The 2015 state tournament bracket for Class 3A boys soccer is below.
2015 CHSAA Boys’ Soccer Championships 2015 Class 3A State Boys’ Soccer
Month: October 2015
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Photos: Lutheran football tops Vista PEAK in 3A
PARKER — Lutheran football beat Vista PEAK 27-26 in a Class 3A game on Saturday.
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Live: State softball semifinals and championships
AURORA — Titles are on the line today as the state softball tournaments come to a conclusion with the semifinals and championship games.
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Fairview, Cheyenne Mountain, and Kent Denver garner top seeds in boys state soccer brackets
Fairview boys soccer is the No. 1 seed in Class 5A boys soccer. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com) AURORA — The brackets for the state soccer tournaments were released on Sunday and Fairview, Cheyenne Mountain and Kent Denver were given the top seeds in their respective classes.
The tournaments will begin play this week.
The Knights went on a impressive run to end the regular season, winning their last eight games and coming away with the Front Range League title.
Last year’s defending Class 5A champion, Broomfield, came away with the No. 2 seed. Arvada West and Arapahoe round out the top four.
The Front Range League qualified eight teams for this year’s state tournament.
Find the full 5A bracket here.
Cheyenne Mountain is the No. 1 seed in 4A. (Jost Watt/CHSAANow.com) Cheyenne Mountain gains the top spot for 4A after going 7-0 in the Pikes Peak Athletic Conference. The Indians were one of the more impressive defensive teams this year, surrendered only nine goals to their opponents through the entire season.
The Classical Academy, Battle Mountain and Evergreen also come into the tournament highly ranked. Defending champion Air Academy comes in at No. 10 this year.
The full 4A bracket is available here.
In 3A, Kent Denver is the top seed. The Sun Devils went unbeaten this season at 14-0-1. They are also the defending champions.
Other top seeds include Liberty Common, KIPP Collegiate, Vail Mountain and Pagosa Springs.
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Abby Zuschlag’s sixth inning home run lifts Valor Christian to back-to-back softball titles
Valor Christian won the 4A softball championship. More photos. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com) AURORA — The message was clear. If Wheat Ridge was going to take the Class 4A state softball championship from Valor Christian, they were going to have to pry it out of the Eagles’ hands.
The Farmers came up short on offense and a sixth inning home run by Abby Zuschlag gave Valor a 2-1 win, and they second-straight softball championship.
“When the bracket came out, we knew we would have to go through Frederick, Erie and Wheat Ridge and sure enough, we did,” Eagles coach Dave Atencio said. “Thank the lord we got through all three of them. They were the best three teams we played all year. Our hitting came through once again.”
It was almost eerie in the way the Eagles won in the semis and then similarly brought home the state championship. Locked in a 0-0 tie late against the Erie Tigers, Lauren Foster launched a home run — Valor’s only hit of the game — to give them a 1-0 lead.
In the finals, the Farmers and Eagles were locked in a stalemate until Zuschlag got ahold of a pitch, sending it over the left field fence.
“It was such an incredible feeling,” Zuschlag said. “I was planning on bunting because I thought Vannah (Behabetz) was going to get on, and doing what I needed to for the team. The minute that hit my bat, it was an unbelievable feeling.”
But the feeling of holding the state championship trophy in her hand was better.
The Eagles had to battle through Erie and Frederick last year to come away as champions. Coming into this season, the Eagles thought that some observers were down on them and questioned their ability to successfully repeat.
More photos. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com) “We were able to prove ourselves,” Zuschlag said. “We worked so hard all season and we were able to just come to this tournament and prove that we could do it again. We’re the same team and we’re just as good, if not better.
Alexandria Kilponen came up big for Valor on the mound. She allowed a home run to Anna Marie Torres, the first batter she saw, but then settled down.
She struck out seven Farmer hitters and only allowed one base runner to reach third base. That came in the third inning when the Farmers had their best chance to put runs on the board, loading the bases with only one out.
“(Kilponen) did a good job pitching against us,” Farmers coach Marty Stricklett said. “We just have to come out with base hits after loading the bases with one out. To (come away empty) … that’s going to haunt me for a year.”
As tight as the semifinal and championship games were for the Eagles, they knew that Kilponen didn’t need that much run support for them to get their hands on the hardware.
Only a sophomore, she gives the Eagles a great look to take more championships in the years to come.
“With a pitcher like Kilponen, we know if we get one or two runs, we’re tough to beat,” Atencio said. “She’s only a sophomore, but she comes through in the clutch. Once we got that lead, it was ours.”
Desperately needing a runner to reach for Torres to get one more at-bat, Julia Shippley hit a dribbler down the first base line. Skylar Vaughn initially mishandled the ball but recovered and hustled to the bag to end the game and etch the legacy of the 2015 Valor Christian Eagles in stone.
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Strasburg caps perfect season with 3A softball championship
Strasburg won the Class 3A softball championship. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) AURORA – After a year away, Strasburg’s softball team is once again the queen of Class 3A.
The Indians won their third Class 3A state championship in four years, the latest coming Sunday when they beat Eaton 7-5 in the title game at Aurora Sports Park.
“This is just great icing on the cake,” Strasburg coach Michelle Woodard said. “These seniors and this team has been working so hard and they just wanted to come back and win one more. Plus, the best part about this team if someone else is not hitting someone else steps up and that’s what happened.”
The Indians completed their memorable season with a perfect 23-0 record. Strasburg, which has all three of its school’s state softball titles in the last four years, was in the finals a year ago, losing to La Junta 3-2. Actually in the last four years, the Indians have only lost four games.
“This feels so much more amazing that I thought it would,” said Strasburg senior Annie Oakley, who had a two-run single in the sixth which put the Indians up 7-3. “I’ve been here before, but it is just not the same. I’m going to miss this so much, but this is the best feeling I’ve ever felt.”
Eaton (17-8) had its dream season end in the finals when it lost to Strasburg for the third time this year. The Reds improbable run, which included an 8-4 win over La Junta in the quarterfinals, were making their inaugural appearance in the state softball championship game. The Reds previous best run was in 1998 and 1999 when they lost in the semifinals.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) “This is a good start for us,” said Eaton coach Dale Hughes, who just finished his 12th season guiding the Reds. “We’re still pretty young and now we believe in ourselves. For years, we’ve had some good teams and it’s just hard for us to get out of that Patriot League, we go up against Strasburg, Sterling, Valley and Brush.”
In the top of the first, Eaton’s Brittany Knutson had a lead-off infield single and scored on Taylor Renaud’s sacrifice fly.
Strasburg countered in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead, thanks to Dakota Stotyn’s two-run, two-out single.
Eaton tied the game in the top of the third at 2-2 on Karissa Hatchell’s RBI single.
With the bases loaded, Eaton’s Casse Strole walked to put the Reds up 3-2. Strasburg pitcher Alexis Rayburn stopped the rally with back-to-back outs, the last one a strikeout of Sieara Price.
The Indians tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third when an errant throw was made on a grounder hit by Oakley. Moments later Stotyn struck again, this time with a two-run home over the 205-foot fence in left center field off starting Eaton pitcher Rachel Graham to put the Indians up 5-3.
“I was more relaxed more than anything,” said Stotyn, a sophomore, about her mindset at the plate. “I trusted that everybody would back me up even if I didn’t do well.”
Eaton brought in relief pitcher Lauren Frink to get out of the inning.
“I went with my junior pitcher Rachel (Graham) after she pitched that enormous extra inning game against Sterling (a 6-5 Eaton in eight innings in the semifinals), and she came off a hard game (Saturday),” Hughes said. “I knew she was getting a little tired and probably in hindsight I should have pulled her a half inning sooner. She’s a bulldog and she wants the ball and she gave us all she had.”
Strasburg was in business again in the sixth when Jacee Dinius singled and then she went to third when an error was made on a bunt by Jordan Roesch. Both scored on a single to left by Oakley stretching the Indians’ lead to 7-3.
Alexis Rayburn pitched five innings and Stotyn was in the circle in the third and seventh frame. Stotyn ran into some trouble in the seventh, giving up two runs before closing the door and setting off the celebration.
“I’m really proud of everybody that we were able to win state again,” Stotyn said.
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Mountain Range wins school’s first-ever softball title in claiming 5A
Mountain Range won the Class 5A softball championship. More photos. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) AURORA — Mountain Range had never been to the Class 5A softball state tournament. In fact, they didn’t even start a program until 2009.
On Sunday afternoon at the Aurora Sports Park, the Mustangs made history by winning their first-ever softball state championship after defeating Pomona 12-2 in six innings.
It was the school’s second state championship in any sport. They also won 4A gymnastics in 2007.
For Mountain Range, 2015 was a culmination of a seven-year process for Dane Craig, who is the lone coach in program history.
“It puts us on the map for softball and puts us on the map for sports, in general,” Craig said. “It’s been nine years and we hadn’t had any state berths at all, but we came into this year and we ran the table. It was absolutely fantastic. History was made today for Mountain Range High School.”
So, how did they get here?
After going down 1-0 in the fourth inning on a steal of home plate and then 2-0 in the fifth after a two-out RBI single by Jessica Espinoza, the floodgates opened for the ‘Stangs.
First, there was an error. Then, an RBI bunt by Trinity Gallegos. Then, Gallegos scored on an error. After that—five more errors and five more runs, seven of each, plus three hits — gave Mountain Range a 7-2 lead on Pomona after one of the more chaotic fifth innings you’ll ever see. Once the Mustangs grabbed the lead, they poured it on with five more runs in the sixth, earning the 10-run rule and a state title.
“We had to change something up,” Craig said. “We were down two runs and our bats weren’t getting it done. We decided to go small ball and see if they could defend well and before you knew it we had four or five runs and we are winning the whole thing.”
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) It seemed an appropriate wild finish to a crazy day of 5A softball that started with a 13-11 Pomona win over Fossil Ridge in eight innings and ended with 12 runs in two innings by Mountain Range in the finals.
Despite the pandemonium, through it all the Mustangs knew they could rely on their ace on the mound, junior Hunter Huser, who held Chaparral to two runs during a 4-2 semifinals victory, and Pomona to two runs.
“I told everybody at the beginning of the year that she was the best pitcher in the state,” Craig said. “The last two weeks, she proved it on the biggest platform. She stepped up huge, had great defense behind her, and was never fazed one time.”
Huser was quick to credit her teammates, as well.
“We always have each other’s back,” she said. “No one is ever worried. We can always pick each other up.”
In the end, for a team with a mixture of experience and youth, boasting six seniors and even three freshmen, the Mustangs proved to have the perfect recipe in 2015. They finished with a 23-2 record and a No. 18 national ranking by MaxPreps.
Pomona, a No. 14 seed in the 5A tournament, completed a 19-7 campaign. Certainly their season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion, but the Panthers were a bit of a Cinderella story after tying for third in the Jefferson County Conference and earning the No. 15 seed for Regionals last weekend.
They actually lost to Chaparral 13-12, but took out Grand Junction Central 15-13 to seal a bid to the state tournament.
The Panthers, who have never won state in softball, lost their fourth title game. They were also the runner-up in 2005 in 5A, 1993 in 6A, and 1987 when there were no classifications.
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Wheat Ridge football knocks off No. 8 Aurora Central in 4A
(Andre Lyseight/CHSAANow.com) LAKEWOOD — The Wheat Ridge Farmers handed Aurora Central its first loss of the season on Friday, ending their seven-game win steak.
Wheat Ridge beat No. 8 Aurora Central 37-14 in a Class 4A football game.
“I am excited for them (Aurora Central) as far as the things they have done and turned around,” said Wheat Ridge coach Stacy Coryell. “Coach (Travis Peeples) is doing a great job over there. You can’t take 7-0 lightly.”
Wheat Ridge running back Payton Dietrich helped his team win big with an impressive game on the ground. He scored his team’s first touchdown of the game that helped provide an offensive spark.
“We started off a little slow but we got our stuff together and we played better in the second half and even in the second quarter,” Dietrich said. “It was a good way to win and it felt good too.”
Aurora Central looked like it was going to put up big numbers against Wheat Ridge judging by their first drive of the game. Trojans quarterback Jalil Grimes helped take his team down the field, setting up six-yard rushing touchdown from running back Fransicos Aranda. That gave the Trojans an early 8-0 lead.
Wheat Ridge had a slow start with its first two drives ending in punts. Dietrich was finally able to break out for a 22-yard rushing touchdown and cut the lead to 8-7. On the next drive, quarterback Gino Tate provided the spark, including a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tate to Carl Vecciarelli taking the lead at 14-8.
“We were looking for cutbacks and our offensive line played big today, so we got a good push and that’s what helped,” Dietrich said.
The Trojans could not get anything flowing on offense after their first drive. Meanwhile, Wheat Ridge was clicking on both sides of the ball.
Dietrich was able to reach the sidelines with a strong stiff arm that allowed him to make room for 54-yard run. Then running back Xavier Dreiling scored on a 27-yard run to make it 20-8.
Aurora Central punted the ball five times without another score by halftime.
Aurora Central started the half with what looked to be an accidental onside kick that it was able to recover at midfield. The Trojans finally got the break they needed — but still couldn’t put points on the board.
Grimes threw an interception to Nicco Young, who returned it to the 1-yard-line. Dietrich made an easy catch for the touchdown to extend Wheat Ridge’s lead to 27-8.
The Farmers were able to put the game out of reach after Dreiling returned a fumble for a 33-yard touchdown.
“We didn’t play our best game, but we’re not going take anything away from that team,” said Aurora Central coach Travis Peeples. “They were tough and physical and they were who we thought they were. They were a very well coached team and I just didn’t coach my best tonight. I didn’t have my guys prepared but well go back to the drawing boards.”
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No. 1 Pine Creek rolls over No. 5 Durango in 4A football
Pine Creek took down another top-5 opponent on Friday. More photos. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com) MONUMENT – This game didn’t live up to its hype.
Pine Creek, ranked No. 1 in the latest Class 4A CHSAANow.com poll, didn’t allow its match-up against No. 5 Durango to have any drama.
The Eagles scored on their first six possessions to speed past the Demons 41-3 in a Pikes Peak League game Friday night at Don Breese Stadium.
“We are building and when you are going towards what we want you can’t have any bad investments,” Pine Creek coach Todd Miller said. “We have to have every practice (be) worth it and we have to get out there and we did a good of putting everything together this week.”
The Eagles, who have won back-to-back 4A state championships, improved their record to 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the PPL. Durango dropped to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in the PPL.
The Eagles dominating performance didn’t come as a surprise as this was their 33rd victory in a row. It was also their fourth win over a top-5 opponent this season.
University Nebraska-bound JoJo Domann started with a flurry for Pine Creek recovering a fumble on Durango’s first play from scrimmage, giving the Eagles first and 10 at the Demons’ 4-yard line. Two plays later Domann ran in for a 3-yard score at the 11:10 mark.
That was a sign of things to come.
After a Durango three-and-out, the Eagles marched 40 yards, culminating with a 15-yard scoring pass from junior Brock Domann to his brother JoJo Domann to give the Eagles a 14-0 lead with 7:27 left in the first quarter.
“We wanted to make a statement and when we play Pine Creek football and we prep the way we did this week in practice no one can stop us,” said Brock, who completed 10-of-12 passes for 184 yards and four touchdowns.
Pine Creek’s JoJo Domann. More photos. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com) JoJo Domann also thrilled with how things transpired early and often for the Eagles.
“It all goes to our preparation in what we put into the week,” the 6-foot-1, 212-pound JoJo said. “It obviously showed (Friday night).”
On the next drive, Brock Domann zipped a 19-yard TD to Joseph Celestino to extend Pine Creek’s advantage to 21-0 with 3:58 remaining in the first.
The Eagles unveiled another weapon when it got the ball back as senior running back DeAndre Toliver raced 71 yards down the left sideline for a score on – putting the Eagles up 28-0. Toliver had 106 yards rushing on eight carries.
Pine Creek’s scoring binge kept going when the Domanns hooked up again – Brock to JoJo for a 26-yard score at 7:24 of the first.
“It’s great,” said Brock about playing with his brother. “I know I will always have an open receiver and it is fun to play with your brother for sure.”
JoJo concurred with Brock.
“It’s awesome (playing with him), but he’s just trying to hit the open guy and if it comes to me I will just try and make a play on it,” said JoJo, who had four receptions for 63 yards and two scores.
Celestino joined in the barrage again when he made a 7-yard touchdown reception with 4:02 left in the half to start the running clock as the Eagles were up 41-0.
Durango did avoid the shutout when Nick Jernigan knock in a 29-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. The Demons ended up with 185 yards of offense – 132 through the air by quarterback Terrence Trujillo, who was 10-of-29 passing with one interception.
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Football roundup: Pomona upsets rival Ralston Valley
Pomona’s defense had an outstanding night, limiting Ralston Valley to just two field goals in a 13-6 win on Friday night.
The Panthers, ranked No. 8 in Class 5A, pulled the upset of the No. 5 Mustangs. The win continued a streak of equality in the rivalry: Since 2009, Pomona and Ralston Valley have traded wins every other year.
On Friday, Pomona grabbed a 7-0 lead after the first quarter on a punt return for a score. Ralston Valley got a field goal near the end of halftime, but Pomona answered with a touchdown early in the third quarter.
Ralston Valley did cut it to a one-score game with another field goal, but couldn’t get any closer.
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3A: (1) Pueblo East 36, (9) The Classical Academy 21
The Classical Academy led 7-0 early, but then Pueblo East took over. The Eagles scored 19 unanswered points to take a 19-7 lead at halftime, thanks to five Titan turnovers.
That lead only grew as the second half opened. It was 26-7, then 33-7, before TCA finally broke the string of points in the fourth quarter.
Pueblo East, the defending 3A champions, is now 7-1 with the lone loss coming to 4A No. 2 Longmont in Zero Week.
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2A: (6) Sterling 41, (7) Brush 13
Sterling jumped out to a 13-0 lead after the first quarter, but Brush rallied to tie it at 13 at halftime.
Austin Burkholder’s rushing score late in the third quarter gave Sterling the lead back and the Tigers never looked back. Freshman Isaac Harris made it 27-13 a short while later, Burkholder added another score — his fourth — and Sterling cruised.
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8-man: (1) Sedgwick County 44, (5) Dayspring Christian 18
Sedgwick County jumped out to a 30-3 lead at halftime, and kept the pressure on in an important win for the playoff picture.
The loss avenged a 53-21 defeat last season.
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2A: (10) Bennett 40, Strasburg 39
Bennett stopped a two-point conversion in the final minutes to hold off the upset bid.
“Big play from Jesse Rodriquez, our corner, (who) intercepted their two-point conversion try,” coach Rick Jacoby told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show.
Bennett recovered the ensuing onside kick and then ran out the clock.
Bennett had led with three minutes to play, but Strasburg responded with its own touchdown with under two minutes left prior to the two-point attempt.
“We were behind most of the game,” Jacoby said. “We didn’t take the lead until about the seven minute mark of the fourth. We were down, I think, 19 at one point in the third quarter. We ended up being able to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
With the win, Bennett clinched the Frontier League championship.
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Notables
- West Grand beat Rocky Mountain Lutheran 80-28 on Friday, giving coach Chris Brown his 305th career win. He can tie the state record for victories at Vail Christian next week.
- 2A No. 4 La Junta beat Lamar 35-0 in Colorado’s second-oldest rivalry, a matchup known as the Whistle Game.
- 5A No. 5 Palisade had 689 total yards in a 62-18 win over Grand Junction Central.
- In 8-man, No. 4 Sargent beat No. 6 Dove Creek 30-18. “It was a tough battle,” Sargent coach Trevan Pepper told the Scoreboard Show. “We were a little bit asleep getting off the bus on that first drive, they went down and scored, and then we kind of stepped it up on defense the rest of the first half.”
- 1A No. 6 Crowley County won a tough game against Limon, 21-14. The Chargers won the South Central League as a result. “We had a big, long drive in the third quarter and were able to put it in on a little option play,” coach Brandon Roe told the Scoreboard Show. “We just played really great team defense after that.”
- Thompson Valley upset 4A No. 7 Greeley West 8-0.
- Merino knocked off No. 10 Haxtun in 8-man, 26-21.
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More coverage
- No. 2 Valor Christian beat No. 3 Cherry Creek in a rematch of last year’s 5A title game
- 4A No. 1 Pine Creek won its 33rd game in a row, and another one over a top-5 opponent, by beating Durango
- Photos from Pine Creek’s win over Durango
- Wheat Ridge dealt 4A No. 8 Aurora Central its first loss
- Top-10 scoreboard
- All scores
