The state draws for this year’s boys tennis championships are now posted.
“We’re really looking forward to this year’s state championships are are anticipating a high level of competition at both tournaments,” assistant commissioner Bethany Brookens said Monday.
If there is inclement weather, tournaments status and schedule changes will be announced on CHSAANow.com.
Here is the process for how the brackets were created:
On Sunday, CHSAA sent out a survey to coaches to voice their opinions and feedback regarding the best teams/individuals in state.
All 16 individuals/teams will be considered for placement on the draw.
The top 4 individuals/teams will be placed.
The committee shall consider the following factors (in no particular order of importance): strength of league, overall record, strength of competition, head-to-head competition and common opponents.
The remaining Regional Winners (No. 1s) will be randomly drawn for places on the draw
The Regional Finishers (No. 2s) will then be randomly drawn for matches against a Regional Winner.
All Regional Winners will be paired against a Regional Finishers.
No two teams or individuals from the same Region will play each other during the first round of the state championship.
AURORA — Douglas County, Wheat Ridge and Strasburg are the top seeds in their respective classifications for the regional softball brackets released on Sunday.
Douglas County, 17-2 this season, heads the Class 5A field. Rock Canyon (No. 2), Legend (No. 3), Fossil Ridge (No. 4), Dakota Ridge (No. 5), Legacy (No. 6), Ralston Valley (No. 7) and Brighton (No. 8) will also host regionals.
In 4A, Wheat Ridge (18-1) is the top seed. Other hosts are No. 2 Erie, No. 3 Ponderosa, No. 4 Pueblo East, No. 5 Discovery Canyon, No. 6 Broomfield, No. 7 Frederick and No. 8 Berthoud.
Strasburg is the No. 1 seed in 3A. Additional regional hosts include Sterling (No. 2), Holy Family (No. 3), Lamar (No. 4), Burlington (No. 7) and Basalt (No. 8).
Here are the links to each classification’s regional brackets:
The regional brackets were all seeded by committees. The 32-team fields in 5A and 4A, and 24-team 3A field are all determined using (but not limited to) the following criteria:
Any automatic qualifiers not listed in the top 32 (or, in 3A, 24) of the MaxPreps rankings will be placed on the bracket. This may cause teams to be removed out of the top 32 or 24 teams listed in the final rankings before the regional tournament.
Strength of schedule.
Overall schedule.
Head-to-head competition.
Strength of competition.
Geography will be a factor in considering the final pairings.
Of note when seeding the brackets and setting matchups:
League opponents may be paired against one another.
A school in any league may be paired above a school that finished above it during the regular season.
The committee is comprised of the following:
One representative for each 3A District (1-6).
One representative for each 4A/5A League plus Independent.
One non-voting representative from the CHSAA office.
The big showdown down South took a turn at halftime.
Trailing second-ranked Falcon 13-8, No. 8 Pine Creek scored the game’s final 21 points en route to a 29-13 win in Class 4A football.
“We made some adjustments at halftime and really came out and played well,” Pine Creek coach Todd Miller told ColoradoPreps.com’s Built Ford Tough Scoreboard Show on Friday night. “We got them off the field, our offense controlled the second half, and that was able to keep (Falcon star Kalen Ballage) from carrying the ball. We’ve got a chance of winning when he’s not carrying it.”
Ballage did finish the game with 196 yards and two scores.
“We kind of took a punch in our mouth in the first half — playing in about 40 mile-per-hour winds — and we were able to adjust,” Miller told the Scoreboard Show. “Our kids just controlled the line of scrimmage and Scott Savage and James Fisher had space and they found creases, and we were able to get up on people. And Lavanson Coffey, our blocking fullback, just had a great game and we just kind of went back to old-fashioned football, running between the tackles and getting chunks of yardage and able to put some points on the board.”
Pine Creek is now 3-0 against 4A competition. The Eagles opened 1-2 against 5A foes Fountain-Fort Carson, Lakewood and Columbine.
“Going through Columbine, going through Lakewood and Fountain-Fort Carson prepared us for this (game against Falcon),” Miller said. “We had a couple of tough losses early, but we went through some hard practices and hard losses against tough, physical teams and they pay dividends on nights like tonight.”
The other monster game on Friday night ended with No. 2 Palisade nipping No. 1 Rifle in 3A, 28-27. The Bulldogs’ Levi Hoaglund found John Goff with 17 seconds remaining to secure the win.
“We had a group of guys that just persevered and hung with it,” Palisade coach Joe Ramunno told the Scoreboard Show.
Palisade trailed 27-14 at halftime.
“That’s just kind of the nature of kids that we have here at Palisade,” Ramunno said. “It’s been that way for many, many years — you can go back to the 50s. They’re tough guys that just kind of hang in there. And we got out-played tonight. I really felt like we were outplayed for almost three-and-a-half quarters. Very fortunate to come out with a win, and they just have that mentality: there’s a lot of fight in that dog.”
At the 5A level, it was another week of destruction. No. 2 Chatfield lost to unranked Columbine in a wild game, No. 8 Cherry Creek topped No. 4 Cherokee Trail and Overland upset No. 7 Grandview, beating the Wolves for the first time in a very long time. Since 2004, Overland was 0-9 against Grandview and was outscored 103-336 over that span.
Mullen very nearly took down No. 10 Arapahoe, but the Warriors survived in overtime, 27-21. Arapahoe was up 21-0 at halftime.
When the dust cleared, it left Fairview as 5A’s lone remaining unbeaten team. The Knights (5-0) topped Arvada West 41-21 on Friday.
Elsewhere, it was No. 8 Paonia beating No. 10 Meeker in 1A despite six turnovers.
“I hope it was six. I don’t know, I kind of lost count,” Paonia coach Brent McRae told the Scoreboard show. “We just kind of huddled them up and said, ‘Here’s the deal, boys: this happens. This happens in life. And you can pick it up and finish and keep believing and keep fighting or you can lay down.’ They fought for each other.”
Also, 2A’s eighth-ranked Florence rebounded from last week’s loss to Manitou Springs to beat No. 5 Lamar.
“They knew what they had to do, what they had to clean up, and they had a pretty good week of practice and took a lot of pride in cleaning up what we needed to clean up,” Florence coach Jeremy Nix told the Scoreboard Show.
The anticipation of the game between Centennial League rivals Cherry Creek and Cherokee Trail was palpable in spite of the cold and wet weather that greeted both teams at Legacy Stadium.
The fans in attendance were not disappointed as the two inter-league foes went toe-to-toe for four quarters. And, if not for an errant extra point attempt, they might still be playing.
Cherry Creek left the stadium with a 28-27 win after the Cougars missed on the PAT that would have tied the game with just 29.3 seconds left. The kick went wide left and the Bruins improved to 5-1, while Cherokee Trail fell to 4-2. Creek now sits alone in first place in the Centennial Conference at 2-0.
Cherokee Trail, the Class 5A runners up last season, struck first as the Cougars’ Isaiah Lottie picked off and errant Cameron Brucker pass and raced 59 yards for a touchdown. Jerdan Daniels hit the extra point and the home team led 7-0. In Brucker’s defense, he was hit by a CT lineman just as he released the pass.
It didn’t take Cherry Creek long to get even in the game, as the Bruins used a combination of outside runs by Milo Hall and inside power running by DJ Luke to move down the field. Hall evened things up when he burst through the left side for 25 yards. A Henry Lyon PAT made the score 7-7 with 6:42 left in the first.
Cherry Creek continued to put on the offensive pressure, primarily on the ground and moved ahead in the second quarterback as Luke dove into the end zone from a yard out. Another Lyon PAT gave the Bruins a 14-7 lead at 10:48.
The teams traded possessions for the next six minutes until the Cougars mounted a drive that Cameron Smith capped off with a 6-yard plunge. Daniels’ PAT tied the game at 14-14, where it stayed through halftime.
Turnovers looked to be the difference in the contest in the third when Cherokee Trail’s Aric Johnson fumbled on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. It didn’t take long for Cherry Creek to capitalize, as Luke scored from four yards out and the PAT made it 21-14 in favor of the visitors.
Another fumble by the Cougars gave the Bruins excellent field position again in the third, but after three stops by the CT defense, a 29-yard field goal attempt failed and Cherokee Trail got the ball back. The Cougars moved down the field and at 6:49 in the third, Smith ran in from the six, and Daniels’ PAT tied the game at 21-21.
Cherokee Trail threatened again in the third, but turned the ball over on an interception.
Cherry Creek’s Luke picked up his third touchdown of the game when he burst up the middle from 25 yards out. Lyon added his fourth PAT and Cherry Creek led 28-21 with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter found both defenses standing up to the offensive challenges of their opponents and both teams had turnovers in the quarter. As the game see-sawed back and forth with first one team, then the other moving the ball a bit but then having to punt, it looked as if the Bruins could close out the game with just over three minutes remaining. Cherry Creek intercepted a Johnson pass with 3:14 and looked to run out the clock.
The Cougar defense stiffened yet again, forcing Cherry Creek into a passing situation. As the home team defense pressured Brucker, Evan White stepped in front of a Bruin receiver and intercepted the pass, giving Cherokee Trail one last shot at tying the game.
Several runs by Smith and a 26-yard Johnson to Keeland Thompson pass moved the Cougars down to the 11 when Smith ran around the left side for a score at the 40.2-second mark. But, a holding penalty brought the ball back to the 12. Undeterred, Smith pin balled off two Bruins on the next play and scored at the 29.3 mark. The extra point kick sailed wide left and Cherry Creek recovered CT’s onside kick attempt to hold on for the win.
For the Bruins, Hall ran 22 times for 68 yards and the one TD, while Luke had three scoring runs on 14 attempts for 80 yards. Joseph Parker added 17 yards on his one carry. Brucker was six of 12 for 60 yards, two interceptions and no TDs passing. Parker had two receptions for 38 yards, Mikey McCauley had three catches for 11 yards, and Hall one for 12.
For the Cougars, Smith ran 21 times for 97 yards and three TDs, while Johnson carried 12 times for eight yards and Cameron Currington added three yards on two carries. Johnson completed 13 of 21 passes for 133 yards. He was intercepted twice.
Isaiah Kaiser had three receptions for 20 yards, while Currington had three for 10, Smith two for 27, Thompson three for 55 and White one for 13.
The two teams each had four turnovers, Cherry Creek with two in each half. All of Cherokee Trail’s came in the second half.
Cherry Creek plays Smoky Hill next, while Cherokee Trail goes up against Grandview. Both games are slated for October 11.
Columbine senior Bernard McDondle attempts to shed the tackle attempt of Chatfield junior Jeremy Thompson during the Class 5A Super 6 League game Friday night at Jeffco Stadium. McDondle had a monster night racking up 285 yards rushing and six touchdowns in the Rebels’ dramatic 50-43 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
LAKEWOOD — Columbine senior Bernard McDondle rushed for 285 yards and six touchdowns Friday night, but his most important role late was that of a decoy.
The Rebels (5-1, 1-1 in 5A Super 6 League) pulled out a 50-43 victory against previously undefeated and No. 2-ranked Chatfield (5-1, 1-1) thanks to a play Columbine calls “hide-a-ball” in the final minute at Jeffco Stadium. Junior Austin Norton scored on a 65-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Chatfield led 43-42.
“We’ve been working on it all week,” said Norton, who picked up the football after some slight of hand by Columbine quarterback Michael Tait. “It worked out perfectly and we fooled (Chatfield) with the play.”
Tait faked a pitch to McDondle after placing the ball behind a Columbine lineman’s legs. Norton picked up the ball and raced down the sideline untouched to score the eventual game-winning touchdown as the majority of Chatfield defenders had their eyes on McDondle.
“As soon as (Chatfield) bit onto me I knew it was money,” McDondle said of the perfectly executed trick play.
McDondle put up some remarkable rushing numbers in the rivalry between the two south Jeffco-area schools. He carried the ball 27 times to rack up his 285 yards. His 67-yard touchdown on the first Rebels’ drive of the second half put him over 200 yards on the night. He scored on runs of 10, 45 and 4 yards in the first half, before tacking on touchdown runs of 13 and 25 yards in the fourth quarter.
“(McDondle) is a special, special player,” Columbine coach Andy Lowry said.
Neither squad led by more than seven points as both offenses answered one other time after time.
Columbine used its vaunted rushing attack to the tune of 485 yards on the ground. While McDondle accounted for the majority of offense, Tait finished with 82 yards passing and 63 yards rushing.
Chatfield junior quarterback Kyle Winkler gets off a pass Friday night at Jeffco Stadium. Despite going 27 for 39 passing for 294 yards and a touchdown, Winkler and the Chargers suffered their first loss of the season to rival Columbine, 50-43. (Dennis Pleuss)
Chatfield’s offense wouldn’t be outdone. The Chargers had a balanced output with 294 passing yards from junior quarterback Kyle Winkler to go along with 271 rushing yards. Junior Michael Callahan-Harris had his best game of the season with 28 carries for 187 yards and three touchdowns. Senior Brendan Murphy had a pair of short touchdown runs for the Chargers, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.
“It was a lot of ups and downs the whole game,” said Winkler, who was 27-of-39 passing. “I was pacing the sidelines that last Columbine drive. We just didn’t stop them there.”
Winkler nearly guided the Chargers in position to at least tie the game in the final minute. Chatfield drove down into Columbine territory in the waning seconds. Senior Jahrel Olson nearly made a spectacular one-handed grab in the back of the end zone with in the final 10 seconds, but he stepped out of bounds before he was able to control the pass from 28 yards out from Winkler.
While combining for 93 points and 1,132 yards, it was the type of game McDondle fully expected.
“I knew walking into it that it would be a battle,” McDondle said. “It’s always a battle with Chatfield.”
Pomona jumped out to a 21-7 halftime lead, then cruised to a 35-21 win over Legacy on Friday night. The Panthers are now 5-1, and got 263 yards rushing and two scores from Chris Marquez in the win.
