(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

HIGHLANDS RANCH — Standing across from the top boys lacrosse team in the state didn’t phase a couple of Regis Jesuit underclassmen. If anything, it only made the spotlight a little bit brighter when they came through in the clutch.

Sophomore Anders Erickson and freshman Reed Babcock scored the game-tying and game-winning goals respectively, as the Raiders handed CHSAANow.com No. 1-ranked Mountain Vista its first loss. Regis Jesuit won the game 7-5.

“We’re just out there and playing as a team,” Babcock said. “It didn’t come down to just me, it came down to whoever had the shot and whoever had the dodge.”

With the end of the regular season just over a week away, taking down the top team in the state should give the Raiders (9-2 overall) a big momentum boost into the state playoffs. But coach Jim Soran doesn’t want he or his boys to get too far ahead of themselves.

“It was just the biggest game of the day,” Soran said. “We have a lot more to go as far as league play goes. It’s a nice win.”

For the Golden Eagles (11-1), it seemed like they started the game a tad on the nervous side. They had trouble connecting on early opportunities and were a little sloppy when it came to controlling the ball.

It may have something to do with the fact that they have never beaten the Raiders in program history. But a loss to a tough team may be just what they need heading into the Class 5A state playoffs.

“We need to get pushed,” coach Jamie Munro said. “We’ve been a victim of a bad schedule every year. Our conference is kind of a new conference. We have a couple of really good teams in it, and then a lot of games that aren’t that hard. We needed a kick in the butt.”

The Raiders took a 3-2 lead into halftime but scored less than four minutes into the third quarter to increase the lead to two goals.

Jake Govett scored his second goal of the game for Mountain Vista toward the end of the third to cut the lead to one before Evan Place and Colin Munro each found the net in a span of 32 seconds to take a 5-4 lead.

Paxton Boyer had been a wall for the Golden Eagles throughout the game, but the Raiders were able find the net three times in the fourth quarter.

“We couldn’t finish our shots early in the game and then (Reed) got (the eventual game-winner) and it gave us a boost of energy,” Regis attacker Joey Chott said. “(Paxton) is a great goalie, I couldn’t finish early in the game, no one could. But we found our inside shots and we found good goals.”

Chott scored twice on the day for the Raiders, including the team’s seventh goal to make it a two-goal lead with 1:43 left. Erickson and Babcock also scored two goals on the day.

Govett was the leading scorer for Mountain Vista with two.

The Golden Eagles play Douglas County and Palmer to wrap up league play before finishing the regular season against Arapahoe. All three games will be at Shea Stadium.

All three of Regis Jesuit’s final games are league games. They have Colorado Academy, Kent Denver and Rangeview on the slate before playoffs are scheduled to begin on May 11.

JOHNSTOWN — Erie and Roosevelt split a baseball double-header on Thursday, with Erie winning the first game 7-0, and Roosevelt taking the second 9-5.

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(Stephen Priest/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — With the regular season of girls soccer down to less than a handful of games for most teams, now is the time to look to play the best soccer.

And for a team like CHSAANow.com No. 5-ranked Cherokee Trail (11-0-2), who is no stranger to playing top-notch soccer, Thursday night presented the perfect opportunity to hone their craft as they took care of business in a dominant 3-0 victory over Mullen (7-6-1), the No. 8 team in 4A.

“They worked hard, they came ready to play even though this was our third game in three days,” Cherokee Trail coach Jeremy Schaller said afterward. “We had to do everything we could to make the game as easy as possible for ourselves by trying to control the offensive end and the ball and that’s what we did.”

It seemed as if the Cougars capitalized nearly on every possession they had offensively and even though they all didn’t result in goals, they were able to constantly get shots off as well as establish a rhythm with their passing. Cherokee Trail created opportunity after opportunity as free runners cut up the wings all night making it difficult for Mullen to collapse the middle.

Conversely, the Cougars were aggressive on the defensive end as they were able to limit the opportunities the Mustangs had and any time Mullen did break through the toward the Cougar box, Cherokee Trail swarmed the ball-handler, stymieing any hopes for a score.

Yet with such an aggressive and patient offense attack being established early on, it wasn’t long before the Cougars would find the back of the net. Sure enough, in the eighth minute, they struck gold as a cross in the box from junior Rebekah Burton to her teammate streaking down the opposite wing led to a foul in the penalty box.

Burton stepped up to take the penalty kick and nailed it with ease.

“Offensively, we were just trying to keep the ball in the attacking third mostly and defensively we usually do a really good job of using our width, so I think we did a really good job on those things,” Burton said.

The penalty kick ultimately proved to be the jump start Burton needed as from that point on, as she was a burden to stay in front of. The junior notched her second goal of the night around the 20th minute on an unreal boot from at least 25 yards out on the right wing, scoring near the far post as the goalie could only watch in despair.

“She’s been a great player for us, last season she was the Centennial League MVP and led the league in goals scored and I know that was one of her goals going into this year,” coach Schaller said of his star junior. “She’s a dangerous player as she can score inside and outside, she’s got speed, while also a very strong player as well.”

The second half didn’t bring much change as the 2-0 deficit that existed going into halftime loomed for much of the second half until the final minute of play when Cherokee Trail sophomore Alesia Garcia netted the Cougars’ third goal of the night.

For the Mustangs and coach Matthew Guglielmo, this was a great learning experience as they were playing a league opponent in 5A, which makes for a great “measuring stick” type of contest.

“Our girls are well aware that our league season doesn’t look like the 4A state tournament, but it leaves us battle-hardened,” Guglielmo said afterward. “For the most part, teams like Trail, Creek, and Grandview, don’t play in the 4A tournament but maybe the finals or the semis.

“So we know these games are important and we want to be victorious, however, this prepares us for the playoffs and there are no heads hung after these games. So we just go back to practice and just try to fix it and get better, that way when we really need them, we’ll get the W’s.”

AURORA — Cherry Creek baseball improved to 9-6 with a 16-0 win over Overland on Thursday.

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(Greg Moore/gregfmoore.com)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Opinions in this Mailbag do not reflect an official viewpoint of CHSAA.

Baseball has implemented a new pitch count rule this season, and it’s drawn wide-spread attention.

In this first-ever installment of the CHSAANow.com Mailbag, we tackle the question of if it’s good for the sport, as well as other topics, like the spring weather (of course), summer baseball, and hockey’s growth.

To ask a question for the next Mailbag, use this form, or ask on Twitter: Tweet to @jryancasey

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It seems to me that baseball’s new pitch count rule is hurting some teams. Do you think it’s bad for the sport?

— Bill, Highlands Ranch

Absolutely not. I think it’s a great thing for the sport, because it’s looking out for the long-term health and safety of its participants. In fact, I think those who are making an argument that it’s bad for the sport are out of touch.

The bottom line is that the pitch count rule — which is being used for the first time this spring instead of the previous innings limit — is designed to protect young arms. And that fact is more important than anything else, including competition. This is the high school level, it is not a professional league. Too often, that is forgotten.

As Bert Borgmann, the assistant commissioner in charge of baseball put it recently, “High school remains a developmental game. These kids are still developing physically, and in terms of learning the game.”

The pitch count rule was created after many, many meetings of experts in the sport and medical community. More importantly, it brought together members of the high school and club baseball communities so that there was consensus in its creation.

The people making a lot of noise about the pitch count rule this spring are doing so because, A., it’s new, and B., the extra-crazy weather we’ve been having is making it difficult to maintain a consistent rotation. Worth noting, too, is that those making the most noise on this aren’t coaches, athletic directors, athletic trainers, or even players — who are by-and-large on board with the new rule.

(Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

Everyone involved with the creation of the pitch count rule agreed that it would cause teams to develop more pitchers. The best coaches in the sport agree that doing so is only a good thing for the sport.

“The thing I tell our freshmen when they first arrive as freshmen is that they’re all pitchers. That’s the very first thing we do,” Rocky Mountain coach Scott Bullock said in the video CHSAA produced in January on preventing arm overuse in youth baseball. “We think it’s important to develop the depth, not only for our program, but obviously for the health of their arms, and to help them get to the next level.”

I’ve also heard some argue that establishing a pitch count rule goes against the sport’s “tradition”? Please. The long-term effects of the overuse of arms in youth sports have been well-documented. John Smoltz, the Hall-of-Fame pitcher called the rash of Tommy John surgeries in pitchers “an epidemic.” The health of young arms is something that supersedes any straw-man argument like “tradition.”

“I believe that our number one priority is protecting the young man, or the young lady, and I think the pitch counts that have been incorporated are fair. I think they make sense,” Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson said in the CHSAA video.

“It’s about the kid, and what’s happening with the kid, and the health of the student-athlete,” ThunderRidge coach Joe White said in the CHSAA video.

The fact is that pitch counts are a national movement from USA Baseball, and CHSAA’s rule is on the leading edge. In fact, other states are using it as a model in developing their own rule.

And, finally, the new rule is working. There have been only two cases of violations of the pitch count rule reported to the CHSAA office out of the 3,574 regular season games in all classifications to date.

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Is it possible that CHSAA looks at extending the spring season into June?

— Corey, Aurora

It’s possible, but at this point in time does not look likely.

The first thing to remember is that CHSAA is not a group of people who sit around and create rules and policies. CHSAA is a collection of member schools who submit proposals to the Legislative Council to vote upon. That’s how bylaws (rules and policies) are created. The Legislative Council is, for the most part, made up of athletic directors and other administrators.

Don’t get me wrong: I absolutely think that extending the season is a great idea. I believe it should start later than it does (well after the completion of the winter season), and then finish up in mid-to-late June. It would help us avoid the weather issues that consistently plague the regular season (and more recently, postseason) schedule.

The issue, though, is that most graduations are in early and mid-May, and many schools are completely out of session by the end of May. That is the main reason why many school administrators oppose an extension to the spring sport season. And, those same administrators are the ones who would be voting upon any proposed change to the spring season.

It’s possible that the sentiment changes in the future. I just don’t think it’s very likely right now.

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Can seventh-graders play on high school summer teams?

— Rex, Fort Collins

There’s a lot that goes into this answer. The short version? Yes, they can.

The summer teams that a lot of high school players are a part of are actually club baseball teams, and are not allowed to represent their high school. Doing so would be a violation of CHSAA rules. Because of that fact, seventh graders can play on those teams.

One issue that could arise, though, is if a coach or someone involved in that club is wearing hats/shirts/other gear with their high school logos on it. Then, that could be possibly construed as recruiting. This fact would be especially relevant with any eighth-graders who are playing on the club summer team — particularly if they are out of the high school’s attendance area.

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Can you please give me a list of high schools in CO that have ice hockey teams at their schools?

— Cheryl, Centennial

Sure. Your best bet is this story which contains a list of teams in their new alignment (at the bottom). It is the most up-to-date list, at least until the bulletin comes out next winter.

The sport is now up to 32 teams, which is the most it’s ever had. A number of other schools are on the verge of adding teams, and a few district-level teams are exploring splitting up their teams, similar to how Mountain Vista’s split created Castle View prior to last season.

Send you questions into the CHSAANow.com Mailbag using this form.

Rocky Mountain Lutheran senior Eli Sievert has thrown two no-hitters this season. (Courtesy of Rocky Mountain Lutheran HS)

Eli Sievert is having himself a season.

The Rocky Mountain Lutheran senior and his teammates are enjoying what looks to be the most successful season in program history. They are currently 6-4 overall with a 5-2 record in Class 1A District 2 play.

But the real story comes when Sievert makes his way to the pitching mound. To say that he has been dominant on the bump this year just doesn’t do him justice.

In eight appearances this season, Sievert has faced 114 batters. He has struck out 91 of them while allowing 10 walks and two hits.

In 33.2 innings, he has given up two base hits. So one almost every 17 innings. The kid throws two no-hitters (assuming games go seven innings) and goes three more innings in between every hit he gives up.

On average.

Oh, and he hasn’t given up a single run, giving him a steady 0.00 ERA on the season, with two complete-game no-hitters mixed in.

“He’s just a special player,” Eagles coach Mike Schaefer said. “I don’t think I’ve ever had the privilege of being able to coach or have a student like that on our team. At our 1A level, players like that come along very rarely.”

A three-sport athlete through most of high school (he skipped football in 2015 to play fall baseball), Sievert is clearly at his best when he is on the diamond. He has a great mixture of power and command. By his estimate, Sievert throws around 86 or 88 mph. He spent time playing with the Thunder Academy program over the summer and the coaches really focused on his pitching.

As a result, there may not be a team in the state who has a better shot at winning than Rocky Mountain Lutheran does when Sievert is on the mound.

“It feels good to give the whole team a little bit of an extra edge,” Sievert said. “Even the offense picks up and it kind of gives us a rhythm.”

Sievert is also having a great season at the plate. (Courtesy of Rocky Mountain Lutheran HS)

And even at the plate, Sievert is a part of that rhythm. This season he is hitting .536 with two home runs and 15 RBIs.

And scouts are starting to take notice. Sievert has spent some time talking with the University of Northern Colorado as well as several junior colleges. And according to Schaefer, his teammates are aware of what he’s capable of when he’s on the mound.

In fact, the most difficult part of Schaefer’s job this season might be keeping his fielders invested in the game, even knowing that he’s able to strike out 20 of 21 hitters he might face.

“That’s it is to try and keep them keyed in and on their toes and ready to make a play,” Schaefer said. “We’ve had so few that we’ve had to make when he’s been on the mound.”

This was not the case a year ago. When it came to pitching, he went 0-2 with a 4.64 ERA. His decision to focus heavily on baseball in the summer and fall is giving him a season to remember and also giving the Eagles a level of success that they haven’t seen.

“I just really credit all the work in the offseason,” Sievert said. “It was playing at a higher level in the summer and even the fall. It’s been helping a lot and I’ve been getting better.”

At this pace, Sievert’s season could go down as one of the all-time legendary hauls in state history. The team as a whole is focused on getting to the playoffs and making a run, it may be years down the road before Sievert’s teammates understand the significance of what he is accomplishing this season.

“They know he is a great player. They are thrilled he is on our team and love playing with him,” Schaefer said. “I don’t know that they quite understand how good he is.”

Rest assured that one day, they most certainly will.

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

With poor weather continuing to plague the spring sports season — it’s snowing, again — the following message was sent out to CHSAA schools on Friday morning:

The CHSAA sports regular season end dates are determined by the individual sports committees and approved by the Legislative Council, so the office does not have the authority to change those dates. When the playoffs arrive, however, the bylaws do allow for flexibility in playing on the next available day.

The key message here is that leagues need to make plans now to determine how they will declare a league champion (and order of finish, in some cases) when the season ends and not all league games have been played.

Any questions from schools should be directed to the individual sports administrator in the CHSAA office.

The first spring championship of 2016 is girls tennis, which is slated for May 12-14. Last spring, that tournament was postponed a week by rain.

Consistent rain also forced the 3A-5A baseball tournaments to delay more than a week last season.

(Photo courtesy of Roosevelt High School)

Roosevelt High School has hired Chris O’Neal to take over as the coach of the boys basketball team.

The school confirmed the hire to CHSAANow.com via email.

O’Neal played college basketball at Clarendon College in Clarendon, Tex. before coming to Colorado to play for Colorado Christian University. He also played at Johnson and Wales under Jeff Culver, who is currently the head men’s coach at UCCS.

His coaching background includes the Rocky Mountain Basketball Academy as well as a women’s assistant for Johnson and Wales.

“We are very excited to have Coach O’Neal as part of the Roughrider family,” Joe Brown said. “He is a great addition to our school and community, he is a coach that truly embodies the ShiftWhy movement.”

Brown coached the team last season, but stepped down to take the position of athletic director at the school. He will take over that position at the end of this school year.

Top-ranked Dawson boys lacrosse edged No. 3 Conifer in double OT on Wednesday. (Brie Thomas/CHSAANow.com)

LAFAYETTE — A true battle test emerged between the No. 1 Dawson Mustangs and the No. 3 Conifer Lobos as each team left everything on the field on Wednesday.

The Mustangs (now 10-1, 4-0) were able to pull off a comeback win in double overtime, winning 12-11 over the Lobos (9-1, 4-1) in an important Class 4A Foothills Conference game.

The game started off with both teams playing great defense, causing turnovers and limiting the score to 2-1 at the end of the first quarter.

“It’s two really high-caliber teams both coming out,” Lobos coach Clint Frost said. “I don’t think anyone would have told you that it would be 2-1 at the end of the first quarter.”

Both teams were able to find their intensity in the second quarter, as Conifer kept inching closer and closer to Dawson. And finally all that intensity transitioned into goals, as the Lobos were able to take the lead in the third quarter, going up 9-8.

Conifer found itself winning ground ball after ground ball and continued to find the back of the net.

Sophomore Nick Williams scored three goals for Conifer, which helped extend the lead to three with just under four minutes remaining.

But little did they know that Dawson wasn’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

Dawson came back with three goals of its own to tie the game with 4.8 seconds left.

(Brie Thomas/CHSAANow.com)

Gavyn Pure was pure gold for the Mustangs has he knocked in four goals, including the tying tally and the game-winning goal in overtime.

“That game was a lot of fun and intense, they are a really good team and we kind of lost our intensity but then we picked it up in the last three minutes,” Pure said after the game.

The Mustangs were out to prove to the Lobos why they are ranked No.1 in 4A and they did just that at the time they needed to the most.

“I’m just so proud of the guys, that was an unbelievable effort,” Dawson coach Peter Devlin after the crazy win. “Just the resilience they showed, it would have been so easy to pack it in when they went up by three with three-and-half minutes to go, but they didn’t. They just kept on trying.”

After Pure’s tying goal, the Mustang crowd began to get back into the game and the players began to feed off of their energy. And they needed all the energy they could get heading into the second overtime, still tied at 11 all.

One player in particular gave the Mustangs the glimmer of hope they needed for the win, as he was able to break through the double team and find Pure for the go head game winning goal.

“Wyatt Watts doesn’t get enough credit, that was a great pass, it’s hard to look when you’re getting double covered and I had the easy part, just put it in on a open goal,” Pure on his senior teammate. “You got to give Wyatt the credit there.”

And for Dawson this win was made possible by their brick wall of a goalkeeper Chad Dunnell as he had 23 saves, three of which came during the second overtime.

“Both overtimes our goalie made some huge saves, in that kind of pressure situation, I’m just so so happy for them,” Devlin said.

Both teams are looking forward to a potential rematch in the playoffs, but for now they will both have to keep pushing through the rest of their season in order to get there.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

COLORADO SPRINGS — Of the 14 goals that Cheyenne Mountain scored Wednesday night, Cullen Nordeman only scored on of them. But it was the only one he needed to score.

Nordeman got the game-winner in overtime as the Indians beat Air Academy 14-13 in a battle of teams both ranked in the top five of the Class 4A CHSAANow.com lacrosse rankings.

And it was every bit the back-and-forth affair that the teams thought it would be going in.

“We knew it was going to be an absolute battle,” Indians coach Mike Paige said. “We didn’t expect it to go back and forth like that. That was something.”

It was in a span of just one minute and five seconds that the Kadets (7-5 overall, 4-2 Pikes Peak League) were able to show that they meant business against the state’s second-ranked team.

Chapman Cox connected on two goals and Eddie MacGuire added one to give Air Academy a sudden 3-0 lead, prompting a timeout from Paige to call for a timeout to settle the Indians (11-2, 5-0).

His players responded with with two goals in a 22-second span, including one from Jack Clancy whose stick broke as the Indians brought the ball into the Air Academy zone. He retrieved a fresh one from the bench and was able to get in position in front of the net where a received a pass and put it right past Colt O’Connell to make it a one-goal game.

The Kadets got one back to take a 4-2 lead after the first quarter. And then Cheyenne Mountain’s dynamic duo got involved.

August Johnson scored twice in a three-minute gap and Kai Case added one in between as the Indians took a 5-4 lead, their first of the game.

“That’s what lacrosse is all about,” Johnson said. “It’s a battle the whole time. That was a fight.”

Less than a minute after the Indians took the lead, MacGuire scored again to send the game into overtime locked in a 5-5 tie.

So with the score even, both teams just had to start from scratch for the final 24 minutes of regulation.

“A game like this, everyone comes out a little tightly wound,” Kadets coach Mike Mandico said. “When you’re tight, you tend to mistakes, you throw the ball away, you’re not as patient.”

It took almost half of the first quarter for the first goal of the game to be scored, so the reset paid off for both teams as they each scored less than two minutes into the start of the second half.

And just when it seemed like either team would find an edge, the other would come back with an answer. Johnson scored three of his game-high six goals in the third quarter. And MacGuire always seemed to respond for the Kadets when he needed to.

The Indians were able to use their zone defense to limit the scoring ability of Jake Thornally. The Air Force commit only scored two goals on the night.

Instead, it was players like MacGuire and Chapman Cox who paced the offense for the Kadets. With the clock winding down, Cox was able to find an opening and tie the game with 13 seconds left, sending it to sudden death.

Less than two minutes in, the Cheyenne Mountain defense came up big and on a fast-break attempt, Case found an open Nordeman who was able to end the game.

“Kai came down the middle and he drew my defender and just like practice, I cut across and let it loose,” Nordeman said. “It did what it did. I’m pretty thankful.”

With the postseason on the horizon, Nordeman and his teammates knew that this was a game that they couldn’t let slip away.

“This was nice for us,” he said. “It’s always good to have this experience late in the season, going into playoffs.”