Cherokee Trail has a new football coach in Dain Mangnall. (Matt Minton/JacksActionShots.com)

Cherokee Trail has turned to assistant Dain Mangnall as its next head football coach, the school announced on Friday morning.

Mangnall was the program’s defensive coordinator, and had been since the school opened. He’s also a teacher at Cherokee Trail.

“In my opinion, it’s the best job in the state,” Mangnall told CHSAANow.com on Friday.

Mangnall takes over for Monte Thelen, who resigned after the 2015 season. Thelen was the only coach in the history of the school, which opened in 2003. Mangnall coached with Thelen during his entire stint at Cherokee Trail, and with him at Rangeview prior to that.

“I’ve worked for him the last 17 years of my coaching life, and I owe a whole of respect and gratitude for the tradition that he’s established at CT,” Mangnall said of Thelen. “He’s made CT football what it is, and I’m just real proud to be able to step in. I’ve got some big shoes to fill there.”

Cherokee Trail went 5-5 last season, and 3-7 in 2014.

But the Cougars were 10-3 in 2013, and 12-2 in 2012. They went to the Class 5A championship game in that 2012 season, and surprised many around the state when they were locked in a scoreless tie with Valor Christian in the fourth quarter. Valor eventually won that game 9-0.

Mangnall was a big part of the gameplan on that day, which was surprisingly effective against Eagles star Christian McCaffrey — the same player who just finished second in Heisman voting.

Steve Carpenter, Cherokee Trail’s athletic director, said the aim is to return to that type of success. He added that Mangnall’s plan stood out in the interview process.

New Cherokee Trail football coach Dain Mangnall. (Courtesy Cherokee Trail HS)

“He has a strong commitment to Cherokee Trail football and the traditions that we have, and he has a good plan for bouncing us right back and making us a contender,” Carpenter said. “And we’re looking to do that immediately.”

So how to return to the level of success enjoyed a few seasons ago?

“It’s just a lot of hard work,” Mangnall said. “I’ve been the defensive coordinator there for 13 years, and I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished, and have been a pretty big part of our success. It’s one of the reasons I was hired at Cherokee Trail, obviously.

“We’re just going to get back to work and do what we do, and get these feeder programs — there’s a lot of potential there. We’ve got kids here right now that can play football and are ready to get back to work. We’re already in the weight room. We’re just moving on, moving forward.”

The feeder programs, specifically, will play a big role should Cherokee Trail bounce back.

“The biggest piece that he sold us on was getting out into our community and making connections with our feeder programs,” Carpenter said. “That’s massive because it has been very stagnant. So we’re going to have a big grassroots program, really letting the kids in our area know that we want them and know that we have something exciting happening here.”

Said Mangnall: “We want to keep the kids that are supposed to come to Cherokee Trail at Cherokee Trail. We certainly want our feeder programs happy and healthy.”

The job was widely seen as one of the premier openings around the state. Carpenter said there were at least 30 applicants, and he narrowed the search to three finalists.

“I wanted to be very clear, very specific,” he said, “and it worked out very well.”

Asked about his overall vision for the program, Mangnall said, “My vision is not a lot different than coach Thelen’s vision was, and that’s to make our community proud of our program. Sure, we want to win football games, but we want to continue the tradition of building character and making academics the No. 1 priority, and building young men first. And we want to win football games.”

It’s a program that returns a lot of talent next season, including two quarterbacks who split time in 2015, leading receiver KJ Sapp, and two-way standout Max Gonzales.

“We’ve got a lot of good kids,” Mangnall said. “It’s just a matter of how hard they want to push themselves, how hard they want to work in the offseason and make the commitment to get back to our regular selves.”

Follow football’s coaching changes this offseason on this page.

Below are this week’s wrestling rankings from On The Mat.

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On The Mat Wrestling Rankings

Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.

To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.

To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.

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Go to: 5A | 4A | 3A | 2A

AURORA – Cherokee Trail got a huge duel win against a district rival as they took down Cherry Creek 52-18 Thursday night.

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COLORADO SPRINGS – The Chatfield defense allowed only five points in the fourth quarter as the Charger topped Palmer 67-66 in overtime Thursday night.

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The Legislative Council meets in January. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — A proposal headed to the January 2016 Legislative Council would completely change the way transfers are handled in Colorado.

In short, if passed by the body, the proposal would treat every single transfer the same — family moves, athletic motivation, hardships, and so on. The lone exception proposed would be giving full eligibility to a student who “moves as the result of a documented military move.”

The Legislative Council meets on Jan. 28. Find a complete agenda, and list of proposals, on this page.

It is pretty clear that the most public interest leading up to that meeting will focus on the transfer rule proposal, ADM 2.

This new transfer rule would make all summer transfers across the board eligible for the final 50 percent of the regular season, as well as the entire postseason. Mid-year transfers would be restricted to sub-varsity play from the time they transferred to the end of the school year.

Again, students who transfer because of a military move would be excepted, and be given full eligibility.

The proposal, which would change the existing CHSAA bylaws, was put forth by the Denver Prep League. According to the rationale submitted along with the proposal, “This creates a clear, understandable, and enforceable transfer rule. All transfers play subvarsity for the first 50 percent of a season, with the exception of mid-year transfers who are subvarsity for the remainder of that school year.”

As part of the proposal, sections 1800.3 through 1800.7 of the CHSAA bylaws would be deleted. Those sections: Bona Fide Move, Summer Transfer, Mid Year Transfer & Athletic Transfer, and Hardship.

It is unclear as to the level of support the proposal has around the state. However, in the past, the Legislative Council has resisted most changes to the transfer rule.

Elsewhere, another proposal that should garner state-wide interest is one that would change the way the Class 2A state cross country meets are scored. Currently, a team can run six runners in the race, with three scoring. The proposal would change that to six running, four scoring.

Among the other proposals:

• An amendment to bylaws that would only allow changes to Rule 1500 (dealing with the Classification of Schools) no later than six months prior “to the classification going into effect.”
• One deals with membership to the Association. This proposal would stiffen the requirements of application, and lengthen it to a 24-month process, unless otherwise recommended by CLOC. According to the rationale for the proposal, “Many schools are seeking membership simply to populate their schools and hold students, but the commitment to education-based athletics in some cases is suspect. This creates more rigorous standards for membership.”
• Find the full list of proposals, and an agenda, here.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

COLORADO SPRINGS — There may not be a more impressive sight in girls basketball right now than Sand Creek. Behind a suffocating press defense and another “typical” night offensively from Oliana Squires and Liah Davis, the Scorpions (5-1 overall) cruised to a 70-38 win over Palmer Wednesday night.

The win clearly showed why Sand Creek sits atop the CHSAANow.com Class 4A basketball rankings. They are every bit the complete team that often makes a run for a state championship in March.

“They did a good job,” Scorpions coach B.J. Johnson said. “As you coach, you always see stuff that they can improve on, but I have to take a step back and understand that they have done a really done job.”

And the kicker is that the Scorpions aren’t entirely healthy. They are still missing sophomore Conner Proctor, who can be deadly from behind the 3-point line.

Proctor tore her ACL and meniscus in September, but is hoping to be cleared in February, just in time to help the Scorpions in the playoffs.

But they clearly didn’t need her help Wednesday. The Terrors (4-5) knew their best chance to keep the game close was not to let Squires and Davis both find their offensive momentum. That appeared to work early as the teams were locked in a 7-7 tie in the first quarter before the Scorpions went on a 12-2 run to finish it out.

Davis scored 12 points in the first eight minutes and Squires was held scoreless. But that trend didn’t last for long. Sand Creek put pressure on Palmer, coming out in a 2-2-1 press which frustrated the Terrors.

Squires finally got her first points off an alley-oop, and the route was on.

“They put a little pressure on us and we panicked,” Palmer coach Dave Shackelford said. “They had a nice run in the second quarter. To their credit, I would use (Squires and Davis) all the time too. I’d run a two-person game with them.”

Davis led all scorers with 26 points while Squires added 19. Tashika Burrell and Abi Torres-Drozd each scored seven for the Terrors.

The offensive explosion — especially in the second half — can be credited to the way the press was able to force turnovers and create scoring opportunities for the Scorpions. After only scoring four points in the first half, Squires knocked down three 3-pointers in the third quarter as Sand Creek extended the lead to 56-27.

“We really focus on defense first,” Davis said. “We always say that in order for our offense to come, we have to play defense. So that’s really big for us.”

Applying pressure is something that Johnson wants his team to do consistently this season, and it’s clear that he has the talent on floor to accomplish that goal. It’s also beneficial to have an offense that’s capable of putting up the numbers that the Scorpions have. And there’s still the added potential of getting a solid shooter back before the postseason.

“I’m very fortunate,” Johnson said. “They’re unbelievable players, first of all, but just with the kind of kids they are, the leadership, working hard and being there every day and knowing what to do, that’s the blessing as a coach.”

Broomfield soccer coach Jim Davidson. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

It’s been quite a year for Broomfield soccer’s Jim Davidson. The longtime coach led the girls to a runner-up finish in Class 5A in the spring, then led the boys to a second-straight 5A title in the fall.

This fall, he notched his 300th career win on the boys side. After winning the boys championship, he was named the 5A coach of the year.

On Wednesday, Davidson added another prestigious honor: He was named the national boys large school coach of the year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of American (NSCAA). Davidson was also a finalist for the girls award as the Spring Mountain West region coach of the year.

“I can’t tell you how humbled I am by the recognition,” Davidson said on Thursday.

Davidson will be honored at the NSCAA Awards Banquet in Baltimore on Jan. 15.

Davidson is now 307-37-23 in his career with the boys, including six state titles, and 254-34-12 with the girls, which includes one championship.

Watch the full show below. Davidson’s announcement begins at 54:08.

PARKER — Doherty went on the road and knocked off seventh-ranked Legend 87-72 in a Class 5A boys basketball game on Wednesday.

Five players scored in double figures for the Spartans, led by Kayden Washington, who had 21. Brevin Brimble added 19, BJ Hardy had 17, Dalven Brushier had 16 and Emmanuel Burleson had 10. Brushier also had nine rebounds and four assists. Brimble had six assists and three rebounds.

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On January 28, the Legislative Council will meet in Aurora. Below is information about the meeting, including links to the agenda and proposals that will be considered.

Where: Radisson Denver Southeast (3155 S. Vaughn Way, Aurora)

Files

• Agenda (.pdf)
• Full packet (.pdf)
• All proposals (.pdf)
• April 2015 minutes (.pdf)

Meeting info

• Schedule
• Proposals
• Committee reports

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Schedule

Thursday, January 28, 2016

• 7:45-8:30 a.m. – Continental Breakfast
• 8:30 a.m. – Meeting Convenes (Arapahoe/Douglas)
• 10 a.m. – Coffee/Tea/Soft Drink Break
• 11:45 a.m. – Lunch
• 1 p.m. – Meeting Reconvenes

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Action Items

Note: Constitutional Proposals require 2/3 vote for approval; Administrative and Sport Proposals requires majority vote for approval, unless otherwise noted.

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Action items — Committee reports

Note: Require majority vote for approval, unless
otherwise noted. Some committee will report at the April meeting. Those are noted.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Voting for the 2015 all-state football teams started on Wednesday.

All head football coaches should have a ballot in their email inbox. If they do not have it, they should email rcasey@chsaa.org immediately.

The voting period will last until noon on Friday, and then the all-state football team will be announced Friday afternoon.

This season, the all-state football teams — which are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps — will have a first and second team, as well as an honorable mention category. Specific spots on the teams are reserved for linemen and kickers/punters.

The voting will include player and coach of the year selections in each classification.

Players are nominated for the all-state teams via a nomination process from leagues. Head coaches then vote on that ballot.