(Matt Daniels/mattdanphoto.com)

A total of four games between top-10 teams in the latest CHSAANow.com volleyball rankings took place on Tuesday.

When the dust settled, Mountain Vista came away with a win in a huge clash between top teams in Class 5A, while two others pulled off upsets.

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No. 2 Mountain Vista beats No. 3 Rock Canyon

Mountain Vista followed up a sweep against Highlands Ranch last Thursday with a win versus No. 3 Rock Canyon.

The Golden Eagles won in four sets: 25-14, 25-21, 22-25, 25-20.

Mountain Vista’s student media outlet, Vista Now, had a stream of the entire game.

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No. 7 Chaparral upsets No. 4 Highlands Ranch

Chaparral, fresh off a win against No. 2 Mountain Vista last week, continued its rise with a sweep against No. 4 Highlands Ranch.

The Wolverines took the match 25-14, 25-22, 25-22.

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No. 5 Lutheran sweeps No. 3 Faith Christian

In this week’s rankings, Lutheran and Faith Christian switched spots at No. 5 and No. 3. Lutheran dropped to No. 5 after a loss to Bishop Machebeuf, while the Faith Christian vaulted into No. 3 after a 2-0 week.

Lutheran went right after Faith Christian in Tuesday’s game to come away with a sweep.

The Lions won 25-21, 25-20, 25-22.

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No. 2 Valor Christian cruises past No. 10 Evergreen

No. 2 Valor Christian extended its win streak with a sweep (25-20, 25-16, 28-26) of No. 10 Evergreen.

The Eagles have now won 10 games in a row.

(@ColoradoAcademy/Twitter)

The first semifinal matchup in the 2017 field hockey state championships is set. It will be No. 2 Colorado Academy vs. No. 3 Kent Denver.

Colorado Academy took a 2-1 win against Mountain Vista in double overtime to advance to the semifinals. The Mustangs scored in the final 10 seconds, according to Mountain Vista athletic director Shawn Terry.

Kent Denver beat Denver East 1-0 in its quarterfinal matchup.

This will be the second matchup between Kent Denver and Colorado Academy this season. Kent Denver won the previous matchup on Aug. 26, 2-0.

Colorado Academy is riding a five-game winning streak.

Fairview football got a key conference win on Friday night as the season heads into its final stages.

The Knights, ranked No. 9 in Class 5A, edged No. 10 Mullen 18-16 with a last-second field goal from Tevye Schuettepelz-Rohl.

“Tevye is just an amazing kicker for us,” Fairview’s Mariano Kemp told BoCoPreps.com after the game.

With the win, Fairview is now 7-1, including 2-1 in the Mt. Cameron League.

Mullen is now 3-5, including 1-2 in league play.

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Notables:

• In 6-man, No. 2 Prairie rallied from down 30-28 late to win 32-30 against No. 10 Fleming. It was a field goal with three seconds left that gave them the win.
• A huge matchup in 3A: No. 5 Roosevelt beat No. 3 Erie 22-20.
• Quite the upset win for Centaurus, 16-13 over 3A No. 8 Silver Creek. It is Centaurus’ first win this season.
• In a battle of unbeatens, 2A No. 1 Kent Denver beat No. 10 Bishop Machebeuf 21-8, giving coach Scott Yates his 323rd career win.
• Clear Creek upset 1A No. 8 Platte Canyon, 62-42. “They couldn’t stop us,” coach Brian Inman told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “I knew they were going to have a hard time stopping our offense. We’ve just got too many weapons.” Clear Creek is now 7-1.
• A big win for 2A No. 4 La Junta over No. 9 Salida: 39-16.
• 1A No. 2 Meeker beat its rival, No. 6 Paonia, 31-14.
• In 1A, No. 10 Peyton beat Buena Vista 34-28 in double overtime. “I mean, it was wild,” coach Richard Deems told the Scoreboard Show. “It was a heck of a game.” Peyton is now 7-1.
• 4A No. 6 Fruita Monument forced five turnovers en route to a 42-8 win over Standley Lake.  “Our defense just was all over them today,” coach Todd Casebier told the Scoreboard Show.
• 8-man No. 6 Holly beat McClave 22-6. “Our defense sure carried us tonight,” coach Dayne Eaton told the Scoreboard Show.
• 3A No. 9 Canon City beat Discovery Canyon 41-21. The game was tied at halftime. “Our offense ended up having a couple of nice drives, culminating in touchdowns for us, and ate up a lot of time,” coach Tom O’Rourke told the Scoreboard Show.
• Evergreen beat Conifer 38-13 in the Mountain Bowl.
• In 5A, No. 7 Grandview got a big league win over Doherty, 42-2.

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More coverage:

• In a top-10 5A game, No. 1 Valor Christian cruised past No. 8 Highlands Ranch.
• 5A No. 3 Pomona rolled to a win over Mountain Vista.
• Montrose improved to 5-3 win a win over Coronado.
• Relive the night through our live coverage.
• An updated top-10 football scoreboard after Friday’s games, and Saturday’s top-10 slate.
• All scores from Friday, and Saturday’s full schedule.
• Updated RPI standings.

(Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

AURORA — Everyone in the state knew Valor Christian had it’s ace in Ali Kilponen. Silver Creek knew it had an ace of its own in Jetta Nannen.

“Just a warrior there to keep plugging away and not get rattled,” Silver Creek coach Ryan Beavers said after his team advanced to the Class 4A semifinals. “An outstanding effort by her. I think she showed she’s one of the better pitchers in the state. Maybe not known as much because she doesn’t throw 65-68 miles an hour, but she’s a competitor.”

Nannen held Valor Christian down with a solid outing, while the Silver Creek offense got to Kilponen early in a 5-1 quarterfinal win.

“Our gameplan was to jump on them early,” Nannen said. “To do our thing, do things our way and not be pushed by how they play. Play our game.”

The loss was Valor Christian’s first of the season. It broke a 28-game winning streak for the Eagles.

“They realized that she’s a great pitcher, but she puts on her pants just like they do,” Beavers said on Kilponen. “She’s a human.”

Nannen hit a solo homerun in the top of the fifth inning to extend the Raptor lead to 4-1.

“It was really our energy. We had energy, we had passion, we wanted to win it really badly,” Nannen said. “I think we came together as a team. We had to work on that the whole season and it’s finally coming together when it’s supposed to.”

(Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

“It wasn’t just me who hit the homerun. It was the whole team picking me up. It was a team effort.”

Then, Taylor Nielson followed in the sixth with a solo shot of her own that cemented the score at 5-1.

“It brings us up,” Nannen said. “It pumps us up more to keep going and not be satisfied with anything less than winning it. We’re going to put all of our passion and heart into it.”

Nannen went seven innings and allowed one run.

“The biggest thing was executing the gameplan as far as spinning the ball and hitting spots,” Beavers said. “She’s certainly not a power pitcher, but she’s able to spin the ball and move it around.”

Silver Creek will face Pueblo Central in the semifinals for a chance to play for a Class 4A championship.

“They’ve really come together as a unit where kids don’t care if they don’t start the game,” Beavers said. “They want their teammate to excel and do well. They found that identity — playing loose and fast.”

In the other semifinal, No. 10 Mullen and No. 11 Mountain View will face off. The Mountain Lions beat third-seeded Discovery Canyon 4-3 to move on to day two of the state tournament.

Mullen beat Elizabeth, who upset No. 2 Golden earlier in the day, 11-1 to move into the semifinals.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — A year ago, Eaton’s season came to an end at the hands of eventual state champion Rocky Ford.

This year, the Reds got to return the favor.

Junior Lauren Frink threw a complete-game shutout and got plenty of run support as Eaton beat the Meloneers 8-0 to advance to the Class 3A softball semifinal. Frink struck out five Rocky Ford hitters through the game.

“It’s pretty special to know that you can bounce back and beat a team that you have history with,” Frink said. “We still have the confidence in us as a team that we would be able to do that.”

The Reds got off to a quick start as Remington Ross and Jennifer Jarnigan started the game with back-to-back singles. Ross had stolen second and third, so she came home on Jarnigan’s hit to put Eaton on the scoreboard. Allie Hobbs added one of her own two hitters later then Melanie Frye drove in two to make it a quick 3-0 lead for Eaton.

“The help of our offense is always a great asset,” Frink said. “It’s so much easier to go out and pitch when your team offensively and defensively have your back.”

They added three more in the third and two in the fourth to push the lead to 8-0. But the Meloneers weren’t going to let a mercy rule come into play.

The Eaton side was retired in order in the fifth and sixth innings, but the Meloneers weren’t able to get any runners

Rocky Ford advanced to the quarters with a 7-6 comeback win over Meeker. The quarterfinal matchup was a rematch of last year semifinal, a game that Rocky Ford won 12-5.

A win over the Meloneers may have massaged some bruises for the past, but the Reds would much rather focus on the task of moving forward and claiming the school’s first state softball title.

“We don’t want to get too lost in those kind of thoughts,” coach Dale Hughes said. “We just want to keep our thought process moving forward.”

So forward they will move as they are set to take on Strasburg. The Indians kept their hopes of returning to the championship game alive with a 2-0 win over La Junta in the quarterfinals.

The other semifinal game will pit Brush against Faith Christian. The Beetdiggers beat Patriot League rival University 8-4 in the quarterfinals while Faith Christian held off a seventh-inning comeback attempt from Sterling.

The Eagles came away with a 9-8 win.

ARUROA — It’ll be Eaglecrest vs. Fossil Ridge and Legacy vs. Legend in the Class 5A softball semifinals on Saturday.

The four teams each advanced with two victories during the first day of the 5A state tournament on Friday.

Semifinal games begin at 10 a.m., with the championship slated for 1:30 p.m.

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Eaglecrest rolls into semis behind offensive output

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Eaglecrest jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning of its quarterfinal game with Pomona and never looked back. The Raptors won 15-1 to advance to the semifinals for the second consecutive season.

Kailey Wilson hit a two-run home run, and Eaglecrest had consistent scoring outputs in the second (five runs), third (three) and fourth (three) innings.

“They’re hungry. They want it. And they’re working hard. They’ve worked so hard, and they’ve been so fun this year,” coach Yvette Hendrian said. “If we can keep our bats hot, we’ll be alright.”

The top-seeded Raptors are now 22-1 this season.

“We’re in a good spot. It’s not pressure anymore,” Hendrian said. “We know what have. We know what we can do. We’ve played under pressure a couple of times, and we’ve managed to get out of it. We know how to find ways to win. They know that and as long as they believe that and know that, we’re good.”

To reach the quarterfinals, Eaglecrest beat Rocky Mountain 12-2, and Pomona beat Brighton 7-6 on a walk-off earlier Friday.

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Fossil Ridge reaches fifth-consecutive semifinal

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Fossil Ridge continued its amazing streak of semifinal appearances, reaching the round of four for the fifth consecutive season.

In the quarterfinals on Friday, the fourth-seeded Sabercats jumped out to a 4-0 lead on Columbine after two innings, and eventually won 4-1 to reach the semis.

“I’m almost speechless,” coach Dave Philop said after the game. “This group has done it five years in a row. I can’t believe it.”

Fossil Ridge and Eaglecrest played earlier in the year, with Eaglecrest winning 7-2.

“We feel a chance to have a rematch with them, we’re looking forward to it,” Philop said. “We’ve played them, and we know how good they are, but we also think that we play in one of the better leagues in the state, and so we feel like we’re battle-tested.”

To advance to the quarterfinals, Fossil Ridge rallied to beat Grand Junction Central 13-9, and Columbine beat Douglas County 2-1 with a walk-off hit.

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Legend edges Arvada West to advance

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Hailee Swanson hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning, and No. 10 Legend beat No. 2 Arvada West 3-2 in the quarterfinals.

It gave Legend its first trip to the semifinals since 2013. The team had lost in the first round of the state tournament each of the past three seasons.

“It’s trying to create a new history for us,” coach Kristen Shirk said.

Against Arvada West, Legend scored what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning.

“We were just going base-by-base, playing as a team, and that’s all we’re looking for,” Shirk said.

As for the gameplan for the semifinals?

“Bring the energy, the same energy we did today,” Shirk said, “and keep hitting the crap out of the ball.”

To advance to the quarterfinals, Legend beat Cherry Creek 16-3, while Arvada West beat Mountain Vista 5-3.

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Legacy beats Loveland to move on

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Legacy’s offense slowly added to its lead as the game went on, and the third-seeded Lightning eventually beat No. 6 Loveland 7-2.

It is the first time Legacy has advanced to the semifinals since 2013, when they won the 5A title.

“They have been working towards this since August 25th, when we set our mission statement,” Legacy coach Dawn Gaffin said. “They have just been wanting to get here. It’s been like pulling the reigns back on them.”

It’ll be another rematch in the semifinals. Legacy beat Legend 8-6 on Sept. 1.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Gaffin said. “We’re going to have to come with it.”

Earlier Friday, Legacy beat ThunderRidge 10-4 in the first round, while Loveland topped Prairie View 3-0.

(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)

Senior quarterback Zach Cozzolino had a monster game on Saturday as Pueblo South continued its great season.

Cozzolino threw for 297 yards and six touchdowns on 14-of-24 passing as the Colts, No. 9 in Class 4A, beat Liberty 48-16. Pueblo South is now 6-1.

This is the Colts’ best start since going 10-2 in 2014. That year, Pueblo South went 9-1 in the regular season and advanced to the 4A quarterfinals.

Steve Brock rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown for Pueblo South, while Marcell Barbee, Thomas Pannunzio and Jesse Anzar each had two receiving scores. Barbee (115 yards) and Anzar (109) each had more than 100 yards receiving.

Pueblo South plays at Cheyenne Mountain next week. Liberty (0-7) is at Sand Creek.

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Notables:

• 6-man No. 2 Prairie beat No. 6 North Park 52-12.
• 4A No. 8 Fruita Monument stayed unbeaten at 7-0 with a 48-6 win over Thornton.
• 5A No. 3 Pomona rolled to a 42-7 win over Hinkley. The Panthers are 5-2.
• 3A No. 7 Faith Christian beat D’Evelyn 14-7 and is now 6-1.
• 1A No. 7 Platte Canyon is still unbeaten at 6-0 after topping Manual 37-22.
• Gilpin County, No. 8 in 8-man, shutout Hayden 38-0 and moved to 6-1. Manny Gomez had 15 tackles.
• Poudre improved to 5-2 with a 29-19 win over Legend in 5A.
• In 8-man, Rocky Mountain Lutheran beat Belleview Christian 58-0 and is now 5-2.

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More coverage:

• 3A No. 2 Palmer Ridge cruised to 7-0 with a big win over previously unbeaten Denver North.
• An updated top-10 scoreboard after Week 7 games.
• All scores from Week 7.
• Updated RPI standings.
• A roundup of Friday’s games.
• A roundup of Thursday’s games.

(@Spartans_BHS/Twitter)

Roosevelt football beat Berthoud on Friday night in a key Class 3A matchup.

For starters, it was a top-10 win, with the No. 5 Roughriders topping the No. 8 Spartans. Second, it was a win in the Class 3A Tri-Valley League, which is probably the best league in the state regardless of classification. Third, Roosevelt is now 5-2.

But most importantly: It helped the Roughriders move up in the 3A RPI standings from No. 13 to No. 8.

Roosevelt rallied from down 12-7 to take a 15-12 lead at halftime, and led 22-12 after three quarters.

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2A: (6) Sterling 56, Fort Lupton 28

Sterling quarterback Bodie Hume threw six touchdowns in the first half of Sterling’s 56-28 win over Fort Lupton. That ties the state record.

Hume finished with seven touchdowns; he only played one series in the second half.

The six touchdowns in a half are now tied for the most in state history. Hume is the seventh player to do that. His seven touchdown passes are tied for the fifth-most in state history.

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4A: (10) Skyline 70, Greeley Central 44

Skyline junior Jeremy Hollingsworth rushed for six touchdowns and more than 350 yards in a wild win over Greeley Central. He now has scored 26 touchdowns this season.

The Falcons are 6-1 this season.

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3A: Fort Morgan 17, (6) Silver Creek 7

Fort Morgan not only pulled off the upset, but moved to 2-0 in the Northern League. Both conference wins followed a three-game losing streak.

“We changed it up this week,” Mustangs coach Harrison Chisum told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We had a lot of competitions and a lot more fun in practice, and it kind of helped with our energy level.”

Donovan Moya had an interception return for a score to help Fort Morgan win on Friday.

“He’s a competitor, and that was a huge pick-six to start the second half,” Chisum said.

Both teams are now 4-3 this season.

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6-man: (1) Stratton/Liberty 63, (3) Otis 6

The Knighted Eagles are 7-0 after this latest win.

“We’re really excited about the win, an really excited about the way we’ve been playing,” coach Toby Kechter told the Scoreboard Show.

Kechter praised his line.

“The kids just blocked their hearts out,” he said. “The effort’s just been great.”

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Notables:

• Highlands Ranch, ranked No. 9 in 5A, is now 6-1 after beating Fountain-Fort Carson 38-24. “Our guys overcame some penalties and a couple of turnovers, and played really well tonight to overcome those things,” interim coach David May told the Scoreboard Show.
• The Falcons will face No. 1 Valor Christian next week. The Eagles are now 7-0 after a 41-7 win over Lakewood. Luke McCaffrey had three total touchdowns, including a kickoff return for a score. Valor has won 17 games in a row.
• Sedgwick County, top-ranked in 8-man, rolled to a 57-14 win over Merino. Sedgwick County is now 7-0 and has won 17-straight games.
• 8-man No. 5 Haxtun rebounded from a loss to beat No. 10 Caliche 38-20. 
• 6-man No. 4 Peetz also rebounded from a loss by topping No. 10 Fleming 39-26. Tre Fehringer threw three touchdown passes for the Bulldogs.
• 2A No. 4 La Junta won its rivalry game with Lamar, winning 40-0 in the Whistle Game.
• In 6-man, Sierra Grande is now 6-1 after shutting out Aguilar 60-0. Five different players had rushing touchdowns, including two each from Dakota Aragon and Dylan Milner.
• South Park has matched its win total from last season after beating Pikes Peak Christian 30-6. The Burros are 4-3 in 6-man.
• Wins No. 322 for coaches Scott Yates (Kent Denver) and Chris Brown (West Grand). Kent Denver, No. 1 in 2A, beat Englewood 38-0. West Grand, No. 2 in 8-man, beat Rangely 46-0.
• In 4A, Rampart got an important 17-13 win over Montrose to move to 2-0 in the Pikes Peak League.
• Jaylen Thomas rushed for 243 yards and three scores as Vista Ridge beat Coronado 35-14 in another 4A Pikes Peak matchup.
• Austin Coalson helped Eaton improved to 5-2 this season with two touchdown passes in the team’s 46-6 win over The Academy.
• Dakota Key rushed for three touchdowns and Alec Lewis threw for two as Legacy beat Aurora Central 44-0 in 5A. Legacy is 4-3.

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More coverage:

• In 4A, No. 5 Windsor handed No. 6 Monarch its first loss of the season.
• A touchdown on the final play gave Ralston Valley a win over Arvada West.
• Photos from Pueblo East/Pueblo County.
• Photos from Harrison/Pueblo Central.
• An updated top-10 football scoreboard after Friday’s games, and Saturday’s top-10 schedule.
• All scores from Friday night, and Saturday’s full slate.
• Updated RPI standings.
• Relive the night through our live coverage.

The 2017 regional softball tournaments were on Saturday. Sixteen teams in each classification secured spots in next week’s state tournaments.

Find results from the regional rounds with the final brackets:

• Class 5A
• Class 4A
• Class 3A

The qualifiers will be seeded into state tournament brackets on Monday. Those brackets will post here on CHSAANow.com.

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Class 5A state qualifiers

(@lhstweets/Twitter)

Regional champions are listed first.

• Region 1: Eaglecrest, Mountain Vista
• Region 2: Pomona, Legend
• Region 3: Cherry Creek, Prairie View
• Region 4: Legacy, Douglas County
• Region 5: Arvada West, ThunderRidge
• Region 6: Fossil Ridge, Rocky Mountain
• Region 7: Columbine, Grand Junction Central
• Region 8: Loveland, Brighton

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Class 4A state qualifiers

(@ThndrSports/Twitter)

Regional champions are listed first.

• Region 1: Valor Christian, Mountain View
• Region 2: Frederick, Ponderosa
• Region 3: Erie, Wheat Ridge
• Region 4: Discovery Canyon, Pueblo County
• Region 5: Golden, Air Academy
• Region 6: Pueblo Central, Elizabeth
• Region 7: Thomas Jefferson, Conifer
• Region 8: Silver Creek, Mullen

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Class 3A state qualifiers

(@EatonRedsSball/Twitter)

Regional champions are listed first.

• Region 1: Brush, Valley
• Region 2: Eaton, Fort Lupton
• Region 3: Strasburg, Sterling
• Region 4: Lamar, Delta
• Region 5: Faith Christian, St. Mary’s
• Region 6: La Junta, Limon
• Region 7: Weld Central, Rocky Ford
• Region 8: Meeker, University

(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Cherry Creek football coach Dave Logan set the career record for wins at the Class 5A level on Thursday night.

Logan’s Bruins beat Denver East 56-28. It was his 252nd career win, passing former Cherry Creek coach Fred Tesone, who won 251 games from 1962-89.

Logan is now 252-62 in his career, which has included stops at Arvada West, Chatfield, Mullen and now Cherry Creek. He now sits in sixth place on the all-time wins list, just behind former Loveland coach John Poovey.

West Grand’s Chris Brown and Kent Denver’s Scott Yates — both active coaches — hold the all-time wins record with 321.

Two weeks ago, Logan won the 250th game of his career. 

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Notables:

• 5A No. 4 Regis Jesuit cruised to 6-1 this season with a 47-0 win over Douglas County.
• 5A No. 8 Grandview rolled past Smoky Hill 47-0.
• 4A No. 4 Loveland is still unbeaten (7-0) following a 63-0 win over Niwot. 
• 3A No. 1 Mead (7-0) had another big win, this team beating a Frederick team that entered at 5-1. Mead won, 36-17.
• 3A No. 3 Erie is also 7-0 after beating Holy Family 43-21.
• 3A No. 7 Longmont is continuing its climb. The Trojans, now 4-3, beat Centaurus 61-19. Quarterback Oakley Dehning threw two touchdowns, and Cruz Garcia ran for three.
• 6-man No. 9 Genoa-Hugo beat Colorado Deaf & Blind 60-0.
• Check out Standley Lake, now 6-1 after a 42-24 win over Wheat Ridge. Quarterback Alex France threw two touchdowns and ran for another, and Ty Webber rushed for three touchdowns and 236 yards.

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More coverage:

• 5A No. 6 Columbine looked sharp in a win over No. 7 Mullen.
• 4A No. 3 Pine Creek got a big effort from its defense in a win over No. 7 Pueblo West.
• An updated top-10 football scoreboard, and Friday’s top-10 schedule.
• A full scoreboard from Thursday, and Friday’s full slate.
• Updated RPI standings.
• Live coverage of Friday’s games starts at 7 p.m.
• At 9:30 p.m., listen to the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show.