COLORADO SPRINGS, PUEBLO and STERLING — The first day of boys golf’s state championships was Monday at three different sites across the state. Weather played a big role.

Day 1 results:

• Class 5A
• Class 4A
• Class 3A

LAFAYETTE — Johnny Feauto had five total touchdowns, including four passing scores, as No. 5 Fairview beat Monarch 35-10 in football on Saturday.

Feauto threw touchdowns of 29, 10, 4 and 13 yards to four difference receivers. He had 297 yards of total offense.

It was the first-ever meeting of the two programs, as Monarch moved up to Class 5A this cycle.

THORNTON — Legend’s boys and Legacy’s girls won the Thornton Cross Country Invitational at Margaret Carpenter Park on Saturday.

Thornton’s Joshua Joseph won the individual boys race in 15:47.80, while Bishop Machebeuf’s Ben Espinola was second in 16:33.80.

Legacy’s Emma Gee (19:16.70) and Abby Cohen (20:23.00) went No. 1 and No. 2 in the girls race.

WESTMINSTER — No. 7 Legacy beat No. 6 Mountain Range 10-0 in Class 5A softball on Saturday.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Is there anything that can stand in the way of Pine Creek repeating as Class 4A state football champions? Some could’ve argued that the Vista Ridge Wolves could have been a tough hurdle for the Eagles to jump over, but the 41-7 score Friday night at Vista Ridge High School indicated otherwise.

The top-ranked Eagles (5-0 overall) remain undefeated and the clear favorites to end the season as state champions after the drubbing of the No. 5 Wolves (4-1).

Pine Creek celebrates a third quarter touchdown during Friday’s win over Vista Ridge. (Dan Mohrmann)

“We had three starters out on offense, our quarterback was out and they rallied behind it,” Eagles coach Todd Miller said. “That was just hard-nosed football.”

After forcing the Wolves’ offense off the field after only three plays, Brock Domann — the younger brother of running back JoJo Domann — took the field, under center for the injured Tommy Lazzaro.

If the sophomore was holding any fear, he didn’t show it. On his first drive, he connected with his older brother JoJo on a pass that put the Eagles down on the Wolves one-yard line where senior Josh Odom punched the ball in to give the Eagles a quick 7-0 lead.

The Wolves offense stalled once again on their second drive of the game, putting the ball back into the hands of the sophomore signal-caller. A combination of Odom and Avery Anderson helped drive the ball down to the Wolves’ 12-yard line where Brock once again found his brother through the air, this time for the touchdown, the first of the three Domann threw on the night.

“We’ve been playing in the back yard for a long time so it was nice to get my first varsity touchdown to my brother,” Brock said. “It was great to have the lead and we just need to keep working, keep on pushing and never be satisfied.”

Suddenly the No. 5 ranked Wolves were in serious trouble. Desperately need to gain some traction on offense, the Wolves continued to try and get running back Eric Stowers involved, through both runs and screen passes.

But the Eagles’ defense refused to yield any ground to the home team. On its first three possessions, Vista Ridge was forced to punt the ball three times, which is not an ideal approach when facing the state’s top-ranked team.

“The thing with football is on any given night, anything can happen,” Vista Ridge coach Jerimi Calip said. “Right now they’re playing some good football and they hit us in the mouth tonight.”

The Eagles continued to keep their offense in gear, and took a 21-0 lead after running back Avery Anderson broke free for a 39-yard touchdown run. It appeared Anderson had been stopped for a short gain, but emerged from the pile and distanced himself from the defenders.

The Wolves finally put points on the board on their fourth drive of the game. A pass interference call gave them ball inside the red zone for the first time on the night. Facing 4th and 6, quarterback Elway Tubbs lived up to his namesake, firing a ball into Breon Michel to convert and keep the Wolves’ chances for a touchdown alive. Stowers would convert two plays later to put Vista Ridge on the board, but still trailing 21-7.

But the Eagles would get those seven points back as tackling issues continued to plague the Wolves. Odom found the endzone for the second time on a 30-yard run, giving Vista Ridge a 28-7 halftime lead.

Vista Ridge quarterback Elway Tubbs (7) breaks the huddle during the third quarter of Friday’s loss to Pine Creek. (Dan Mohrmann)

And the momentum sustained through any halftime adjustments that were made. A long run by Anderson set up a Domann touchdown pass to junior Joseph Celestino to increase the Eagles’ lead to 35-7.

“We felt that (this season) we have put together halves,” Miller said. “We wanted to come out and establish ourselves and I thought we did a nice job of being really simple, executing what we could do and hitting that wheel in the endzone for a touchdown.”

The Eagles would tack on two more field goals to bring the final score to 41-7, completing a statement game for the rest of the 4A class. Starting next week, the Eagles will dive into their league schedule when they face-off against the high powered offense of Air Academy.

The Wolves also begin league play next week, but still face tough competition in No. 3 Montrose.

“You have to learn how to lose too,” Calip said. “Take a shot in the chin and see what you’ve got the next week. You’ve got Montrose coming to the house next week and we’ll see if we know how to bounce back from adversity.”

Chatfield freshman Waleed Al-Alem (12) gets off a shot in front of Doherty’s Alen Acosta on Friday afternoon at Chatfield High School. The top-10 boys soccer tilt ended in a 2-2 tie. (Dennis Pleuss)

LITTLETON — Some kind of adversity seemingly pops up for nearly every team during the season.

For Doherty and Chatfield, two squads ranked in the top-10 of this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 5A boys soccer rankings, misfortune presented itself in a few different forms Friday afternoon in the non-league tilt at Chatfield High School. Maybe fittingly, after 100 minutes of play No. 7 Doherty and No. 10 Chatfield settled for a 2-2 draw.

“It’s a gutsy performance from our boys to pick up the lack when we were down a man and down a goal. We never quit and battled back to even it up,” Doherty coach Jon Shub said after the tie. “I’m very pleased with their resolve. The cards were against them and they could have quit. That isn’t their character.”

Doherty’s Carlos Donelson (21) slides a pass over to a teammate as Chatfield freshman Waleed Al-Alem closes in Friday afternoon. (Dennis Pleuss)

Doherty had to play a man down for nearly 70 minutes after forward Carlos Donelson received a red card in the 31st minute of the first half. The Spartans (7-2-1, 1-1 in 5A Colorado Springs Metro League) actually took a 1-0 lead in the 46th minute with a goal by Marcus Krause while playing a man down.

However, Chatfield (5-2-2, 1-1 in 5A Jeffco League) answered back quickly with a goal from senior Jamey McGrath in the 47th minute. The Chargers took a 2-1 lead in the 59th minute when senior Jared Reiss fired home a penalty kick that McGrath drew when he was taken down in the Spartans’ goal box.

It appeared Chatfield would take a 2-1 victory, but with five minutes to play Krause struck again with a header off a long free kick by Doherty goalie Nick Pallisco to tie the game at 2-2 in the 75th minute.

“He (Krause) has definitely been our leader and stalwart,” Shub said. “We expect big things from him. I think he stepped up to the plate today.”

The Chargers had the best scoring chances during the two 10-minute overtime periods. Reiss had the best scoring opportunity in the 93rd minute, but his shot went just wide of the net.

“It was tough,” McGrath said of the final result. “We weren’t able to pull it out in overtime. It’s an unfortunate tie.”

Chatfield’s biggest hardship so far this season is having its returning all-state striker Ben Overholt relegated to the bench. Overholt is in a sling after breaking his arm last week against Arapahoe. The Chargers started the season off strong with a 4-0-1 mark, but since Overholt’s injury the team is 1-2-1.

“Frankly, we’ve been so depleted with injuries and sickness,” Chatfield coach Brock Blume said. “Big players are sitting here on the bench. Trying to find our identity as a group without those players has been difficult.”

The most glaring absence is Overholt. As a junior he led the Chargers with 13 goals. Chatfield finished with a 12-4-1 record last year with Overholt leading the way.

“Having Ben obviously helps the team. I hope we get him back soon,” McGrath said. “He is a goal-scoring kid. He had six goals before he went out. It’s a huge part of our team missing.”

Blume said he hopes to get Overholt back this season, but admitted it’s a “wait-and-see” situation on how quickly his arm heals. The focus for Chatfield is to get on a winning streak in conference play after dropping a game in overtime last Tuesday to defending league champion Arvada West.

“We’ve got to take care of our business,” Blume said. “That’s our goal on Monday and for the rest of league.”

Chatfield gets back into its conference schedule Monday against Pomona. The Chargers face the Panthers at 6 p.m. at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada.

Doherty has a quick turnaround. The Spartans host Highlands Ranch at 6 p.m. Saturday at Gerry Berry Stadium in Colorado Springs. It will be the fourth game in six days for Doherty.

“This definitely boosts our confidence,” Shub said before his team headed back to Colorado Springs.

Doherty’s Junior Delgado (4) and Chatfield sophomore Michael Ardourel (3) chase after a loose ball Friday afternoon during the non-league game at Chatfield High School. (Dennis Pleuss)

Chukwuma Obinnah, pictured during a game against ThunderRidge earlier this season. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)

Grandview’s Chukwuma Obinnah had a four-yard touchdown in overtime to lift the Wolves to a 34-27 overtime win against Eaglecrest on Friday night.

Obinnah finished with 261 yards and five touchdowns on 39 carries.

The night nearly belonged to Eaglecrest, which played the Wolves incredibly tight. The game was tied 7-7 at the half and Grandview led 14-13 after three quarters. The Wolves looked to have the game all but locked up when Obinnah made it 27-19 with 1:20 to play on his fourth touchdown.

But Eaglecrest wouldn’t go quietly. Though a 65-yard touchdown pass at the start of the drive was called back on a penalty, Eaglecrest marched down to Grandview’s 14-yard-line with 12.1 seconds remaining. Then, the Raptors scored as time expired and converted a two-point conversion to tie the game at 27.

That led to overtime, and Obinnah’s winning score.

Grandview, ranked No. 3 in 5A, is now 5-0 to start the season.

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3A: D’Evelyn 34, Lewis-Palmer 33

It seems we can’t go a week this season without updating the state record book in some fashion. Once again Friday, it was the single-game passing mark under assault.

D’Evelyn quarterback Owen Burke threw for 535 yards and five touchdowns. That is now No. 5 all-time, and is the third time this season a quarterback has cracked the top-10. Holy Family quarterback Chris Helbig threw for 491 on Sept. 5, and Air Academy’s Adam Brown broke the state record last week by throwing for 589 yards.

Meanwhile, Burke’s main target, Cameron Brown, had 316 receiving yards and caught all five scores. Both figures are tied for third-best in state history.

Lewis-Palmer running back Charley Young, meanwhile, rushed for 331 yards and four touchdowns on 32 carries in the loss.

When the night ended, the two teams had combined for 1,111 yards of total offense, which is now the eighth-most in state history.

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3A: (5) Rifle 36, (3) Delta 19

Rifle jumped all over Delta early, leading 10-0 after the first quarter, and then cruised to the win.

In fact, by the time Rifle led 16-0 midway through the second quarter, Delta didn’t yet have a first down, according to the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent.

Rifle running back Brock Clark had three total touchdowns.

“We had to fight for everything we got, so I’m extremely proud that, if we have to do that we were still able to score 36 points,” Rifle coach Damon Wells told the Post-Independent.

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2A: (4) Platte Valley 38, (5) Eaton 14

The defending 2A champions notched an important league win over a rival on Friday.

“Fantastic atmosphere,” Platte Valley coach Troy Hoffman Colorado Preps’ Scoreboard Show. “Football’s crazy. Anytime you’re playing such a big game, a rivalry game like this, and then also a league opener, it just added to the atmosphere and I’m very, very happy to come out on top tonight.”

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4A: (8) Greeley West 31, Greeley Central 14

The Spartans are now 5-0 after going 1-9 last season.

“Really, it started in December, just working in the offseason and changing our offense a little bit,” Greeley West coach Jason Renouf told the Scoreboard Show. “We really hit the weight room hard, and our kids have really bought into what we’re selling to them. It’s been great to be a part of.”

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6-man: (4) Peetz 42, (3) Fleming 28

Peetz jumped out to a 28-0 lead at halftime and cruised from there.

“I think we sent a message to everyone else in the conference that we’re to reckon with,” coach Scott Sorensen told the Scoreboard Show. “I know Pawnee’s got a really strong team; we still have Weldon Valley on our schedule, too. If we’re going to finish this out, we have to stay focused and play good football.”

Peetz is now 4-1 this season.

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More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

5A: (8) Cherry Creek 23, (9) Cherokee Trail 0

The Bruins cruised out to a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter and never looked back.

Henry Lyon kicked three field goals — 48, 23 and 20 yards — Milo Hall had a 2-yard rushing touchdown, and Joseph Parker caught a 12-yard score.

Cherry Creek improved to 3-2 this season. Cherokee Trail is also now 3-2.

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8-man: (4) Akron 20, (5) Merino 12

The Rams won a physical top-10 game on Friday. Akron is now 5-0.

“I knew going into the season that we were going to be young, but I knew were going to go have some talent,” Akron coach Jerome Weers told the Scoreboard Show. “I think to some extent, they’ve even exceeded at times my expectations. … They can play real well when they want to, and they play well as a group, and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

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Notables

• Two more running backs rushed for six touchdowns: Dakota Ridge’s Jeremy Lujan (who also had more than 300 yards), as well as Montrose’s Mike Rocha. They are the third and fourth players to do that this season.
• Doherty running back TeQuan Baker went for 272 yards and four touchdowns in a 28-14 win over Castle View. Doherty is now 5-0.
• Big plays: Sterling’s Ethan Rose hit Brennan Skerjanec on a 96-yard touchdown pass, and Longmont’s Ethan Gabrielle had a 92-yard score.
• Columbine’s Jake Lowry threw four touchdowns in his team’s 56-35 win over Mullen. Yes, that’s correct. Surprisingly, though, that’s not a school record for the traditional rush-happy offense. That belongs to former Rebel great Danny Spond, who threw five against Thomas Jefferson in 2009. Still, Lowry’s performance even had former Columbine great and current Denver Broncos player Ryan Miller weighing in.
• Adams City beat Aurora Central 24-21 and is now 4-1 for the first time since 2005, when the team actually started 4-0. The move to 4A has really helped the program. For perspective on the turnaround: Adams City won four total games from 2006-2013, going 4-76 over that span. One of those wins was a forfeit.
• Air Academy had itself another wildly offensive game, and once again, the Kadets fell short. A week after losing 68-62 to Sand Creek, they lost 76-41 to Canon City. Canon City’s Trenton Stringari rushed for 255 yards and five touchdowns, according to the Canon City Daily Record. A week after breaking the state’s passing record, Air Academy quarterback Adam Brown threw for 352 yards and two touchdowns. Teammate Jalen Etsep had two kickoff returns for a score: 97 and 96 yards. Canon City’s Dacian Sullivan also had a kickoff return for a score (87 yards), part of a three touchdown night.
• Mountain Vista moved to 5-0 with a 21-17 win over rival ThunderRidge. It is the first time in school history the Golden Eagles have won that game in nine tries. Vista quarterback Brock Rubley threw for 327 yards and two touchdowns, while Matt Yockey had 18 tackles and two sacks.
• There were two instances where cross-town rivals played for the first time Friday: Longmont beat Silver Creek 42-21, while Chaparral beat Legend 33-30.
• More rivalries: Heritage beat Arapahoe 23-14 for the Milk Can, while Harrison beat Sierra 25-9. It is Sierra’s first loss.
• Green Mountain led Wheat Ridge 14-7 and 20-14 in the fourth quarter, but the Farmers rallied to take a 29-20 win.
• In a game we previewed this week, No. 9 Berthoud moved to 5-0 with a 17-7 win over Erie in 3A.
• Fountain-Fort Carson edged Douglas County 21-20 in overtime. FFC totally turned things around at halftime, when the Trojans were being shutout and had just one first down. Later, they rallied from down 13-7 with seven minutes to play.
• Rangely topped Hayden in overtime, 20-14. Hayden made a goal-line stop to even get to overtime, but Rangely prevailed.
• Palmer beat Sand Creek 35-28 in overtime to win on homecoming. Sand Creek tied the game with a touchdown in the final moments to force overtime.
• Platte Canyon, No. 10 in 1A, beat Front Range Christian 29-0 to move to 4-1. “We preach that we’re going to try to improve every week,” Platte Canyon coach Mike Schmidt told the Scoreboard Show. “We’re young still, we’ve only got five seniors, so we feel like we’ve still got a long way to go, and a lot of improving to do.”
• On its debut week in the 5A top-10, No. 10 Rocky Mountain beat Horizon 31-20.
• In 3A, No. 8 Lamar beat No. 9 St. Mary’s 25-10.
• Glenwood Springs upset 3A No. 10 Palisade, 17-10. It was sealed by a hard count which drew Palisade offside.
• Hotchkiss knocked off 1A No. 7 Cedaredge, 27-13.

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More coverage

• All scores from Friday; Saturday’s schedule
• Top-10 results
• No. 1 Valor Christian held off a game No. 7 Overland squad in 5A
• No. 1 Pine Creek made a statement with a big win over No. 5 Vista Ridge in 4A
• Photos from No. 8 Cherry Creek’s win over No. 9 Cherokee Trail
• No. 7 Dakota Ridge had an offensive outburst in beating Standley Lake

HIGHLANDS RANCH — In front of a raucous homecoming crowd Friday night, Valor Christian was able to fight off Overland 35-10 in a matchup of the top- and seventh-ranked teams in CHSAANow.com’s latest Class 5A football rankings.

The final score, while lopsided, is misleading. The game remained tight until the fourth quarter, when Valor head coach Rod Sherman opened up the playbook and let the Eagles air it out.

“I call the offense and I thought I was a little conservative in the third quarter,” said Sherman after the game. “Just tried to get a couple first downs, and it ended up leaving us with a couple 4th-and-1s, and we struggled in the punting game. But those kind of things that you have to go through are only going to make you stronger.”

Opening up the Centennial League portion of their schedule, Valor struck quickly against Overland’s defense.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

On the Eagles second possession of the game, a 35-yard screen pass to junior tight end Carson Cooper set Valor up deep in Overland territory. On the next set of downs, senior fullback Bubba Watkins took the handoff and, 15 yards later, gave the Eagles a lead they never relinquished.

Overland turned the ball over on downs, and then Valor drove down to the 1-yard-line and quarterback Dylan McCaffrey plunged the ball in for a 14-0 win.

McCaffrey would finish 11-of-17 in the air for 211 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown and had a touchdown reception.

From there, the game devolved into a field position battle. On a night when the wind was howling and knocking down punts and passes, neither team was able to put together a sustained drive in the second quarter.

Through it all, the Eagles defensive front four kept explosive Overland quarterback senior Austin Conway scrambling instead of looking downfield.

With the Trailblazers driving late in the second quarter, Valor’s defensive line was able to get pressure on Conway and force a rushed pass that was picked off by senior defensive back Brian Dawkins Jr.

“They definitely came up big. They knew what they needed to do,” said Dawkins Jr. about his team’s defensive pressure. “He (Conway) is a scrambling quarterback. By doing what they did, they let helped the secondary make some plays.”

Down but not out, Overland came out of halftime determined to get off the ropes and give the Eagles their best shot. A quick field goal, helped out by excellent field position when the wind knocked down a Valor punt, made the score 14-3.

On the Trailblazer’s next possession, Conway was finally able to find some running room, scrambling down the right side for a seven-yard touchdown that narrowed the lead to 14-10. After another Valor three-and-out, Conway put some fear into the Eagles when he fielded a punt and ran it 67 yards to the house, only to see the touchdown nullified because of an illegal blow to the head penalty.

“It’s so hard to practice for his level of athleticism,” Sherman said of Conway. “But I thought we were resilient defensively. I thought we bent a little bit, because he’s such a great athlete. Our defense had their back to the wall. We could have easily given up 21 points in the third quarter, so we’re proud of that effort.”

With the fourth quarter underway, and with Overland closing in, Valor’s defensive line came up big once again, forcing a fumble on Overland’s next possession to set up another Eagles touchdown.

Then, with the game still close, Valor took to the air to secure the win. The big recipient was junior wide receiver Ben Waters, who finished the night with two catches for 103 yards and two touchdowns, all in the fourth quarter.

Sherman, perhaps making up for his conservative play calling early, even opted for some trickery late in the game. A flea-flicker led to a touchdown pass from senior Eric Lee Jr. to McCaffrey helped balloon Valor’s lead.

Overland was able to put together one more charge deep into Valor territory, but turned the ball over on downs. From there, all the Eagles had to do was take a knee to ice the game.

It was Overland’s first loss of the season (4-1), while Valor improves to 1-0 in conference play and 4-1 overall. In the Eagles’ postgame huddle, Sherman, who knows that his team will get everyone’s best shot this season, told his squad to enjoy their homecoming, and their victory.

“First game of the Centennial League, to come out with a win, you can always look back in the rearview mirror and see where you could have played better, things like that,” said Sherman. “But you know what, you’ve got to enjoy the wins when they happen. Overland is a very, very good football team, and we’re just thankful to have a win tonight.”

Valor will stay at home and welcome in Eaglecrest next Friday, while Overland will take on Cherry Creek at home on Thursday.

AURORA — No. 8 Cherry Creek football jumped out a 17-0 lead midway through the second quarter and never looked back in a 23-0 win over No. 9 Cherokee Trail.

Henry Lyon kicked three field goals — 48, 23 and 20 yards — Milo Hall had a 2-yard rushing touchdown, and Joseph Parker caught a 12-yard score.