AURORA — Last week, Valor Christian suffered its first in-state loss since 2012. With a share of the Class 5A Centennial League championship on the line, it was hard to imagine that they could be the victim of back-to-back losses to in-state opponents — something that hadn’t happened since 2010.
But the No. 1-ranked Grandview Wolves (9-0 overall, 5-0 Centennial) had other ideas. A 24-21 win over the Eagles (6-3, 3-2) Friday night concluded an undefeated season and sole possession of the league title.
“We’ve been in a lot of tight games and this league is tough,” Wolves coach John Schultz said. “We gathered ourselves at halftime and with 24 mintues to play went out and played a physical game.”
Early in the contest, it seemed like the Eagles were almost timid when they took the field. Grandview received the ball to start the game and marched right down the field in eight plays and finding their way into the end zone on the legs of running back Chukwuma Obinnah.
Dylan McCaffrey and the Valor offense didn’t fare any better as McCaffrey was picked on their first possession of the game and they went three and out on the second. The Wolves capitalized and once again hit paydirt on a short run by Obinnah to go up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“I thought we withstood their pressure a few times and we were able to answer,” Valor coach Rod Sherman said. “We have to take the good and improve on where we are right now.”
Needing something to happen, McCaffrey finally fell back into his comfort zone and began to seek out his favorite target in Eric Lee Jr. McCaffrey and Lee connected on a 36-yard pass that gave the Eagles the ball at the Wolves’ 15-yard line. Two plays later they connected again to give Valor the ball at the three. A quick handoff to Stone Watson put the Eagles on the board.
Feeling some momentum after finally getting on the scoreboard, the Valor defense began to show some signs of life. They let the Wolves drive down to midfield, but hung on to force a punt.
The Wolves responded in kind but disaster struck for them on the Valor punt attempt. First, a flag was thrown for roughing the kicker, but it didn’t matter as Ben Marshall fumbled the catch and Valor recovered the ball on their own 36-yard line. McCaffrey wasted no time and fired a 64-yard strike to Ben Waters to tie the game 14.
As much as the second quarter went Valor’s way, the second half was the exact opposite. In their first two offensive possessions of the second half, the Eagles fumbled the ball back to Grandview. The Wolves took advantage of both turnovers, getting Obinnah’s third touchdown run off the first and an Aiden Pirrin field goal on the second. Going into the fourth quarter, the Eagles found themselves down 24-14 and on the verge of back-to-back losses.
“I just felt like I needed to be there for my team and do my job for my team,” Obinnah said. “All I did was do my job and thankfully the coaches called some great plays and allowed us to succeed.”
The final 12 minutes saw a valiant effort from the Eagles, but the 10-point hole proved to be too much to overcome. With just over four minutes remaining, McCaffrey faked out the entire stadium on an option play and was able to run the ball inside the five-yard line. Watson then punched the ball in to pull the Eagles to within three.
But the Wolves’ offense was able to continue to pound the ball on the ground and run out the clock, giving Grandview the 24-21 win.
Both teams now await the select of the 5A state bracket, which will be released Sunday. But for Schultz and his team, they are simply going to enjoy the undefeated run they’ve had, knowing they can overcome adversity and hang with the best teams in the state.
“We’ve been in a lot of tough games this season,” Obinnah said. “We are not strangers to adversity. We know how to pull out the hard wins and how to keep our momentum up.”
Fort Collins trailed Broomfield 21-10 at halftime, but rallied for a 30-21 win on Friday night.
“At halftime … it wasn’t really a matter of X’s and O’s and we kind of knew that from a coaching standpoint,” Fort Collins coach Eric Rice told Colorado Preps’ Scoreboard Show. “It was just more a matter of not finishing plays that we had the opportunity to.
“And so our very spirited message at halftime to the guys was, ‘Sometimes winning a football game is about playing with heart and just playing with a lot of courage.’ I really think that’s all it really took for us to get better in the second half.”
The third-ranked Lambkins actually led 10-7 with five minutes to play in the second quarter, but Broomfield struck for two quick touchdowns in a span of two-and-a-half minutes to take a 21-10 advantage into halftime.
Fort Collins responded with a touchdown on its opening drive of the second half — a 5-yard run from Kyler Sigsbee capped it.
William Bridges then gave the Lambkins a 24-21 lead later in the third quarter, and Sigsbee added another touchdown, his third of the game, with 7:16 remaining in the game to seal things.
“Really, really proud of our kids for showing their true character that they’re bunch of fighters and they got a lot of heart and they got a lot of courage and found a way to get a win tonight,” Rice said. “I actually look at tonight, and being down at halftime, as a very positive thing for us in the long run, because we might find ourselves in the playoffs here in a couple of weeks down at halftime, and we’re going to be able to draw back on this experience and say, ‘We’ve been there before.’”
The win sealed the Class 4A Northern League title for the Lambkins.
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5A: Overland 50, Cherokee Trail 48 (OT)
A back-and-forth game all night long, it was fitting that this one ended up in overtime.
The game featured seven ties or lead changes, but it was Ahjon White’s score on fourth-and-goal from the 2 and Austin Conway’s subsequent two-point conversion that proved to be the difference.
Overland had leads of 14-0, 22-14, 28-20 and 36-28. Each time, Cherokee Trail battled back. The Cougars actually took at 42-36 lead in the fourth quarter, but it was Overland’s turn to respond. Josh Wright’s 20-yard touchdown with 5:26 to play tied the game.
Overland had a chance to win it with 2.8 seconds to play, but missed a field goal and the teams went to overtime.
In OT, the Trailblazers got the ball first and White scored his fourth total touchdown of the night on the fourth-down try. Conway then got the conversion on a run. It was Overland’s fifth two-point attempt of the night; they ended up converting three of them.
Cherokee Trail also scored on a fourth-and-goal from the two, but couldn’t convert for two.
Cherokee Trail’s Izaiah Lottie had a big night with three touchdowns.
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1A: (8) Centauri 42, (6) Monte Vista 6
The Falcons cruised to an easy win over the Pirates.
“We played well and we played together and we were able to get a big victory against a league rival and a good team,” coach Kyle Forster told the Scoreboard Show after the game. “Our first four games were against four quality teams. Three of them are in the top-4. We learned a lot early, and we were able to put it together tonight.”
Centauri closed the regular season with five-straight wins.
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Short stuff
The playoff brackets for classes 5A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man are due out Sunday. There’s no exact time set for a release, but brackets will publish on CHSAANow.com as they are finalized. Expect late morning, mid-afternoon.
The latest Wild Card point standings won’t publish until either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
Speaking of Wild Card points: Manual was the beneficiary of a forfeit from Ridge View Academy earlier this week. It moved them all the way up to No. 9 in the 2A Wild Card points. But following a loss to previously winless Machebeuf on Friday night, Manual dropped to No. 15. It must hold on tight in hopes it makes the 2A playoff field.
Lyons wideout Austin Myers had 314 yards receiving in a win over Clear Creek on Friday night, according to BoCoPreps.com. That’s the fourth-highest single-game mark in state history.
Northridge upset 3A No. 9 Berthoud, 32-20.
Also in 3A, No. 6 Rifle held off Glenwood Springs 20-13. “As usual, we traveled well,” Rifle coach Damon Wells told the Scoreboard Show. “It was a full house. It was pretty loud. I think sometimes in the mountains in Colorado on Friday nights in the fall, it’s a pretty special environment.”
2A’s top-ranked team, Brush, rolled to a 43-29 win over No. 10 Eaton.
St. Mary’s, No. 9 in 2A, won a rivalry game with Manitou Springs, 28-18. St. Mary’s went 1-8 last season; they’re now 7-2 in 2014. “These kids are riding high right now, playing well,” coach Nic Olney told the Scoreboard Show.
Here’s another good turnaround: Littleton is 5-4 after beating Ponderosa 21-19. The Lions started 1-4. They won the 4A Plains League as a result. “This is our second fall being together,” coach Kurt Krantz told the Scoreboard Show. “The kids are believing in what we’re doing. They’re starting to understand what this is about.”
Rangeview won the 5A South Metro League with a 29-7 win over Heritage. “I really like where our team’s at,” coach Dave Gonzales told the Scoreboard Show. “We kind of found our identity tonight. That’s kind of the team we’ve been waiting on to show up for a few weeks. Finally, everybody’s healthy and we’re kind of in a good little run.”
A few top-10 matchups in 8-man: No. 2 Caliche beat No. 5 Merino 37-14; No. 4 Akron beat No. 10 Sedgwick County 60-21; and No. 7 Granada beat No. 6 Springfield 28-12.
6-man’s crossover games began play. Among the winners were Arickaree/Woodlin (66-0 over Miami-Yoder), Walsh (83-32 over Flagler), Fleming (48-6 over Otis) and Peetz (79-32 over Stratton/Liberty). Peetz’s win assures the classification of a new champion this year. Stratton/Liberty won the 2013 crown.
Pomona freshman Max Borghi (29) tries to outrun Chatfield senior Garrett Hochevar (33) during the first quarter Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex. Borghi had 13 carries for 171 yards and a touchdown in the Panthers’ wild 49-41 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
ARVADA — A wild and crazy Class 5A Jeffco League football finale between Chatfield and Pomona came down to an errant snap at the North Area Athletic Complex on Friday night.
Chatfield had a third-and-goal from the 3-yard line with less than three minutes to play trailing Pomona 49-41. The Chargers looked primed to go in for its seventh offensive touchdown and then be able to go for a 2-point conversion to potentially send the game into overtime.
However, a high shotgun snap to Chatfield senior quarterback Kyle Winkler sailed over his head. Winkler recovered the ball at the 23-yard line, but his throw into the end zone on the ensuing fourth-down play fell incomplete.
Chatfield senior Sean O’Dell (2) sprints down the sideline for one of his three touchdowns Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex. (Dennis Pleuss)
“It was a huge relief,” Pomona senior Isaac Marquez said of the errant snap and following incomplete pass that led to the Panthers taking over on downs.
“This was (Chatfield’s) playoff life,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said after his team improved to 7-2, 6-1 in league on the season. “I don’t think our young kids realized how important it was to Chatfield and how hard they would play. Thank goodness we found a way to get one stop.”
Chatfield (3-6, 2-5) needed a win Friday to have a chance on making the postseason. The Chargers were ravaged by injuries this season and sat in the 35th spot in the wild card point standings going into the final week of the regular season. The top 32 teams advance into the 5A state tournament that begins next week.
Chargers’ coach Bret McGatlin said he had 13 players who would have been starting against Pomona that had been lost due to injuries before or during the season.
“I think our kids came out relaxed,” McGatlin said. “After battling what we’ve gone through all year we just went out and had fun. They played well and battled to the very end against one of the best teams in the state.”
Pomona’s running back tandem of Marquez and freshman Max Borghi each pulled their weight in the win. Marquez had 18 carries for 161 yards and three rushing touchdowns. He also caught three balls for 34 yards and a score.
Borghi finished with 13 carries for 171 yards. Junior Dillon Pace pitched in a 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter that gave the Panthers a 21-7 lead.
Chatfield senior Brayden Gilbert (6) heads up field with Pomona junior Chris Gatseos (8) in pursuit during the first half Friday at the North Area Athletic Complex. (Dennis Pleuss)
Chatfield answered nearly every Pomona score with one of its own. Senior Sean O’Dell had a pair of rushing touchdowns only 1 minute, 12 seconds apart in the second quarter that tied the game at 21-21. O’Dell accepted much of the offensive load for the Chargers with 34 carries for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He also had six catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.
“Sean is our best player out there,” Winkler said. “He played a hell of a game.”
Winkler was also impressive picking apart the Panthers’ defense for the majority of the game. The senior was 27-for-35 passing for 308 yards and two touchdowns. Winkler also had two 1-yard touchdown runs.
Chatfield threw in several new offensive wrinkles against Pomona. Madden also had to deal with losing a pair of linebackers due to injuries in the game that cause him to change the Panthers’ defensive scheme.
“It was chaos. It wasn’t even controlled chaos. It was pure chaos, but we found a way to win,” Madden said. “We’ll take it.”
Chatfield concludes its season with a non-state bracket game next week.
Pomona waits until later this weekend to find out whom will be its first-round state tournament opponent. The 32-team 5A state tournament bracket will be posted on CHSAANow.com on Sunday.
The Panthers’ two losses this season were to No. 2 Ralston Valley and No. 6 Valor Christian. Pomona has a significant quality win over No. 5 Cherry Creek under its belt.
“Defense has to wash this one away and start new on Monday to be ready for playoffs,” Marquez said. “We are real confident going into playoffs. We just have to work hard every day of the week in practice to get it done.”
Madden’s squad finished second in 5A Jeffco behind Ralston Valley, who completed its undefeated regular season with a dominating 55-14 victory over Mullen on Thursday night at NAAC.
Pomona senior Isaac Marquez (27) breaks out of the pack for one of his three rushing touchdowns Friday night against Chatfield. Marquez also had a 9-yard touchdown catch in the Panthers’ 49-41 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)Chatfield senior quarterback Kyle Winkler (11) tucks the ball and runs with it Friday night against Pomona. Winkler threw for more than 300 yards and also run for two scores as the Chargers gave No. 4 Pomona a run for its money at the North Area Athletic Complex. (Dennis Pleuss)
COLORADO SPRINGS – Once again, Paul Roberts had no peers at the Class 2A state cross country meet.
The junior won his third title in a row with a dominating 16.131-second time, which also was a new 2A record at the 3.2-mile course at the Norris Penrose Event Center.
(Tracy Renck/CHSAANow.com)
“There really wasn’t any more pressure on me this year,” Roberts said. “I’ve been here before and our team just needed to come out here and race well. We wanted to come out here and take care of business, that was our goal, and that’s what we did.”
Corey Lewenkamp of Custer County Central was second at 17:02.30.
“My coaches said to sit with the pack a little bit for the first mile and just make sure you get to the top of the hill feeling good,” Roberts said. “Then they said go as hard as I could that last half. I felt like everybody on our team went out and did that.”
Roberts’ effort powered Lyons to its third state title in a row. Roberts’ teammate Matt Dillon was fifth.
Roberts acknowledged he has already been thinking about what it would mean to be a four-time Colorado state cross country champion.
“My goal since I was an eighth grader was to win four high school state championships,” Roberts said. “That’s a goal I want to reach.”
In the Class 4A race, Palmer Ridge also doubled its pleasure.
Eric Hamer, a senior, claimed his inaugural state title with a Class 4A record time of 16.17.7 seconds on the challenging course.
“It wasn’t my plan, I just wanted to go out and run the best that I could,” Hammer said about setting a new record. “This was about me doing my part and it feels great to help the team win. My coaches were yelling at me how much do you want second place to have to earn it. So, I just ran as fast as I could.”
Cheyenne Mountain’s William Mayhew, a fellow senior, was second at 16:49.7.
Thanks to Hamer’s victory the Bears won the team title with 94 points, this was their first state boys cross country title since the school opened six years ago. Niwot was second in the team race with 106 points.
“My coaches had a vision for me to win state and I accomplished this goal,” said Hamer, who was sixth a year ago.
Like Hamer, SkyView Academy’s Ben Butler also won the 3A race in a class record-breaking fashion with a 16.18.20-second performance.
“That’s awesome,” Butler said after he was informed he set a 3A record. “The preparation was there, but the difference was I came in here with the thought of winning in my mind. I wanted to stay humble, but at the same time I wanted to believe it was possible and it happened for me.”
Butler, a junior, finished fourth in the 2A state race last year. SkyView Academy is based in Highlands Ranch.
(Tracy Renck/CHSAANow.com)
The 5A race didn’t see any records get broken, but that didn’t dampen the excitement of Pomona’s Marcelo Laguera.
The senior won his first state championship with a time of 16.19.40
“Last year my body broke down and I finished like 71st,” Laguera said. “I just worked really hard to get back here and to win state means everything. All those days of training and hard work I put in paid off. It is an amazing feeling.”
Laguera said he took the lead for good in the race at the 2-mile mark. Thornton’s Joshua Joseph was second at 16:42.8 seconds.
“This course was brutal and all that mattered was who got to the line first,” Laguera said.
Mountain Vista won the 5A boys team title with 114 points, followed by Fort Collins at 156 points.
The lead pack at the 5A girls race. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Lauren Gregory, a sophomore phenom at Fort Collins, entered Saturday’s cross country State Championships at the Norris-Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs as the 5A defending champion. She was undefeated on the season and relatively untouched.
Gregory was projected to win and did in dominant fashion with a time of 18:55, 30 seconds ahead of Fairview’s Maya Browning and the field.
What wasn’t expected was for her teammates to join her on the podium as champions, but the Lambkins surprised with 113 points, five points ahead of second place Monarch. See the full results here.
Fort Collins’ Lauren Gregory. (Brock Laue/CHSAANow.com)
All Fort Collins had to do was unseat a Monarch team attempting to become the first 5A girls cross country program to win four state titles in a row. Fort Collins, 2010 state champions and a top-two team finisher at the State Meet every year since 2007, had placed second to Monarch the previous three seasons.
The Lambkins certainly faced a daunting task, especially after a relatively shaky regular season by the program’s lofty standards.
“We were not picked to win today,” Fort Collins first year coach Mike Callor, who won one boys and one girl’s state title at Dakota Ridge, admitted. “We knew we had it in us, but the kind of season we had. We started out really rocky and it was tough. It was the toughest state title I’ve ever been a part of honestly. We were hoping that all those finished feeling they had given it everything they had. If they did that and ran the plan, something special was certainly possible.”
Gregory, seniors Heather Holt (8th place), Devynn Miller (21st place), Kiri Michell (50th), and junior Claire Hooker (54th) brought home their 7th state championship in girls cross country, third most of any school in the state behind The Classical Academy (10 titles) and Lake County (9).
Gregory was ecstatic about the team crown.
“It means so much more than the individual title,” Gregory said. “It’s incredible to know my team was right there with me and they get to celebrate with me. It’s amazing.”
In class 4A, Mountain View’s girls felt they had some unfinished business of their own. The Mountain Lions, one of the favorites to win the 2013 crown, finished fourth as cross-town rivals Thompson Valley won their 4th girls title in the past eight seasons. In 2011, Mountain View placed second as Thompson Valley won.
The Mountain Lions finally overtook their nemesis as three of their girls finished ahead of Thompson Valley’s number one. Mountain View, with 127 points, held off Thompson Valley (139), Palmer Ridge (144), and Evergreen (144).
Lauren Offerman (4th place), Riley Cooney (6th place), Abby Stewart (14th), Katie Benner (65th), and Alison Peters (66th) led the ladies from Loveland to their first state championship since 2004, and third title overall in the sport.
“To me personally, I could not be more excited for that group of young ladies,” Mountain View coach Kevin Clark said. “Those girls as freshman finished second to Thompson Valley. Our seniors, they were our backbone to make sure that we never lost sight. They wanted a shot at it too and I couldn’t be more excited for that group of girls.”
Air Academy junior Katie Rainsberger, after coming within a second of winning state two years ago and finishing second behind Niwot’s Elise Cranny in 2012 and 2013, captured her first crown in a time of 18:50. Denver North’s Kayla Young placed second in 19:03.
“It’s more joy than redemption,” Rainsberger said of winning the title. “Losing to Elise Cranny isn’t something that one should be ashamed of. She’s a role model, someone I can look up to, and we’re really good friends,” Rainsberger said of the Stanford Cardinal freshman.
In another fantastic team finish, Alamosa’s girls pulled a mild upset over 3A defending champion Salida, 91-95, as Mean Moose freshman Tara Sowards outleaned Salida’s Sydney Fesenmeyer in a time of 21:22.8 to 21:22.9 for sixth place. The state title was Alamosa’s first in girls cross country since they won 4A in 2009.
Estes Park sophomore Lily Tomasula-Martin (20:31) held off Basalt’s Hailey Swirbul (20:35) for the 3A individual championship.
In 2A, West Grand senior Tabor Scholl, a multiple time state champion in track, was looking for her first cross country title since winning 3A as a freshman in 2011. Scholl (19:59) delivered in dominant fashion as Lyons’ CeAnn Udovich placed second in 20:20.
“Winning it freshman year was such a privilege and an honor and I was really grateful,” Scholl said. “Working for it for two years just makes this year so much more special to know that I put in the work and it finally paid off.”
Lyons, for all their success in cross country and track, had never won a state title in girls cross country. That changed Saturday as the Lions held off Telluride by a slim margin, 20-24.