, if not more special.

    That’s exactly how I feel about Fountain-Fort Carson. I’ve said it numerous times the last couple of days to different people, but facilities, administration, teachers, community-wise and especially kid-wise, there’s not a place like this in the state.

    I’ve been all over recruiting (for CSU-Pueblo), I’ve coached and played in the Denver area and this place down here is the closest you are going to get to a small college at the high school level, or even the Texas type of high school. It’s a one-town high school. We’re the best show in town.

    It’s great to showcase our kids on a weekly basis and be able to do that in a town where everybody knows who our kids are.

    For me to leave that situation at CSU-Pueblo where we’ve won national championships and RMAC championships and leave the staff that I worked with down there, it had to be for a place like Fountain. When it came open, it was a no-brainer for me to apply for it. And in a lot of ways for a coach, and I don’t care what level it is, it’s a dream job.

    Q: What did (CSU-Pueblo head coach, John) Wristen say when you were offered and accepted the job?

    Novotny: John is really good about giving advice. He’s been a great mentor of mine the last five years. Any time I’ve had job opportunities come up, John’s been a guy that I go to for advice, amongst several people, but he’s obviously is one of the first people I would sit down with.

    He helped me weigh the pros and the cons and look at things from different perspectives. But at the end of the day, he told me, ‘Jake, if that’s what you want to do and that’s what’s in your heart, you need to go get that job. You need to go do it and make it the best place that it can be for you and for those kids.’

    He was really supportive and was a guy that told me, ‘If you’re going to go do this, go 100 percent and do it the way we do it down here in terms having a good work ethic and attitude and relentlessly attacking everything you need to do that day.’

    He was excited to see guys from his staff go on and have success in other places. I know he’s excited for me, excited that it’s one of his guys.

    And I know, most importantly, that he’s there if I need him. It’s just like all the guys down there. They’re there if I need them. They’re 30 minutes down the road and I’ve already leaned on a few of them for some help and assistance on Xs and Os and ideas. That’s the best part is having a national championship coaching staff in your background and also in your back pocket.

    Q: You left the high school ranks to go to D-II and now you’re heading back to the high school ranks. From what you’ve seen, what does Colorado have to offer in terms of talent from the high school level?

    Novotny: There are guys in the state that don’t really understand the type of talent that we have here. I think Colorado is an under recruited area in some ways. I also think it’s an area where there’s a lot of potential that you can get a kid and really groom him at the next level.

    I think you’re going to have four to eight guys a year that are going to be Division I guys. Every state is going to have that. Some states have more, obviously. But we’re always going to have those four-to-eight each year that are going to be CU guys, CSU guys. But this state is really typically, in my opinion, a Division I FCS to Division II type of talented state. Most kids in this state are going to play at the level.

    As a coach, especially at the high school level, you’re job is to really educate your kids on the differences in those levels. What it means scholarship-wise for that. How they can get there and how they can be successful there.

    My background recruiting and my background with Coach Wristen and knowing the things that he demanded to us to know in recruiting, I can help with that with our kids down here. I can bridge that gap a little bit about what to do, how to do it, what does a college athlete look like.

    This state, it’s littered with talent left and right. A kid has to be realistic and coaches have to be realistic also. Parents have to be realistic in where can their kids play and be highly successful.

    You have to have those brutally honest conversations with kids. But I think that’s what you’re supposed to do in that role.

    Q: Have you gotten up to speed on the way the leagues changed this year with the waterfall process and RPI?

    Novotny: I heard people talking about it while I was going out and recruiting in the spring before I interviewed for this job. I heard kind of what the ideas were and I haven’t had to chance to sit down and look at it in terms of RPI and how that works.

    I have seen how the leagues were set up. And I understand it. You’re trying to make it to be the most competitive for everybody in the state as possible and building an opportunity for everybody to compete each other and have an opportunity at the playoffs.

    I tell you the one thing that I really like about it more than anything is Class 5A going back to 16 teams in the playoffs. I think that’s the right number. I think that is the best way to get the top teams in the state competing for a state championship. I think that the 16-team playoff is the right number for this state right now.

    Fountain-Fort Carson football team
    (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: You started conditioning your kids this week, what are the early impressions you’re getting from the boys?

    Novotny: I’ll tell you what, I’m impressed and excited about this group of seniors. I had 100 kids out, JV through varsity. So that’s sophomore through senior. And another 25-30 freshmen out. I had 130 kids out in the last three days.

    That’s impressive for anywhere in this state. For a college program, that’s impressive to have that many kids out. They’re excited about football. And I’ll tell you what they’re excited about. They’re excited about working with their brothers, working with their teammates for a common goal, which is Sept. 2 against Ralston Valley. Having an opportunity to go compete with each other and for each other.

    That’s what they’re excited about. That’s the way these kids are bred down here. That’s the way they are, they’re military kids. They’re kids that understand sacrifice and hard work. They understand dedication and discipline.

    As a coach, what’s a better place to coach at?

  • Q&A: Monte Thelen thought he was out, but Legend football pulled him back in

    (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
    New Legend football coach Monte Thelen spent 13 years as the coach at Cherokee Trail. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Monte Thelen built a winner at Cherokee Trail. From the time the school was founded until the conclusion of the 2015 season, Thelen served as the only football coach the school had ever know.

    He nearly brought a state championship to the school as he advanced the Cougars to the Class 5A title game in 2012, only to fall to Valor Christian.

    Cherokee Trail went 5-4 in the 2015 regular season and lost to Heritage in the first round of the state playoffs. Thelen stepped down soon after. It appeared that Thelen did not have any interest in taking another job, but Legend athletic director Kevin Boley was able to convince him to take the football coaching job at Legend.

    With the whirlwind of the hiring process over, Thelen took some time to chat with CHSAANow.com about how he became the new coach of the Titans and what challenges he is looking forward to facing.

    [divider]

    Question: When you stepped down at Cherokee Trail, the impression a lot of folks had was that taking another head coaching job right away wasn’t your plan. What changed all that?

    Thelen: I guess it all changed when Kevin Boley contacted me in mid-March and we just started talking specifically about Legend.

    Q: What did he talk about that got you intrigued in the program?

    Thelen: Well for starters, it’s about 12 miles from my house so it was close and it didn’t require a move. And they seemed very interested in me becoming their coach and just the positive vibe I got from Kevin and Jason Jacob, who’s the principal. Just the fact that they’re both definitely sports guys. I had never worked for a principal and athletic director who had such an extensive coaching background that it made me feel comfortable. Along with the pretty positive vibe that I got from speaking with everyone at Legend High School in general.

    Q: How is the approach different when you come from Cherokee Trail, where you started a program and became very successful, versus going into Legend which has had success and is a sustained program?

    Thelen: The approach is always different at different jobs. They’re different situations. You’re right that Cherokee Trail was a unique one in that it was a brand new program, but I have had experience at both Rangeview and Strasburg, which are more similar to Legend in that they were jobs that at the time, there was a lot of interest in trying to have a positive impact on the football program that had not enjoyed a lot of success in the past as some of the other programs at the school. I felt like there were some similarities there with what I had done in the past.

    Q: I don’t know if you think about this way, but your name and bringing you on will spark up any program. What have you gotten from kids and parents, beyond the people you have already talked to, in terms of support or feedback?

    Thelen: I have received some contact from the Titan family. It feels really good to be welcomed and to be treated that way. I have not had the chance to meet the kids per se. That’s going to happen early (this) week and I will also be meeting with the existing coaching staff at that time. But this all just went down here in the last couple of days so I have not yet had a chance to meet a large number of parents or students with Legend as we’re speaking right now.

    Q: What did you learn in your time at Cherokee Trail in terms of coaching in that area and coaching in (the Centennial) league that you hope to bring with you?

    (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
    Monte Thelen. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Thelen: I learned a lot of things at Cherokee Trail. It was a great experience for me. You learn a lot of things through a lot of situations. I’m probably a better coach now than I was 13 years ago when I went to Cherokee Trail. I’d like to use the word experienced, but I’m older and I just experienced a lot more.

    Being successful at Strasburg or Rangeview or Cherokee Trail or Legend, it all requires attention to detail, accountability, building up a sense of camaraderie among the players and coaches. It’s a chore of many people. I’m going to be a part of that, just like I was other places that I have been.

    We’re not going to be successful just because I’ve been named the head coach. I’m just going to be a part of it. It’s going to require a lot of work by a lot of people. Hopefully I can play a part in that.

    Q: A lot is going to be different next year with an RPI system in place, leagues have been realigned, if there was any year to change programs, would this be an ideal year to do it?

    Thelen: I don’t know. In the 13 years at Cherokee Trail a lot of the constants changed. We were in three different classifications. I guess you would say we were in four different leagues before they started changing up the 5A leagues. It seemed like every two years, things were changing for us.

    A lot of it is how you approach change. If you think it’s fun and exciting, you’ll have one attitude. If you think it’s overwhelming or — I don’t know if that’s the right word. If you think that a lot is changing and you don’t know what it might mean, I think that affects how you deal with the situation.

    We are going to be excited about the opportunity at Legend and we’re going to approach it with that attitude.

    Q: With a new job, is there a new sense of excitement or a new burst of energy that comes with it?

    Thelen: Oh sure, yeah. You bet. I would agree with that. I am energized by the confidence that Kevin and Jason have placed in me to lead the Legend program. I feel a responsibility to try and have a positive impact on the Titan family. And I’m going to work real hard to try and make that happen.

  • Q&A: JoJo Domann on his recruitment and Pine Creek’s sustained football success

    Pine Creek football JoJo Domann
    Pine Creek’s JoJo Domann. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)

    COLORADO SPRINGS — JoJo Domann has been the talk of Class 4A football in Colorado since he put on a show to help the Pine Creek Eagles win a second-straight state title last year.

    Over the summer, it was clear that his services were in high demand from several top college teams around the country. After the process was over, he chose Nebraska.

    Now, the senior safety and wide receiver is trying to help his team go for the three-peat. He took time to sit down and talk about his time with the Eagles and what’s in store for his future in Lincoln, Neb.

    [divider]

    Question: Pine Creek is in the third year of a greatly successful run. Are you in a situation where the playoffs are becoming too familiar or too routine, having to prepare for a one-or-done scenario every week?

    JoJo Domann: I mean, yes and no. Obviously, because we’ve been in this position before, we’re not used it to being one-and-done. We’re used to playing all four games. At the same time, we constantly remind ourselves and our coaches constantly remind us that we don’t have four games guaranteed. We have one game guaranteed. If we win that one, we get one more guaranteed.

    Q: Of the three playoff runs you’ve had now with Pine Creek, which of those teams was the best?

    Pine Creek football JoJo Domann
    (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)

    Domann: (Long pause) I couldn’t tell you who’s the best. But 2013 we had so many weapons on offense and we were senior-loaded. With 2014, last year, I think our defense was just unbelievable and we just made plays on offense. This year, time will tell, but our defense is holding up pretty good and our offense has been making plays lately.

    I can’t give you that answer until this season is over.

    Q: From last year, you guys lost seniors Josh Odom, Tommy Lazzaro and Avery Anderson so some people thought this would be the year you wouldn’t perform as well as you had the previous two seasons, but you haven’t missed a step. Why is that?

    Domann: The way the program is built. We have sophomores and juniors and even freshman that after this season, and (the seniors) are gone, won’t miss a beat. We have some talented kids. That’s how it was two years ago, that’s how it was last year.

    We have kids that understand that they didn’t do anything two years ago. We have seniors that didn’t touch the field two years ago. They didn’t do anything last year. My brother, even. He was the back up quarterback, but he beat Vista Ridge. It was No. 1 Pine Creek vs. No. 4 Vista Ridge last year and we came in and smoked them.

    He wants one for himself; the whole squad does. For the guys that have done it like myself and a bunch of the other seniors, we want another one. We don’t want to go out without a ring from this year.

    Q: When the playoff bracket first came out, was there a team that you really wanted to see and maybe a team that you didn’t want to see?

    Domann: I don’t think there was a team that we didn’t want to see. But we wanted to see Vista (Ridge) in the semis. At the same time, our coaches harped it into us that we had Thompson Valley first. I know Vista Ridge was looking forward to that semifinal matchup, and maybe a little too much because now they’re at home watching us play on Saturday.

    But like I said, it is game-by-game and if we slip up, if we throw a pick or have some kind of lapse, we could be on the couch watching other teams play.

    Q: You talked earlier about how your defense had been holding up and your offense has been making plays. You’re on both sides of the ball. Which side do you enjoy more?

    Domann: I enjoy them both. I mean, defense you get to hit people and it’s kind of my forte that I’ve been recruited for and that’s where I’ll play in college. With our defense, they’ve been throwing away from me and with our front seven on run plays, I honestly don’t get as many opportunities as I got last year just because we’re so solid up front.

    And on offense, I take what the defense gives me and try to score touchdowns and do what’s asked of me by Coach (Todd) Miller. I love them both. I really do. It’s going to suck in college having to only play one way.

    Q: Does your brother help you enjoy playing on the offensive side of the ball?

    Domann: Definitely. We have just talk about things the whole week up to the game: “What’s going to be open?” “Are you going to be here on this play?” All the little details. So during the game, I’m out at wide receiver and they give us this coverage and this play is called and Brock and I just look at each other and it’s like, “Man, we talked about this over dinner two nights ago.”

    It helps a lot to make it comfortable. I go in and out of the offense, but to have someone there who trusts me with the ball, it makes things comfortable.

    Q: Do your parents get sick of you guys talking football all the time?

    Pine Creek Dakota Ridge football JoJo Domann
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Domann: My mom (does). My dad is talking with us. And when my sister is home, we actually have to force ourselves to change the subject and not talk about football.

    Q: So what do you talk about?

    Domann: My sister is in theater, so we talk about theater. And then it ends up just going back to football. It’s pretty much football 24/7.

    Q: You’ve played basketball through high school as well, are you planning on playing this year?

    Domann: Funny you ask. I just talked to Coach (Joe) Rausch last weekend. I told him I would let him know the Monday after the state championship (Dec. 7).

    Q: What would keep you from playing?

    Domann: Just my health. Because I’m playing in two All-American games, I need to get my ankle right and even right now, I’ve made so much progress with it, but it’s still not 100 percent.

    So if my ankle in the next three weeks gets better and I can feel like I can go and give it 100 percent, because I won’t give anything less than that, then I’ll do it. But if not, if it gets dinged up in the next couple of weeks, I’ll probably take time off and get ready for the Semper Fi and then the U.S.A. vs. Canada (All-American games).

    Q: Between you, Avery Anderson and Paul Tillotson up at Lewis-Palmer (for baseball), why is Nebraska able to come into this state and pluck so many in-state guys away?

    Domann: I actually played basketball with Paul! Fifth grade through seventh grade, we were on a team called the Warriors, so I know Paul pretty well. I think it’s just the vibe that the university gives off. Everyone cares. It’s a family thing in that no matter what sport you’re in, they support you. To a Nebraska alum, you’re cool.

    Then when you go there, the vibe doesn’t change. It’s the same thing.

    Q: Why can’t the in-state coaches keep the in-state kids?

    Domann: I don’t think it’s a particular set thing. But for me, I chose Nebraska because I felt most comfortable there. CU is my No. 2. I love Boulder. I think it would be a great place to live. I like the coaching staff up there a lot. But I could say the same thing about Lincoln on top of what I want to major in. On top of the winning tradition. On top of all the other stuff that are the reason I picked to go there. I don’t think there’s a particular reason they don’t get (the in-state) kids.

    Q: How hard will it be for you when you play CU to come back here and play that game?

    Domann: You saw Christian McCaffrey do it and he balled out. Hopefully I’ll do the same. I’ll try to get tickets for the family and get as many people up as I can, but that’ll be fun. I’m looking forward to that.

    Pine Creek safety JoJo Domann surveys the field during the Eagles' 35-13 win over Falcon. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
    Pine Creek safety JoJo Domann surveys the field during the Eagles’ 35-13 win over Falcon. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

  • Q&A: Rod Sherman and Dave Logan preview Friday’s Cherry Creek/Valor Christian football game

    Valor Christian football coach Rod Sherman, left, and Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan, right. (Photos: Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
    Valor Christian football coach Rod Sherman, left, and Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan, right. (Photos: Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    CENTENNIAL — The 2014 Class 5A state championship football game was one for the ages. It was the second game of the season between Cherry Creek and Valor Christian and it lived up to every bit of the hype.

    The Bruins won both of those contests last season. Friday, the two teams will showdown again, and coaches Dave Logan and Rod Sherman sat down with us at the same time to talk about last year’s games, the changing landscape of Colorado high school football and what they’re looking for in Friday night’s game.

    [divider]

    Q: From a coaching standpoint, were last year’s games as much fun for you guys as it was for us in the media or the fans?

    Dave Logan: No. There’s my answer. Go ahead (gestures to Sherman).

    Rod Sherman: We were 0-2, of course not (laughs). They were awesome, competitive, exciting games. I think the first one was probably a little closer than the final score indicated.

    Logan: No doubt.

    Sherman: It’s why you play sports, right? You play sports to compete and we felt like we were playing against a great team. Dave’s kids are always well-prepared and play super hard. What’s not to enjoy about that? You may not enjoy the outcome all the time, but I think now we can look back and say that we were really glad we went through that last year. We were glad we got to play in the game. We wish a couple of plays would’ve gone differently, but those were great games.

    Logan: I would say this, I think in the first game we scored on the last play of the game so it was a one-score game. Honestly, it could have gone either way. It really could have. I know that’s cliche, but it’s an honest answer. And the championship game, if you saw the game, it was back and forth. There were a couple of times where it looked like we had a chance to get control. There were a couple of times where it looked like Rod’s team could get control.

    Ultimately, it came down to — just as Rod said — a couple of plays, and it could’ve gone either way. What I liked about it was it was two groups of kids and coaches — kids primarily — that gave everything they had during that game. That was not a game where anybody had anything left afterwards. So from a coaching standpoint, it’s enjoyable because of the height of the competition. I know whenever we play each other we have to play as good as we can possibly play to have a chance to win the game.

    Q: In the championship game it certainly could’ve gone either way and it was eventually decided on a two-point conversion. Was that you or your players that decided to go for two?

    Logan: It was the players that executed the play. I’ve always been sort of a gut call sort of coach. I thought even if we didn’t get it there was five minutes and change left so maybe we could get a stop. We were pretty spent at that point. I thought Valor had the best defense in the state last year and it was hard sledding, especially in the fourth quarter. We had gone a ways in the fourth quarter and I didn’t know how much we had left. I looked at it and said after the penalty, this might be our best and only chance to get a lead.

    Q: What was your reaction when you saw the offense take the field for the two-point conversion?

    Sherman: We felt like one of our biggest problems in the game was when — I don’t know how many thousand people were in the stadium, but everyone said (Milo) Hall’s getting the ball. We felt that Creek up front was as good or better than anyone we had played all year. We didn’t play as well up front as we needed to.

    We weren’t surprised by (the two-point conversion). I think I would’ve done the exact same thing at that time. They made a really good play. And again, at the end of the day, if our season and the difference between being a state champion or a runner-up is going to come down to a two-point play, I’ll take it right now. I’ll take it right now for this year.

    Logan: I would too.

    Cherry Creek Valor Christian football
    (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Q: This game is part of the Great American Rivalry Series, but how much of a rivalry is this?

    Sherman: I heard a great college coach say one time that it’s only a rivalry when both teams have won a game. We’re 0-2. I think last it was part of the series and it was the first time we had ever played. I think there’s factors of Dave’s tradition and how many championships he’s won at different schools and the stretch that we had. There’s a lot of those things that go into it.

    But the reality is with the league we play in, I mean, Dave had to play Grandview last week and no matter what happens tomorrow night, we have to go play them next week. Their running back (Hayden
    Blubaugh) is as good as anyone in state and I’m not minimizing us playing (Cherry Creek) but in this league you have to bring your best every week. We had to bring our best against (Cherokee) Trail.

    It’s exciting for the school and it’s exciting for the media. You know when you play Dave’s team that they’re going to play hard. They’re going to bring their best, but that’s true against Grandview, that’s true against Trail and down the line.

    Logan: I think our league is the best league in the state. I’m not saying there aren’t other good teams around the state, but I think from top to bottom, what Rod said is so true. There’s not one team that you can sort of overlook in terms of preparation and say “Well, we play these guys this week, but look who we play next week.” You just can’t do it. There are too many athletes and honestly, I think there are a lot of really good coaches in our league. Guys that spend a lot time studying football, studying their opponents, putting their kids in a good position, understanding that the team is going to change every year. The personality might not change, but your overall ability changes every single year.

    In terms of this being a rivalry, the only thing that I think makes it a rivalry is the fact that Valor had done and continues to do such a good job and won five-straight state championships. When you’re on top, and Rod knows this as well as I do, everyone shoots for you. Everyone wants a piece of you and that’s just how it is. If you’re a .500 team, people don’t get as fired up to play you.

    They had won how many state championships in a row? Other than that, I agree with Rod, I think the Grandview rivalry is big, CT, you can never overlook Eaglecrest. Overland always has a stock of athletes that you have prepare for. I know it sounds like coach speak and little cliche, but that’s the honest to goodness answer I can give you.

    Q: Who has the bigger bullseye on their back?

    Logan: I think we both do. We were fortunate enough to win it last year so we get a bullseye in that regard. Rod’s crew has won it so many times so they kind of get a bullseye in that regard. I’m the coach at a public school who has a long history in terms of football success. We kind of get a bullseye in that regard, as one of the biggest public schools in town.

    Rod is the head guy at a private school and I’ve coached at a private school before so there’s an automatic bullseye just because you’re coaching at a private school. I think the bullseye is probably right in the middle of both our backs.

    Sherman: Sometimes that bullseye has other people, other programs saying that we have advantages that they don’t have. They might look at Creek and say they have a big school, so they’ve got a good diverse group of students in many areas. I think at the end of the day, what can get minimized in that is that Dave and his staff do a great job of coaching up kids. It’s still kids on the field that are working hard and investing months and months into lifting and running, speed camps, college camps, trying to perfect their craft.

    I think sometimes when there is a sentiment that, “If only I could be at one of those schools…” The reality is all of our kids are the same anywhere in the state. They’re putting their football pants on, they’re working hard, they’re preparing. They’re all high school kids. I just thank God for the ability to work with them. That just makes that bullseye, at times, brighter.

    Q: Let’s go back to the Centennial League for a second. Would it make Colorado better overall if some of those teams were spread out or do you like the competitiveness that it brings to your programs right now?

    Sherman: I like the competitiveness of it as long as the best teams are making it to the playoffs. I think sometimes that’s where there’s a miss. If the state wants to have parity in the playoffs then I think it’s unfair for the six teams in the Centennial League to have them all in the same league. To then go down to a 16-team playoff where last year, Eaglecrest as a fourth-place team, probably should be a semifinalist team and deserved every bit of that.

    I’m nervous about going down to 16 teams, trying to protect league champions and there being a sentiment of letting the Centennial League beat each other up and see what happens. I think that’s unfair to the students in our schools.

    Cherry Creek Valor Christian football Mile High
    Dave Logan. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    Logan: I completely, 100 percent agree. I would be in favor of leaving the leagues as they are, but leaving the field at 32. If you cut the tournament, you cut the postseason in half and then you leave the leagues as they are, my question to whomever would make that decision is explain to me what you’ve accomplished.

    What’s the motive for that? People say well when there’s five playoff games, the first round where you have No. 1 playing No. 32, they’re not good games. Some of the games are not competitive and I understand that, but some of them have been competitive. If you cut it 16, there are 16 teams that can’t even hold on to any sort of hope in Week 5. That’s big for kids. I coached a team back in 2002 that was 7-3 and didn’t get into the postseason. So I think that if you want to break up the leagues, let’s come up with a reason and a motive as to why you’re doing it.

    Q: You guys have two very different styles. Offensively Rod’s team has a quarterback who is getting a lot attention and has great ability in throwing the ball. Dave’s team is more ground oriented. How do you guys maintain such a high level of play considering your different styles and what makes your games so great when they come together?

    Logan: You try, as a coach, to look at your team every single year and you try to identify, “Who are we?” I’ve had teams in the past where we couldn’t run the ball a lick so we spread out and got in the shotgun, and I’ve had 3,000-yard passers four or five times in my career. I think the personality of your team, once you identify that, then I think you have to put them in positions that were they can best achieve.

    I think the running game is important and it can help control the game. There are different ways to run the ball. You have to come up with strategy that allows you to run the ball when somebody else knows you’re going to run it. If you look at some of the really successful teams, that’s what they’ve been able to do. I’m an ex-receiver, I played quarterback in high school. I love to throw the ball. Rod does a great job in identifying the same sort of mentality.

    Sherman: I would agree with that. I think as a coach you go through the spring and the summer and have some team camps to figure out what your personality is going to be and how do you compliment that. Last year, championship game, Dave’s team is doing a great job of running the ball and he had a couple of really well-timed reverses. That’s a great compliment. I think of a pass (quarterback) Joe (Caplis) made when they were in double-tight. A play-action post. That’s a compliment to what you do really well to help round out the edges.

    I think for us personality-wise, early in the season we were throwing the ball too much. It’s easy to rely on that and I think we’ve been playing better as we’ve found balance. That’s true for every team. There’s some talk at Dove Valley, right, about how do they find the right level of balance. Balance comes with either your passing game setting up the run game or your run game setting up the passing game. There has to be some level of balance if you’re going to be successful.

    Q: How do you guys feel about the Wild Card system and the switch to RPI? Is that a good or a bad thing?

    Logan: I think that’s as good a system as any. I haven’t heard anybody offer up anything that would be better. I think strength of schedule should impact ultimately the seeds, which should be taken into consideration when deciding the pecking order of the playoffs. It would encourage programs to jump up and play some good teams. You find a lot out about your team early in the season if you’re willing to go out and play teams that are good, that have good talent and are well coached, and if you don’t play well there’s a chance you’re going to lose.

    Ultimately, you have nine regular season games. I don’t really think it’s all that important to be 9-0 in the regular season. It’s important to be playing your best football and also as a coach, to have a good grasp of what I have have. What do we have to do to win? Playing good teams helps you identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses and I think with a RPI system, you’re not penalized for playing good teams. You’re encouraged to play good teams.

    Valor Christian coach Rod Sherman. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
    Rod Sherman. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

    Sherman: I think the RPI balanced with equal leagues and the parity of leagues makes a ton of sense. I think there’s still an issue if the RPI is your winning percentage, your opponents’ winning percentage and then you have some of the best teams in the same conference, your winning percentages aren’t as good and that can have an adverse affect. But there’s only 16 teams in the playoffs. I look at Cherokee Trail, at 3-4, would compete for league championships in a lot of leagues.

    Logan: No doubt.

    Sherman: You can see that. You can look back at scores. Monte (Thelen) does a great job of coaching them up, but just with RPI I’m worried about what that means for Trail in the next two weeks. In a field of 32 they should absolutely be in the playoffs. Because of the conference, how does their opponents’ winning percentage (affect them). And do they have to look at their schedule and see if they can challenge themselves early to find out all the things Dave talked about.

    I just don’t think it’s good for any of us to have to worry about non-conference winning being more important than the things Dave was talking about. How do we challenge ourselves? How are we learning about our team? I think having a larger playoff field kind of self-adjusts to some of those issues.

    Q: Without giving too much away, when you guys take the field, what’s the biggest worry you have when you look at the team on the other sideline?

    Sherman: Protecting the football and being ready for multiple looks. Offensively and defensively. Dave, with his offense, we know they’re going to run the ball. They’re going to throw the ball a bit. What are their complimentary plays? Some of those things you can’t prepare for other than trying to draw up some ideas and things like that. How your kids react to things that are new. Are we going to answer? Are we going to be prepared for that?

    I think we’ve both played in environments that have been tough. I think in their game against Regis Jesuit there were seven or eight thousand people there. When we played in Arkansas, it was a packed house. We’ve done that and those things will wear off quickly during the game. Those guys play hard. They play really hard.

    Logan: From our standpoint, a couple of things. You look at Valor on offense and they’re similar to us, not in terms of schematically, but sort of a mindset that he has. You’re going to see a lot of different formations, you’re going to see some stuff that you have not seen before. I guarantee it. So how do you prepare your kids for when they break the huddle and, defensively, they have to identify something that they’ve worked on all week and they’re looking at something that they have not seen. That’s always critical when we play them.

    You go into every game from a defensive standpoint trying to make that team one-dimensional. We can’t let them run the ball for 200 yards because we will get our doors blown off if that’s the case. They’re really good schematically and personnel-wise in what they do on offense. So we have to tackle well and we have to get the ball out a couple of times to be successful on defense.

    Cherry Creek Valor Christian football
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    On offense, you have to understand that it’s going to be a slugfest up front. You have to be willing to line up and go at people. If you get a yard, you have to line up and go at it again. With the atmosphere, there will be a lot of people at the game. It’s going to be a great barometer for us and I told the kids this week that this is a game that we can be really loose in. The winner isn’t guaranteed anything. For the loser, the season’s not over but you learn a lot about your team. We’ll know a lot more about our guys at the end of Friday night.

    Q: Any chance of either of you guys offering up a prediction for the game?

    Sherman: We’ll be there (laughs). I think at the end of the day, have our kids been excited about this game? Yeah. Did we want this to be homecoming? Truthfully, our first two games of the season were at home and we’ve been away for five weeks. Homecoming couldn’t be next week because we have to do our senior night with Grandview.

    Here’s the thing about Valor’s homecoming: We don’t have very many graduates so it’s not like there’s that many graduates to come home for. I’m sure there’s the same buzz for both schools. The weather’s changing, it’s getting down to football weather. The Broncos are undefeated. I’m sure both teams are going to play hard. Like Dave said, both games from last year, there’s a few plays either way that could have dictated the game.

    Logan: There’s a healthy respect between the programs. There’s a healthy respect between the staffs, I know most of Rod’s guys. People on the outside sometimes, and a lot of times, don’t really understand what high school coaches are all about. Nobody is making any money here. You’re making about 27 cents an hour. The guys that really commit a good portion of their life to try and mentor kids and coach them up and help them achieve their dreams and hopefully win some games and teach them a few things about football in case they go on and play college, those are the guys that really go unnoticed.

    The majority of coaches are in this job of professional avocation because that’s what they’re about. They’re trying to help kids. It’s not going on your tombstone, how many games you won and how many games you lost. But how many lives have you impacted? How many of your kids will come back to you five years from now, or 10, or 15 and bring their kids back and tell their coach, “Thanks for what you taught me”? That’s really important stuff. The respect level between the two programs is high and it should be a fun game for the spectators.

    Cherry Creek Valor Christian football Mile High
    (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

  • Q&A: Holy Family football’s Chris Helbig talks high-flying offense and setting state records

    Holy Family Fort Morgan football
    Holy Family senior Chris Helbig. (Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)

    There’s not a football player in the state of Colorado that has turned heads as quickly as Chris Helbig has this season.

    The Holy Family quarterback got the attention of fans statewide when he threw for a state record 607 yards in the first week of the regular season. He followed that up with another aerial attack the following week, allowing a teammate to join him in the record book.

    There is little doubt now at this point of the season, the Tigers offense is a must-see attraction this season.

    Ahead of their Week 4 showdown with Frederick, Helbig took the time to chat with us about Holy Family’s record-breaking performances and which schools are trying to lure him their way.

    [divider]

    Q: When this season started, did you or coaches have an idea about just how explosive this offense is going to be?

    Chris Helbig: Kind of. We knew the guys we had and we knew that if we put them in the right situation to succeed then we could score on any play. Whether it’s from our own 1-yard-line or the 50-yard-line, we knew that if we put guys in the right spot, good things would happen.

    Q: What is it about the offense? Is is just the way you put the right guys in space or is just the scheme overall that opens it up for you?

    Helbig: I think it’s that, in the scheme of things, when we execute then it’s going to work out well in the end. I guess it’s just the scheme and when the guys get into the open space, they know what to do with the ball.

    Q: When you first heard that you set a state record with 607 passing yards in Week 1, what was your initial reaction to that?

    Helbig: I thought it was crazy. Considering I didn’t throw many deep balls and it was more of the receivers catching and running, I thought it was crazy for sure. That’s a lot of yards.

    Q: Has anyone else taken notice? Have you gotten more recruiting calls than you were getting before the game?

    Helbig: Not really. It’s more of the same colleges that I’m talking to, I guess I’m just talking to them more often than before.

    Q: Which schools are talking to you?

    Helbig: Wyoming and then some FBS schools. There’s Montana, (Northern Colorado) and then I have some offers from some RMAC schools.

    Q: A week following that Week 1 performance, one of your receivers, Joe Golter, set a state record for receiving yards in a game and after Week 3, you’re in the record books again for most touchdown passes in three games. When you’re able to think about that for a second, what kind of confidence does that give you in your team as you get further along in the season?

    Helbig: It shows what we’re capable of doing. We try to get better each week so our expectations are that we (play like that every week). We just try to come out and compete and do the same thing week in and week out.

    Q: When you think of high school football, it’s still more of a run-first game. What is about guys like you and Dylan McCaffrey down at Valor Christian that the high school game is, if even slowly, shifting into a more pass-heavy attack?

    Helbig: I think it’s part of the game evolving. You’re getting more athletic guys that are playing football. And people are learning when you get guys in open space it’s easier. Throwing the ball downfield and having the receivers make plays on balls, it can help out a lot. It’s definitely a big momentum shifter when you complete a big pass for sure.

    Q: When you’re putting up the kind of numbers you are, these are numbers that NFL guys can’t reach and they have more time and more possessions, what does that say about your talent relative to the level of competition that you face?

    Helbig: It says a little bit about my talent. But it’s more of a team thing. Everyone has to work together to succeed at those things. It starts with the line. The line has to give me time, which they’ve done all season and then you have to have guys who can catch the ball and make plays with the ball. It really speaks more of a team thing than an individual thing.

    Q: With the way the team has played since moving up to Class 3A (in 2012), how great has that been for the school to still have the team chemistry and the talent to compete with the top teams in your classification?

    Helbig: It’s nice. It shows that we can compete no matter what the numbers are. We’re going to come out and look past all that stuff and game in and game out and we’re just going to try and compete and win the game.

  • Q&A: George Washington softball’s Tracy Harris on leading the state in strikeouts

    Tracy Harris. (Courtesy of the Harris family)
    Tracy Harris has a state-best 63 strikeouts.. (Courtesy of the Harris family)

    [dropcap]T[/dropcap]racy Harris is a sophomore. And, as of Friday morning, she sits atop softball’s leaderboard when it comes to strikeouts across all classifications.

    Harris, George Washington’s ace, has 66 total strikeouts through six games against just 31 walks. She’s 4-2, and has thrown 34 innings so far this season.

    Included in Harris’ totals this season is a 20-strikeout performance in an extra-inning win against Boulder to open the season on Aug. 24. Though no official state softball record book exists — yet, it is being worked on — that mark is believed to rank in the top-5 all-time in strikeout performances.

    She followed that up with a 15-strikeout game against Arvada, and then struck out 12 against Adams City two games later.

    Already, Harris is more than halfway to her total from her standout freshman season, when she struck out 100 batters in 80 2/3 innings.

    We caught up with Harris on Thursday.

    [divider]

    Q: What are your hopes, and your goals, for the year?

    Tracy Harris: I guess I’d say I’m hoping for 150 or above in strikeouts. And I’d like to have a really good (winning percentage).

    There’s a difference between us last year and this year in just playing the game. I think last year, we weren’t as confident when we were playing, so this year, I was really proud of how their confidence boosted up when they were up to bat. I just hope we can keep going and have a good season.

    Q: Did you notice that difference right away in practice this season?

    Tracy Harris. (Courtesy of the Harris family)
    Harris. (Courtesy of the Harris family)

    Harris: I’d say our first practice, yeah, there was a big difference. A lot of people were more excited about the game, and they were a different player than they were last year.

    Q: I imagine that helps the whole whole team. If one person starts to feel like that, then it can kind of feed to the rest of the team.

    Harris: Yeah, I think seeing one person hit and then another person hit, it’s just like a “Money see, monkey do.” It’s just like a pattern.

    Q: So the Boulder game. It was the first game out. You threw 10 innings and had 20 strikeouts. Can you tell us a little bit about that game, and what it was like for you?

    Harris: Well, not all games are perfect, and so we had one inning where we had a little bit of errors. But then — we were really pumped to play Boulder. I think all of us were ready to finally beat Boulder.

    It was our first game of the season, so I was pretty pumped. Towards the end of the game, it was tied, I think 8-8, and we kept having extra innings and extra innings. I thought, “Well, this is a great opportunity for me to keep going.” And I felt like I could just keep doing it.

    Then we scored a run — we got a great outfield hit by our shortstop and we scored and we won — but I was just surprised by myself. I don’t think last year I would’ve been able to do that.

    Q: Why is that? What’s the difference?

    Harris: Last year, coming in, I probably wasn’t as confident as I am this year. Last year, I was coming in as a freshman and playing all these teams and I didn’t know a single thing about them. Now, I kind of focus on how people hit — so if I they can’t handle an inside (pitch) or an outside. And that was something I couldn’t think about last year.

    Q: So you’re more developed as a player.

    Harris: Yeah, I just think about the game more, the tactics in the game. Like last year, I would’ve been like, “I’ve gotta get strikeout.” This year, I’m like, “I’m gonna get a strikeout.”

    Q: But it hasn’t been just one game for you. Right now, you still lead the state in strikeouts. Do you think that first game set a tone for you?

    Tracy Harris. (Courtesy of the Harris family)
    Tracy Harris. (Courtesy of the Harris family)

    Harris: Yes, because when you get off to a good start, it gives you a good feel and you know you’re going to have a better season. You just have that confidence in you.

    Q: How aware are you of the fact that you are leading the state in strikeouts? Or is it not something you think about much?

    Harris: Oh, I think about it a lot. (Laughs) Not like in a really crazy way, but I think about it like, “This is kind of crazy for me.” To come from one year where I ended with 100 strikeouts — that was my last out of the season — and to now be in the lead is kind of incredible for me.

    The way I think about it is, “I’ve got to keep this up. I want teams to know I’m ready.” But I also think of having less walks, and it kind of freaks me out a little bit. I should not think about walking someone. When I walk a person, I think, “Alright, that has to stop.”

    Q: What are you hopes for the team as far as the rest of the regular season goes?

    Harris: I want my team to not be afraid that somebody will yell at them for not catching the ball. Just have the confidence that they can make this out, or they can hit the ball, that they can do it without somebody telling them. You don’t have to be worried.

    Q: What about league play? What are you looking forward about the DPL this season?

    Harris: I’m looking forward to playing our rivals. I’m looking forward to playing TJ and East. … It’s just kind of like a fun little rivalry we have going on. It’s just good to see them, and it’s always fun to play them.

  • Q&A: Associate commissioner Tom Robinson on high school officiating

    Tom Robinson CHSAA associate commissioner
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    AURORA — As CHSAA’s liaison to every official in the state, Tom Robinson has his fair share of rough days at the office. The associate commissioner hears it all when it comes to any officiating issue, but he tries to block out the outside noise.

    Robinson takes time during the year to attend as many games as he can evaluate referees and try to help them develop so they can reach higher levels.

    He also serves as a replay official for the Big 12 and the Mountain West conferences — so if anyone knows the rules, it’s Robinson.

    We sat down with Robinson to discuss issues that arise when it comes to officials, as well as the expanded use of iWanamaker to score Colorado high school golf, which he also oversees.

    [divider]

    Q: As head of officials, what is the biggest concern for you going into the start of any school year?

    Tom Robinson: I don’t know if I would say it’s concern. It’s just a lot of preparation that goes into the start of not only the school year and the fall season, but the winter and the spring (as well). All of our officials organizations, every single one of them are in the throes of master planning.

    It’s like a master clinic to prepare their officials for the upcoming year relative to new rules, maybe new mechanics. Maybe it’s looking at issues they had during the previous season that they want to correct. So concern? Maybe not. It’s just having enough time and the right approach to get them prepared for the season.

    Q: What’s the biggest complaint that you hear on a regular basis in regard to officials?

    Robinson: It’s not even a love/hate, it’s a hate/hate relationship with officials. It’s just somebody complaining that either the officials blew a call or in some respects it’s that (a team) was cheated or something, or that the officials have some kind of bias. Which is just the mentality about officials, unfortunately.

    Q: When you’re attending a game and you see an incorrect call made, what’s the process that you go through? Do you inform the officials after the fact that a certain call was wrong or do you address the ruling with all the officials as a group?

    Robinson: Probably the temptation is, for example if it’s a football game and it happens in the first half, to storm into the locker room at halftime and say, “You guys flat screwed that up.” But that’s not my approach. The deed is done. There is no going back on it, so what I generally do is make a note.

    And if it’s a football game, I just contact the referee to have him tell me what happened on the play, I give him my response as to what happened on the play and just follow up that way. I try to be heavy-handed with that piece of it.

    Shift Why initiative Tom Robinson
    Tom Robinson, speaking at an event earlier this month. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: People watch a lot of NFL and they always think the rule at the highest level of a sport trickle down, but that’s not always the case. What would you say to someone who claims they know a rule but really don’t?

    Robinson: That’s difficult. A lot of people would like for all the codes to be the same. Most of them know that there are three different codes for rules. I would say to a fan in that case — I would inform them that for high school there is a code and it may be different than what happens on Sunday. In fact, that’s kind of what we do. We say, “That’s a Sunday rule.”

    Everybody knows that Sunday belongs to the NFL, because that’s what they watch primarily. There’s a tendency to want to say that how officials officiate on Sunday is how they should do it on Friday, and sometimes, it’s far from the truth. For example, if you have pass interference, in the NFL that is a devastating rule. You throw a 60-yard bomb and it’s at the spot of the foul. In high school, it’s 15 yards from the previous spot. In college, it’s 15 yards from the previous spot, but if it’s inside of that, it’s a spot foul.

    Q: Earlier this week, a friend brought up to me that there’s this quirky field goal rule where you can free kick it off a tee. Why do rules like that exist? (Note: The rule was used when Kip Smith of Legacy kicked the state record 67-yard field goal in 2009.)

    Robinson: You know something, that’s a good question. That’s for somebody who is a grandfather of a grandfather of a grandfather of me that would probably know when that rule came in. There are some people (around) that know that too. When you say, “Kick a field goal,” it’s from a tee or a place kicked, but it’s from scrimmage. So the opponent has a chance to block it and that’s generally what we know.

    In high school and in the pros, there’s this quirky rule that says if on a scrimmage kick — a punt play — the receiver fair catches or is awarded a fair catch, on that spot where the play is ruled dead, the (receiving) team can set up for a free-kick field goal. So in high school and the pros, they can do that. They can get three points out of that.

    So let’s say you’re punting from your own endzone and you get nervous and you want to get the kick off quick and you pop it up and it only gets to your 20-yard line and the receivers fair catch it, the other team can kick a field goal from that spot. Depending on the time and the score of the game, that would dictate whether they want to or not. Let’s say there’s one second left and they’re down two, then I certainly would free-kick it. I would tell the referee, “I hope you know this rule.” There’s no pressure except for kicking it off the tee.

    Q: When you look at the rule books that are laying around this office, they all have NFHS on it. Is there a NFHS rule book and a CHSAA rule book or do Colorado high school athletics go by what the NFHS puts into place?

    Robinson: We’re one of not many states that are 100 percent states. We 100 percent abide by NFHS rules. The National Federation of High School rules. Now, the 100 percent label is done by sport. So you can go 100 percent in football but maybe not 100 percent in basketball. For example, in Texas they are 100 percent in basketball, just like we are.

    We go strictly by NFHS and those are our rules. CHSAA does not have its own rule book, except to say that it’s NFHS. But in Texas, they go by NCAA rules (in football). They also have seven-person crews and mechanics as well. As a result of that, they can’t have anybody on the national high school rules committee because they are not 100 percent.

    Q: So when you say Colorado is “100 percent” are they 100 percent in every sport?

    Robinson: We are rare because we are 100 percent in every sport. We don’t deviate. Another example would be a shot clock in basketball. There are some states that have a shot clock. New York, California, North and South Dakota. Shot clock. Those states, they’re not 100 percent in basketball. We are, so we don’t have a shot clock.

    Q: You’re also the commissioner in charge of golf. There are a lot of people who express concerns with iWanamaker. What’s the biggest benefit of iWanamaker with where we are today in high school athletics?

    Tom Robinson CHSAA associate commissioner
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Robinson: I think this, and I’ve expressed it all along, it’s just I can’t get in front of every single coach in an auditorium — at least after they tell me all the problems with iWanamaker. If I can actually get through that and tell them what the vision is, most of them are pretty responsive.

    The vision is just like everything else we do: We have MaxPreps which is the repository for scores for volleyball, for football, for basketball. That’s where you would go to find schedules and scores of events in just about every sport. You can’t go to MaxPreps to find golf. There are no scores. We’ve tried to get coaches to put that information in so it can get to the media, it just hasn’t worked.

    So in my mind, the vision of iWanamaker is to have a place where you can go to see where teams are playing, who’s playing and then in the end, seeing the results of those events as they were scored. You can find out which player won that particular event and iWanamaker provides that as an opportunity for everyone across the state. It also has, if you’re registered in that system, you can go to rankings. Right now we have over 500 golfers in iWanamaker that are ranked. Now, it’s not legitimate because there are some schools that have opted out or are not doing it, so you don’t have every player there. But you have close to 500, so that’s the place to go to see how you measure up prior to regionals.

    In my mind, the benefits far outweigh the complaints we get about it. The biggest complaint we get about it is coaches who are asked to score. Some of those things are real and legitimate, but some of them are excuses as well. It just changes the culture of when coaches go to an event and what they do and what they’re responsible for.

    Q: Do you see any deficiencies with iWanamaker where you sit and if so, do you have a plan to try and get those resolved in the near future?

    Robinson: Yeah, I think I know after observing a few matches this year, where the frustration occurs. If you don’t have everyone on board then you cannot get an event set up. Every school that is participating in the event has to have its roster updated and then the person hosting that event has to know the order of which those players are playing. In other words, their No. 1 golfer, No. 2 golfer, No. 3 golfer, No. 4 golfer has to be delineated in iWanamaker. It’s actually an easy process to execute, but what happens is that a lot of our coaches are either working careers and coaching is like everything else, secondary. Or they’re teachers, where coaching is secondary.

    They just have a lot on their plate. I get it. If they’re coaching the day before they have an event and they’re trying to figure out who’s going to go to the event or maybe they’re having a playoff, the last thing on their mind is making sure the host of that tournament knows who’s playing. So a lot of times they’ll arrive at an event with players that the host doesn’t know is in the event. Now it’s a scramble to get them in the right place. It’s that type of thing that does take place. Those are some of the legitimate reasons that I say exist.

    What I’d like to do knowing that is just maybe only require for leagues one event or two events is all they need to have live-scored. And the rest they can relax and do their thing. But really make an effort to have one or two of those events. Maybe one in the middle and maybe one at the end which could dictate their seeding, that are reporting their events and live-scoring. Make it available to parents and administrators so people can see what’s going on because there’s going to be some buzz around it. Maybe that’s where it goes. That’s a compromise.

    The mandate is your roster has to be in, the hosted event has be in and the event has to be live-scored. The live-scoring is preventing people from getting to the first step most of the time.

  • Q&A: Longmont’s Sydney Wetterstrom on playing three sports, and her senior season

    Longmont Greeley West volleyball
    Longmont senior Sydney Wetterstom. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Athletes like Sydney Wetterstrom don’t come around very often. And in today’s world focused on sport-specialization, her type is becoming increasingly rare.

    Wetterstrom, a senior at Longmont, is a three-sport athlete. Well, more accurately, she’s a three-sport star.

    She’s committed to Michigan for volleyball, was a second-team all-state pick in 4A girls basketball last season, and also competed in three events at the state track meeting — placing second in the triple jump.

    We caught up with Wetterstrom on Thursday.

    [divider]

    Q: Senior year’s got to kind of feel different for you. Can you pinpoint what it is?

    Sydney Wetterstrom: It feels different in the sense that it’s your last year. Every year prior to this, you’re like, “I can look forward to next year.” Like, if something were to go wrong, “Oh I always have next year.”

    But this is my last year, and just knowing that after this I have a new start, and I know that I want to leave my legacy and some tradition for Longmont High School — the idea that you never give up and you’re always doing that extra repetition to get better. And just making sure that girls who come after me know that it’s an honor to play with the Trojan on your jersey.

    It’s different because it is the last one. In year’s prior, I’ve given it everything I’ve got, but this year, I’m just going to really be scrappy and give it even more.

    Holy Family Longmont girls basketball
    Wetterstrom helped Longmont’s girls basketball team reach the 4A Final 4 last season. (Pam Wagner)

    Q: Are you going to continue to play volleyball, basketball and track this season?

    Wetterstrom: Yes. I actually had a tough decision. I played for a club team down in Monument, and in year’s past, they’ve allowed me to play multiple sports and they’ve worked with the schedule, but this year, they said, “It’s either volleyball or you don’t play for us.” And knowing that I am a three-sport athlete, and I take pride in that, I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t play for you if you’re going to restrict me like that.”

    So I’m playing for a club about 25 minutes apart with a great coach and a great team, and I’m going to get the best that I can out of that. So that was a really tough decision for me.

    Q: You’ve played on varsity for all three sports every year since you were a freshman. Your brother [Forrest Wetterstrom, a 2013 Longmont grad] did that as well, didn’t he?

    Wetterstrom: He was varsity for everything except football his freshman year, when he was on JV. He did play some varsity playoff games.

    Q: So that’s kind of a nice family legacy you guys have going there.

    Wetterstrom: Yeah, and I have a younger sister who’s going to be a freshman this year. She has big shoes to fill, but she’s a tough kid and she’ll get it. Even if she doesn’t, she’s her own person and she should have her own thing.

    Q: As far as volleyball goes, you guys have coach (Holli) Stetson back after a year away. How has that been?

    Wetterstrom: It’s been really good. She sets the standard really high, even in open gyms where it’s a relaxed playing situation. But she just has that attitude and that mentality where we win, and we don’t get beat. It’s different to lose a game, but you should never get beat. Does that make sense?

    If you give it your all and you lose, that’s acceptable, but if you are making silly mistakes and not fixing it and not adjusting, and you get beat, that’s where we need to take a step back and look at our goals and see how we need to improve on that.

    I love coach Stetson, I think she’s an amazing coach. She has a really calm presence on the court, which I really admire. And she knows how to pump people up without being in their face and without being an aggressor.

    Q: Do you guys have goals or ambitions for the season?

    Wetterstrom: I think we could win regionals and make it to state. We have really good girls this year, and I think everyone has that mentality and that chip on their shoulder from last year. We want to win and we need to prove ourselves.

    Q: You committed to Michigan last summer. How has it been not having to deal with the whole recruiting aspect?

    Wetterstrom: Oh, I still deal with recruiting. (Laughs) I’ve gotten offers for basketball and track. Volleyball people kind of say, “Oh, I can’t really touch you,” but basketball people are like, “Hey, if that doesn’t work out, you can still come here.”

    Longmont Greeley West volleyball
    Wetterstrom. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Q: Well, that’s got to be humbling and an honor that they’re still after you.

    Wetterstrom: Oh, yes, it is. I really like knowing that I have opportunities elsewhere. Not that I’m looking forward to going anywhere but Michigan. I love Michigan. That’s where my heart is. It’s an amazing school. But you never know what’s going to happen. Say a family member gets sick and you need to stay home? It’s just nice knowing that you have options.

    Q: Was it tough for your to choose to stick with only volleyball in college?

    Wetterstrom: Yeah, it was tough, but I think I’ll have more success with that, for sure. And after college, there are more opportunities to play volleyball professionally. Not really in the States, but you can go overseas and travel. It’s just something that’s a great addition for that.

    Q: You already mentioned last season, and losing in the regional round. What lessons do you guys take away from that season?

    Wetterstrom: I think last year, we didn’t take advantage of practice. Our team chemistry wasn’t all there, and I think this year, we’re a lot more forgiving. Last year, we were kind of sensitive.

    With a new coach [Thomas Hunter, now the coach at Poudre], we didn’t know what he expected from us or how to interpret him. And he did an amazing job, he taught me some great technical things. He’s an amazing, high-level coach. But I think we weren’t ready for that high of a level, in the group of girls. We were very inexperienced. I don’t think many people played club, and if they did play volleyball, it wasn’t their first priority.

    Q: But going through that last year, aside from the motivation, some of those inexperienced girls will learn from playing at a regional.

    Wetterstrom: Yeah, and I think the vibe I get from this year is totally different. I feel like we’re way more supportive this year even though the season hasn’t even started. It just seems like everyone is really trying to help each other, and we just see where a problem is on the court and adjust really well.