“It’s a great confidence booster,” Sanders said. “Just to be able to come into the defending champ’s place and beat them by more than 20.”
And the Eagles did it by playing aggressive. From the start of the game, they applied a full-court press that appeared to give the Kadets fits at times. Air Academy turned the ball over several times early and the Eagles capitalized to take an early edge.
The Kadets were finally able to settle down and close the gap. The Eagles led 17-13 after the first quarter.
“I thought we played with them for stretches,” Kadets coach Barry Clark said. “Then there’d be a two or three minute stretch where we’d make a whole bunch of mistakes and they’d snowball and Valor would get five or six points on us.”
That became a consistent theme in the second quarter, with Sanders leading the charge. He scored 10 of his 17 points in the second quarter and helped the Eagles push the lead to 36-21 at the half.
When Sanders wasn’t scoring it was the big man, Knuckles, who helped push the pace on the offensive side of the glass. Of his game-high 18, he also scored 10 in the first 16 minutes.
And the Eagles were able to distribute the ball beyond that. In all, they had four players score in double digits. That’s a pattern that first-year Valor coach Troy Pachner would like to see on a consistent basis this year.
“On any given night, we literally have five guys that can score their 20,” he said. “We talk about team score all the time. We’ve coached some great individual scorers in the past, but boy, if you have four or five guys that can go, it’s impossible to guard.”
And a suffocating defense only helps. The Kadets were able to keep the game close when Nate Rendrew and Tabor Morse were getting buckets in the first half. Renfrew scored nine in the first two quarters while Morse hit three shots for six points.
In the second, both players were rendered ineffective. Morse hit one basket, which he was fouled on, and also sank the free throw. Those were the only three points scored between the two Air Academy players. Henry Yocum led all Kadet scorers with 11 points.
“Last year we really didn’t press too much,” Sanders said. “We saw on film that they couldn’t handle the press that well so we just tried to execute it.”
The Kadets might be reeling after the loss, but they did lose the core of their state championship team from last year. Clark has a lot of players who didn’t see a lot of varsity time so he knows he’ll have some work to do to get them back to championship form.
“That’s what practice is for,” Clark said. “So yeah, that’s our goal.”
As for the Eagles, they’re just getting started. They still don’t have a full roster as Dylan McCaffrey missed the game as he prepares to play in Saturday’s 5A football state title game. He’ll add another layer to an already dangerous team.
“We’ve got some great kids coming out when football ends,” Pachner said. “You bring in Dylan McCaffrey and several other kids and put them in this mix and we really like our depth.”
AURORA — With all team sports set to move to the use of RPI in 2016-17, each individual sport committee is getting its shot at using the new formula to determine postseason qualification.
Within the last month, the softball, soccer and volleyball committees have made their recommendations for postseason qualification and seeding for 2016-17. Those recommendations, which all rely heavily on the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) formula, will be forwarded onto the Legislative Council for a vote in January.
Here’s what each committee decided:
Softball:
The committee recommended that automatic qualifiers be determined based on the size of the league they come from. A league with six or more teams would have two qualifiers, while a league with five or fewer would have one qualifier.
Under this recommendation, the 5A regional field would be comprised of 14 automatic qualifiers, and 18 via the RPI. In 4A, that would be 16 automatic qualifiers, and 16 via the RPI.
In addition to the RPI changes, the committee recommended that the 3A softball regional expand from 18 teams to 24. The format would increase to eight sites with three teams per site, and two advancing to the state tournament. This would also expand the state field from 12 to 16. Games would follow the same schedule as 4A and 5A, with one half of the bracket playing at 10 a.m., and the second half at 12:30 p.m.
With the expansion, the 3A field would get five automatic qualifiers from district champions, five more from runner-up teams, and the remaining 14 via the final RPI standings of the regular season. However, the runner-up in District 4 would only qualify automatically if the district is comprised of six or more teams during the regular season. If that runner-up does not qualify automatically, a 15th team would qualify via the RPI.
Automatic qualifiers can bump a team out of the top 32 (or 24, depending on the classification).
A 4A team participating in a 5A league during the regular season can receive the automatic qualifier of their league if they finish in the top 30 percent plus one of the teams listed in the league. Additionally, they can qualify via the RPI.
A 3A team playing in a 4A league during the regular season can qualify via the RPI only.
Regular season champions of the 3A districts will host regionals, and get a guaranteed top-12 seed. There will be a committee to seed the rest of the teams.
For seeding of the 4A and 5A regionals, a committee will primarily use the RPI standings, but also consider geography and try to avoid first-round matchups of league opponents.
The state brackets, all regional champions would get a top-8 seed. The remaining eight teams in each class will be seeded by a committee.
(Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Soccer:
Like softball, the number of automatic qualifiers per league would depend on the size of that league. Leagues with seven or more teams would receive two qualifiers, and those with six or less would get one.
With that recommendation, the breakdown is as follows for boys soccer: 3A has 17 automatic qualifiers, 15 via the RPI; 4A has 15 automatics, 17 via the RPI; and 5A has 14 automatics, 18 via the RPI.
In girls, the 5A and 4A breakdowns are the same as the boys, while the 24-team 3A tournament has 11 automatic qualifiers, and 13 via the RPI; and the 12-team 2A tournament has six automatics and six via the RPI.
For 3A-5A boys soccer, and 4A/5A girls soccer, which are all 32-team fields, the top 16 teams will be seeded according to the final RPI standings of the regular season. The teams seeded 17-32 can be moved up or down one seed based on geography, and to avoid league opponents in the first round.
In 3A girls soccer, teams 1-12 will be set by the RPI standings, and seeds 13-24 can be changed one spot due to geography or league opponents.
In 2A girls soccer, the top four seeds will be set by the RPI, with the ability to move 5-12 because of geography or regional opponents.
Teams playing up a classification during the regular season can earn the automatic qualifier of that league by winning it outright, or qualify via the RPI.
A team playing down a classification during the regular season cannot earn the league’s automatic qualifier. They can only qualify via the RPI.
Volleyball:
The volleyball committee essentially swapped the MaxPreps rankings for the RPI system.
3A, 4A and 5A volleyball will use the final RPI rankings of the regular season to select and seed the 36 teams into regionals. Teams will only be moved if there are regions with teams from the same league, and will also adjust teams based on geography.
The 1A and 2A volleyball districts will run the same district and regional tournaments as they have been. Then will then use the RPI rankings after regionals to including wild card teams.
Pomona and Valor Christian will face off for the 5A championship. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Note: All three state championship games can be seen on the NFHS Network.
(1) Valor Christian vs. (2) Pomona
[dropcap]P[/dropcap]omona and Valor Christian certainly aren’t strangers this season. The two teams who will meet for the Class 5A football championship Saturday already played once this year. It was the Panthers who came away with a 28-14 win.
Just like last season, Valor has a rematch with a team that beat them in the regular season. And gold is on the line.
But, like he’s shooing a fly away from his face, Eagles coach Rod Sherman swats away the hype of a rematch or the fact that it’s Valor Christian’s seventh appearance in a state title game.
“This is about this group of seniors playing in this state championship game,” Sherman said. “This team is unique; different from other teams that we’ve had.”
And Sherman is right. The Valor teams of the past stormed through the competition en route to state championships and were forced to overcome little adversity. The Eagles came into the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the state, but fell in just their second game of the year, which happened to come against Pomona.
They also lost the next week to Bentonville (Ark.), giving them a 1-2 record through the first three games of the season.
But since the back-to-back losses, the Eagles have been playing sound football. They ran through the gauntlet of the Centennial League, going 5-0 and winning by an average of 16.4 points per game.
Sherman will be the first to point out that it’s the work of the team and not an individual, but’s hard to ignore the standout season that junior quarterback Dylan McCaffrey has enjoyed.
“Dylan’s really grown throughout this year,” Sherman said. “I think some specifics as to the areas he’s grown this year are his pocket presence, subtle pocket movements; knowing when he can get a first down with his feet.”
But his arm isn’t bad either. McCaffrey has thrown for 2,606 yards this season with 26 touchdowns. With a 116.6 passer rating, he is one of the elite gunslingers in state, if not the nation.
But sometimes it’s not all about flash through the air. Pomona’s sophomore quarterback Ryan Marquez doesn’t have the high-flying numbers that McCaffrey does, but he does a great job of getting the ball into his playmaker’s hands and commanding a tough, physical offense that has proven it can overcome a tough Valor defense.
“He’s a great competitor,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “He’s the skinniest quarterback in the state of Colorado, but he has the ability to make you miss. His dad went to Pomona. I was looking at the fact sheet and the first time Pomona made the state championship or the state playoffs was in 1982 and his dad was a senior.”
Madden insists that the win over Valor early in the season means nothing this week. Both teams have gone through so much since that first meeting that it feels like forever ago.
Instead, the Panthers will focus on just playing this one game and rallying the community around the school as they look to win the state title.
“Pomona is family,” Madden said. “We’ve been (in a state title game) a lot and there’s a lot of state runner-up banners there. We need to put up a few more state championship banners.”
The 5A state championship game is scheduled to kick off at 2 p.m. Saturday and will be televised on Altitude.
[divider]
(3) Windsor vs. (13) Loveland
Loveland coach Wayne McGinn, left, and Windsor’s Chris Jones. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]t first glance, there wasn’t an overwhelming feeling that neither Loveland or Windsor would get to the Class 4A state title game.
But that’s why they play the games.
After starting the regular season 2-4, the Indians went 3-1 down the stretch (the one loss was to Windsor) to make the playoffs. And that’s when the run to the title game began.
The Indians first topped No. 4 Vista Ridge, who had played sound football all year. After a 49-21 win over Durango, they had one more sizable road block ahead of them. They had to face the defending 4A champion, Pine Creek.
They did just that. They beat the Eagles 26-14 to earn their ticket to Sports Authority Field.
“It was perfect for us,” coach Wayne McGinn said. “The weather didn’t affect us at all. The guys were ready to play. It was a great game.”
The Indians will look to take the 4A title behind a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in quarterback Ayden Eberhardt and running back Charles Dunkleman.
They’ll also try to contain the Wizards with a defense that stifled a couple of standout 4A quarterbacks in Vista Ridge’s Elway Tubbs and Pine Creek’s Brock Domann. He sites Dunkleman, who also plays inside linebacker as a big part of that defensive unit.
“Charles is one that comes and plays every day,” McGinn said. “He does it on both sides of the ball so he’ll be coming off and sucking air.”
The Wizards also have a potent ground attack that they hope can carry them to a title. Quarterback Brad Peeples found the end zone 19 times on the ground as he was running for nearly 1,300 yards this season.
But the Oct. 22 game against Loveland proved to be trouble for Peeples. On 21 carries, he only mustered 64 yards, but did score the lone touchdown of the game.
If the Wizards can’t get anything going offensively, like last time, they will have to rely on their defense, which shut out the Indians.
“Our defense has had an outstanding season thus far,” Wizards coach Chris Jones said. “Each week we tweak our personnel and (we) have these guys ready for the new scheme.”
If the first game is any indication, the battle for the 4A title will be physical and low scoring. Kick off between Loveland and Windsor is at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
[divider]
(2) Roosevelt at (1) Pueblo East
(Mark Adams)
[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f Roosevelt is going to unseat Pueblo East as the Class 3A champions, they’ll have to do it in the Eagles’ back yard.
But if numbers are an indicator, the Roughriders can do it. They’ve put up impressive scoring numbers this year, scoring 50 or more points in half of their regular season games. They’ve done it most with a running attack that has produced a total of 4,715 rushing yards.
Quarterback Cameron Hurtado hopes to set the tone on Saturday like he did last week against Delta. Hurtado ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns as Roosevelt won 30-23 to punch their ticket to Dutch Clark Stadium.
But the Eagles are defending champions for a reason.
Even under first-year coach Lee Meisner, the Eagles are looking primed for a repeat. Meisner has been on staff with Pueblo East for the last few seasons, but this will be his first time steering the ship in a championship game.
“It is a little different,” Meisner said. “But overall, we kind of have a feel that we’ve been here before and we know what to expect.”
It helps to have a veteran presence in the form of quarterback Danny Martin. The senior not only leads the Eagles in rushing with 1,363 yards, but he can also air the ball when needed. His 1,478 passing yards and 14 passing touchdowns, along with Martin’s experience from a year ago, make him a triple threat that Meisner hopes can lift the Eagles to another championship.
“It’s huge,” Meisner said. “It’s the perfect storm for a coach. You preach all year, fundamentals and doing things right, and to have that testament of last year, if we all buy into the same goal and the same idea, it will come to fruition for us.”
The Eagles and Roughriders square off at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dutch Clark Stadium.
Castle View has a new hockey program this winter. (Courtesy of @cvhockeyteam on Twitter)
[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ockey’s growing in this state, and Castle View is leading the charge. The Sabercats, a district program in Douglas County, will begin varsity play on Saturday.
Their addition brings the total number of high school hockey programs in this state to 30 teams, an all-time high for the sport, which gained sanctioning in 1976.
“High school hockey has always been here; I mean I was in the league when there was only 11 teams,” said Castle View coach Al Quintana, a longtime figure in the sport who has also coached at Bishop Machebeuf (2003-12) and St. Mary’s (1987-93). “But youth hockey just exploded when the Avs got here. Now, the opportunity is there, like most major sports, to play year-round. … So there’s always something going on. And hockey has become that elite sport where it is year-round. I do believe the Avalanche coming to Colorado in the 90s was a big part of it.
“Now it’s the opportunity for kids to play for their high schools,” Quintana added. “Everybody wants to play for their high schools. With club hockey, your family is there, maybe a couple of friends. But you play for your high school, and you get 150, 200 kids at a game.”
Denver East joined the CHSAA league last season. Castle View is the only new varsity program this season, but at least three more are set to join in 2016-17. Fort Collins will host a Poudre School District team, while Crested Butte and Yampa Mountain (in Glenwood Springs) will also field varsity programs.
Both Crested Butte and Yampa Mountain are playing JV schedules this season — thanks to the addition of JV for the first time this season.
Other areas of the state have expressed interest in adding a varsity program, so that number of new teams may still grow prior to 2016-17.
But starting a new program isn’t easy. Just ask Castle View.
The team becomes the second program in the Douglas County School District, following the lead of highly-successful Mountain Vista. The new program will be fed by Castle View, Douglas County, Chaparral, Legend and Ponderosa. Mountain Vista’s players will come from Mountain Vista, ThunderRidge, Rock Canyon and Highlands Ranch.
“The key here was trying to get ahold of a database for the players that go to our feeder schools,” Quintana said. “When I finally got that, I started sending out emails and getting people who were interested.”
Next step? Finding ice. Sparse ice time has actually been a limiting factor to the growth of the sport at the high school level. Rinks are already overcrowded as they are.
So Castle View will play out of the Colorado Sports Center in Monument.
“There was nothing available in the city,” Quintana said. “We had to go down to Monument, and they were gracious enough to give us the ice time we needed. With that said, we didn’t have our ice time scheduled until the middle of September, which was pretty scary.
“It was going to be one of those things where it was looking like we were going to have to have one practice at The Edge, one practice at the Ice Ranch, one practice at Family Sports,” he continued. “And I felt that was too much jumping around, and I really wanted to have a home base that we could skate out of.”
The schools “have been absolutely supportive,” Quintana added, and the response from parents has been overwhelmingly positive, he said.
“They’re thankful there’s a second school,” Quintana said. “It gives their kids a chance to play high school hockey, whereas with one team, you have so many kids trying out for one team and there has to be cuts for the team. Now it gives people who may not have been able to play a chance to play.”
Quintana’s group will be young. He said the majority of his roster is freshman and sophomores. But the veteran coach said his upperclassmen will be the backbone of the team. Namely: John Conger, Hayden Wuthrich, Spenser Carothers, Adam Zimmerer, Colin Girard, and Damon Maruska.
“They’re going to be supported very much by the underclassmen,” Quintana said. “Those kids are pretty talented. They’re all playing fairly competitive hockey. But they’re going to have their eyes opened on Saturday,” when Castle View opens the season at home against Pueblo County.
Conger played last season at Mountain Vista — he had three goals and four assists in 17 games — but opted to play his senior season at Castle View. Under state bylaws, Conger could have played for Mountain Vista against as he was a senior.
Conger will be Castle View’s captain.
“He chose to help his home school,” Quintana said. “I was just excited that John wanted to stay. … And when we got a chance to see him skate, I was even more excited he was around.”
Seven Klinkner, a sophomore, will be the team’s goalie.
“He doesn’t have any high school experience, but he’s pretty skilled,” Quintana said. “We’re looking for him to take the reins.”
[divider]
Hockey preview
Regular season begins: Dec. 1
Regular season ends: Feb. 20
Championship game: March 5, Budweiser Events Center (Loveland)
The football postseason award train is starting to pull into Pine Creek High School. It was announced Thursday that Pine Creek standout JoJo Domann was named the 2015 Gatorade Football Player of the Year.
“I was mostly in shock,” Domann said. “I didn’t actually believe it was real.”
Domann played on both sides of the ball for the Eagles, scoring total touchdowns on offense and adding another on the defensive side of the ball with a pick-six.
“A bunch of it goes to my team and the program we’ve created,” Domann said. “This was a goal of mine last spring. It was really just setting a goal and doing everything to accomplish it.”
With Domann on the roster, the Eagles went on a 37-game winning streak that included two state championships. That streak was snapped by Loveland on Nov. 28. Domann played only one series in the loss as he separated his shoulder and was unable to return.
As a result, he is forced to withdraw from two All-American games he was scheduled for. Games that he said earlier this year were a dream for him to be able to play in.
He noted that, although it’s not certain, he is more than likely to have his shoulder operated on in the coming weeks.
With two state championships under his belt, Domann will head to the University of Nebraska where he will continue his football career with the Cornhuskers.
But for the end of his high school career, if it wasn’t going to end with a state championship, Domann couldn’t think of a better ending than earning this award.
“Without a doubt,” Domann said. “This helps end this year and this class on a positive note for not just me, but for this program.”
