COLORADO SPRINGS — Rampart avenged last season’s loss to district rival Liberty as the Rams came away with a 42-12 win over the Lancers.
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Month: August 2016
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Photos: No. 9 ThunderRidge boys soccer beats Columbine
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Vincent Garcia and Sean Thompson each scored as No. 9 ThunderRidge boys soccer beat Columbine 2-1 on Saturday.
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Photos: Saguaro (Ariz.) beats Valor Christian football
HIGHLANDS RANCH — No. 1 Valor Christian football fell to Saguaro (Ariz.) on Saturday in a Zero Week game.
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Photos: Valor Christian softball wins battle of No. 1 teams with Mountain Range
DENVER — Ali Kilponen struck out 18 batters and allowed just two hits as Valor Christian won a battle of No. 1 softball teams with Mountain Range.
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Highlights: Valor Christian football vs. Saguaro (Ariz.)
Blake Olson gives you highlights and postgame reaction for a national Top 25 high school football game — Saguaro (Ariz.) vs. Valor Christian. Both teams are loaded with Division I recruits and both are coming off championships in their respective states.
Blake also takes a look at a scrimmage in Longmont between ThunderRidge and Longmont.
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Football roundup: Durango’s Gavin Mestas has a crazy good game against Delta
Durango’s Gavin Mestas. (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com) Well, welcome to the 2016 season, Gavin Mestas.
The Durango junior was all over the field in his team’s 21-20 win against Class 2A No. 4 Delta in Zero Week on Friday night.
A wide receiver, defensive back and kicker, Mestas did the following on Friday night:
- Intercepted two passes, returning one for a touchdown.
- Hauled in a 42-yard receiving touchdown.
- Kicked three extra points.
- Returned a kickoff 99 yards for a score.
That last feat earned him an entry into the state record book. Mestas is the 22nd player in the history of the sport to return a kickoff at least 99 yards, and he is now tied for the ninth-longest return ever.
Mestas had 241 yards and three touchdowns receiving, and 48 tackles and four interceptions on defense last season as the Demons reached the Class 4A quarterfinals.
Durango has moved down to 3A this season.
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2A: (2) Kent Denver 44, Prospect Ridge Academy 0
Scott Yates. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com) Kent Denver gave coach Scott Yates his 305th career win. He is now one away from tying the all-time wins record.
West Grand coach Chris Brown is currently tied with Pat Panek at 306 career wins. West Grand begins its season next week.
This was the first-ever varsity game for Prospect Ridge Academy.
Notables
- Sedgwick County, the defending champion in 8-man, opened its season with a 58-0 win over Creek Valley (Neb.). The Cougars have now won 14 games in a row — the longest active streak in the state. Buena Vista (1A) and Pueblo East (3A) also enter the 2016 season with 13-game winning streaks, but neither team plays in Zero Week.
- In 2A, No. 8 Resurrection Christian had 23 unanswered points as the Cougars beat No. 9 Sterling 34-6.
- In 8-man, a top-10 matchup between No. 2 Akron and No. 8 Granada didn’t exactly live up to the hype as the Rams rolled 59-0.
- Bayfield had its 12-game winning streak snapped with a 19-0 loss to San Juan (Utah).
- 3A No. 2 Roosevelt, runner up a season ago, opened its season with a 39-0 win against Thornton.
- Grand Junction Central nearly pulled off an upset, but 3A No. 6 Palisade held on with a 31-26 win.
- 3A No. 7 Rifle beat Basalt 48-34.
- Another top-10 team in 3A, Holy Family (No. 9), opened with a 40-19 win at Mountain View.
- 1A No. 4 Crowley County beat Colorado Springs Christian 32-22. And No. 10 Meeker beat Highland 18-8.
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More coverage
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Pueblo South football takes to the air in Zero Week win over Wheat Ridge
Pueblo South quarterback Zach Cozzolino. More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) PUEBLO — Zach Cozzolino and Marcell Barbee had themselves a nice little Friday night.
Cozzolina went 7 for 10 for 197 yards and four touchdowns, with Barbee was on the receiving end of six of those completions and three of the touchdowns as the Pueblo South stormed to a 55-21 upset win over No. 9 Wheat Ridge on Friday night.
“I’ll take it,” Cozzolino said. “I have 100 percent confidence in (Barbee). We all worked really hard this offseason and it finally paid off.”
Boy did it ever.
After kick-off, it looked as if it was going to be a battle between two talented running backs in Brock and Wheat Ridge’s Payton Dietrich. It was the Farmers (0-1 overall) who stuck first as Dietrich scored from nine yards out.
The Colts (1-0) would go heavy on the run with their first series, going with Brock often. He would get in the end zone, but miss the extra point to let the Farmers hang on to one-point lead.
“I like our backs, I like our offense,” Pueblo South coach Ryan Goddard said. “I saw some things we liked (after that) so you have to take opportunities when they give them to you.”
And that’s when Cozzolino began his aerial assault. His first completion came on a 36-yard bomb to Marcell Barbee to put the Colts up 13-7.
The Farmers got two points back by corralling Brock in the end zone for a safety, but the Cozzolino show was already in full effect.
More photos. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) Before the end of the half, he found Thomas Pannunzio for a 47-yard touchdown and connected with Batbee for two more scores to take a stunning 34-9 lead.
“It’s a good feeling,” Barbee said. “I’m glad we’re getting the connection now instead of not catching anything.”
It seemed like the Farmers came out in the second half ready to keep fighting. Quarterback Anthony Tate was able to drive his team down the field, putting the load more on Dietrich’s shoulders, before finding Dominic Trujillo in the end zone.
But the Colts responded on their very next offensive play as Brock took one 51 yards for his second touchdown of the night.
Tate would find Carlos Shippley for a 61-yard touchdown pass before the end of the third quarter, but the damage had been done. Reese Bravo added a fourth quarter touchdown for the Colts, giving them the 55-21 win.
Wheat Ridge coach Stacy Coryell wasn’t shocked by any means at what he saw from Cozzolino, who played his first varsity game at quarterback Friday. He said the final score was a result of defensive miscues and missed tackles.
“We just go back to work,” Coryell said. “We have a tackling circuit that we do every week and just get better at that and continue to instill confidence in (our players). We’re a good team.”
But the celebration belonged to the home team. Cozzolino showed that he has the ability to help the Colts make their way back to the Class 4A playoffs and that he’s surrounded by teammates that will only feed off his play.
“My line is key,” Cozzolino said. “My receivers got open and that was huge too. They were crisp off the cuts. In every aspect they were great.”
The Farmers will take their home field for the first time next week as they welcome Palmer. Pueblo South will stay at Dutch Clark, but act as the visiting team against Pueblo Centennial.
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Photos: Kent Denver, Colorado Academy field hockey play to tie
ENGLEWOOD — In an early battle of two of field hockey’s power programs, No. 1 Colorado Academy and No. 4 Kent Denver played to a scoreless tie on Friday.
Each team is annually among the state’s best. Kent owns the most titles in state history (nine), while Colorado Academy has won the past four, and is second with five championships overall.
The tie is actually quite significant. It is just the second time in the past 58 games that Colorado Academy hasn’t won. However, with the tie, the Mustangs’ unbeaten streak now stands at 71 consecutive games.
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Last-minute TD lifts No. 2 Pomona football over No. 3 Mullen
Pomona senior Jeremy Gonzales (20) gets a lift from quarterback Ryan Marquez after a 8-yard touchdown catch. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) DENVER — The prep football spotlight was firmly focused at de La Salle Stadium on Friday night and Pomona shined brightest in the end.
With the pressure at its peak in a 21-21 tie in the fourth quarter between the 2015 Class 5A state runner-up Pomona, ranked No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com preseason poll, on the road against No. 3 ranked Mullen, the visiting Panthers atoned for an overtime loss to the Mustangs a year ago.
Junior quarterback Ryan Marquez connected with senior Uriah Vigil for a 16-yard touchdown with 26.6 seconds left in regulation to give Pomona a 28-21 victory in a monster Zero Week showdown.
“It’s awesome. It’s huge. No. 2 going up against No. 3 in the rankings,” Pomona senior defensive lineman Brandon Micale said. “It’s an amazing win.”
Marquez engineered the 12-play, 59-yard game-winning drive in the final five minutes after Pomona’s defense gave the offense great field position sacking Mullen sophomore quarterback Dominic Depizzol to force the Mustangs to punt from their own 7-yard line.
Pomona defenders Nolan Krone (27) and Isaac Lopez (79) converge on Mullen quarterback Dominic Depizzol (3). More photos. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) Pomona had a trio of third-down conversions as the running back tandem of senior Cameron Gonzales and junior Max Borghi carried the load on the final offensive drive for the Panthers. Marquez connected with senior Miles Matulik for a pair of key 8-yard gains on the drive before the touchdown pass to Vigil.
“Obviously we were on that last drive, but what really got us going was Billy Pospisil catching that screen on the drive before,” said Marquez, who finished 18-for-30 passing for 233 yards and three touchdowns.
Pospisil, only a sophomore, had a huge 48-yard catch and run that set up the game-tying touchdown midway through the fourth quarter. The sophomore had a big role catching 8 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
“Billy had a great night. For a sophomore to come in and do that is unbelievable,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “He made some great plays. He might have to play some defense next week with Jeremy Gonzales being banged up.”
After catching four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown in the second quarter, Pomona receiver/cornerback Jeremy Gonzales went down with a hip injury and didn’t return.
Borghi showed off his dynamic skills with 81 yards rushing and 70 yards receiving. Cameron Gonzales had just 37 yards rushing, but had the key 1-yard touchdown run that tied the game in the fourth quarter and ended 21 unanswered points from Mullen.
“Our offensive is dangerous this year. We are very versatile,” Marquez said. “It’s going to be a great year.”
The Panthers got out to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter with touchdown passes from Marquez to senior Jeremy Gonzales and Pospisil, but Mullen scored just before halftime on a five-yard touchdown run by senior Marcus McElroy.
McElroy finished with 22 carries for 83 yards and two touchdowns, but he was limited to just one carry in the fourth quarter.
“We just had to make (McElroy) work for it,” Madden said. “We couldn’t make it easy for him and we didn’t.”
Pomona packs its bags for an out-of-state test in Florida next week. The Panthers take on Glynn Academy from Georgia on Thursday, Sept. 1. Mullen keeps the trend going of hosting 5A powerhouses. The Mustangs faced defending 5A state champion Valor Christian on Friday, Sept. 2.
“When you play as tough a schedule as we play every win is precious.” Madden said. “To come out here against a great football team with some extremely good athletes and find a way to win is our job.”
Mullen senior Marcus McElroy (28) isn’t able to escape Pomona linebacker Bryan Gallegos (7). More photos. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) -
Photos: Pueblo South football tops Wheat Ridge in Zero Week showdown
PUEBLO — Behind a strong performance from quarterback Zach Cozzolino, Pueblo South came away with a 55-21 win over Wheat Ridge Friday night.
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