GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Luke McCaffrey had a game-changing kickoff return for a touchdown to help No. 8 Valor Christian beat No. 9 Cherry Creek 42-26 on Thursday night.

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AURORA — Grandview was able to put up 24 points and didn’t surrender any as the Wolves topped Cherokee Trail 24-0 Thursday night.

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CENTENNIAL — Penny Schwab scored the game’s only goal in the second half, giving Liberty a 1-0 win over Arapahoe on Thursday.

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Links

• Live scoreboard
• Top-10 schedule & scoreboard
• Full schedule & scoreboard | @ColoHSFootball
• Live game schedule
• Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show (9:30 p.m.)

The live event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
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Live coverage

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

In this installment of the CHSAANow.com Mailbag, we tackle the question of kneeling for the national anthem, football championship sites, RPI queries, and girls wrestling.

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

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(Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

I am curious as to why CHSAA isn’t doing anything about the Aurora football players that are kneeling at the football games when the National Anthem is being played? When I asked I was told it was a local call. Well then why do you care about if a student wears a shirt at a game and paints their chest with their schools colors or uses a cowbell?

I think this is more unsportsmanlike and distracting than that! I have seen you come into schools and lose your mind over newspapers being held up and other things so why not this?

— Tamatha E., Alamosa

I really can only reinforce what you were told: It is a local issue, and the schools need to be the ones involved in it. Because, first and foremost, it is an educational opportunity, and the coaches, administrators and adults at those schools need to be approaching it that way. The CHSAA office is not going to tell schools how they need to handle this.

I had a conversation with our commissioner, Paul Angelico, about this very topic earlier this week. He and I often have long talks about societal issues, politics, or whatever else, and I really enjoy them.

Here’s some of what he had to say:

“We are not in a position to say that they do not have the freedom of speech to protest. People died for their right to do this,” Angelico said. “But this is a situation that has to be dealt with educationally. This is a learning opportunity.

“I think it’s important that these students know the specifics of what they are protesting about and why. And the same goes for their teammates, who may not be protesting. Are there other outlets which can make a positive difference to the issues they are protesting? Could a student get involved in community activities that can make a real change in their neighborhood rather than just kneel down at the game?

“All of these things can only be answered at the local level between a coach and a student. This organization is not in a position to judge if any or all of this is happening. What I really hope for is that whatever a school, district or coach does it can be done in such a way to unite us, not to further divide us.”

As for the other part of your question, those instances deal with sportsmanship, which is directly related to fair play, crowd control, and belittling the other team.

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(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Why doesn’t 3A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man football teams play at the same venue (Mike High Stadium) for their State Championship game? I have heard many state high school activity associations host all their football championship games at the same venue. Is there talk about changing the current format?

— Joe W., Thornton

Many of these classes have held their state championship games at neutral venues in the past. In fact, 3A just moved from Legacy Stadium in Aurora to a neutral site in 2013.

Still, this topic is discussed pretty regularly at times within the football committee. Because, on one hand, it would be awesome to play all seven championship games at one site. But, according to assistant commissioner Harry Waterman, who oversees football, there is not have an option for more than two championship games at Mile High.

So you start from there and look at other options. What about holding 3A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man at one site, like Legacy Stadium?

Well, surveys conducted by the CHSAA office indicate that those classes simply do not want to have both teams travel to neutral sites.

“They want to remain in their own backyards,” Waterman said.

Like I mentioned, 3A did have a neutral site for a few cycles prior to 2013. The attendance was incredibly diminished at those games, because (for the most part) those classifications are so spread out geographically, and not many people travel to the neutral sites.

Having been to a championship game at a host site, the atmosphere is just special. There’s nothing like a 6-man championship game with a cattle trailer positioned as a wind break on a 5-degree day. You know that old saying that the best time to rob a bank in a small town is during a football game? No, the best time is during a championship football game — because everyone from the town is there, and they bring everyone they know from nearby towns.

This is even true for a city like Pueblo. They filled Dutch Clark Stadium to capacity for the past two 3A title games.

Sports like basketball and volleyball do have neutral sites for 3A, 2A and 1A, but that works for a variety of reasons. The most important: they are playing multiple games over the span of a few days.

I really don’t see these football championship games moving back to a neutral site unless something really special happens in terms of a neutral host site.

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I get the need for using something like the RPI to have equity when determining who is worthy of qualifying for regionals/playoffs/seeding etc., however I do think it needs to be tweaked.

There are times when two teams have played each other (twice) and one team has won both. However, the two teams is question have identical records but the team that won the head to head match up has a lower RPI. The head to head matchup has to be worth more.

Scheduling is part of the answer but modifying the RPI needs to be considered. Is CHSAA looking at this?

— Doug E., Montrose

Good question. This is something that is touched on a lot, especially at committee meetings.

The head-to-head factor is tough in RPI because of the following scenario:

• Team A beats Team B
• Team B beats Team C
• Team C beats Team A

There is no way to accurately give more weight to Team A’s win over Team B without also screwing up how Team C’s victory over Team A is viewed, given that Team C lost to Team B.

In reality, there are not usually just three teams involved in this example scenario. It’s more like six or seven. And that’s why you can’t directly weight head-to-head.

RPI is designed to look at the strength of an entire schedule, not an individual game. Its purpose is to look at teams and compare their relative strength given all factors, including a team’s own winning percentage as it relates to the overall schedule it played.

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(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

With the rise in women’s wrestling and the recent success of our women’s Olympic team does CHSAA have any plans to start a girls wrestling division? Other states currently offer this and more colleges are adding women’s programs. If not, how do we get that conversation started?

— Brandon C., La Junta

This is actively being discussed, so the conversation is already in the works.

There is a subcommittee formed out of the wrestling committee exploring this. They will report their findings at the next wrestling committee meeting, which is Feb. 28, 2017.

“They’re digging into info, and researching how other states administer girls wrestling,” said Harry Waterman, who also is in charge of wrestling in the CHSAA office.

There are a lot of questions to answer: Would girls wrestling be a separate sport? Or part of the existing sport, with two-to-three classifications for girls?

We’ll know more in February, including if the conversation about girls wrestling will move forward from there.

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

CASTLE ROCK — Castle View softball scored in the bottom of the seventh to beat Rock Canyon 6-5 on Wednesday.

The Sabercats are now 10-5-1, while Rock Canyon is 8-9.

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LAKEWOOD — Bear Creek boys soccer improved to 8-2 this season with a 5-1 win over Chatfield on Wednesday.

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It has been 42 years since Sargent’s football team found itself playing for a state championship.

Last November, the Farmers believed they were on their way to ending that drought. One victory away from reaching the 8-man title tilt, Sargent instead found itself bumped from the postseason by eventual champion Sedgwick County.

The setback stung, but it may have ultimately provided a lesson that needed to be learned.

“I think the biggest thing is for the kids to see how good you’ve got to be to win it all. You always think, even as coaches, that you’re working hard and doing everything you can and you’re as good as you can be,” Farmers coach Trevan Pepper said. “Then you go up against a team like that, and you see there is another level you’ve got to (reach) to be the best.”

It’s something his players have taken to heart through the early going in 2016. Sargent is off to a 4-0 start and is currently ranked first in 8-man headed into Friday night’s homecoming game, the 7-mile Border War with Sangre de Cristo.

Rankings are the least of the Farmers’ concerns. Coming off a huge 22-20 road victory over Norwood – another 8-man semifinalist last fall – Sargent wants to continue making a push toward the postseason and a potential title-game appearance.

The team last reached the title game in 1974, losing to Lyons in the A championship.

“We’re trying to be at the top. We push hard as a team,” Farmers senior Justin Hacsi said. “Sangre de Cristo is going to be pretty tough. They always play their best game against us. We can’t ever take anything away from them.”

Sargent was riding a seven-game winning streak into the 8-man semifinals a year ago, averaging nearly 52 points a game during that stretch. But the long road trip to Julesburg to play Sedgwick County didn’t go as planned. The Cougars jumped all over Sargent early on its way to a 50-8 romp.

(Hudl screenshot)

One week later, Sedgwick County knocked off Akron 36-6 to win its first crown.

“We got down early and we just gave up,” Hacsi said. “We took that away from last year, and we showed in our Hoehne (a 26-24 victory) and Norwood games, once we get down we’re not going to lay down and quit.”

Norwood scored on its opening drive last week before Sargent responded with a pair of second-quarter touchdowns. Hacsi rushed for 119 yards and a score, and Ryan Davis threw for 151 yards and two touchdowns and added 108 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Davis has seven touchdowns through the air this fall and is averaging 95 yards a game on the ground. Hacsi has 520 yards rushing and seven touchdowns, and has hauled in 14 catches for 283 yards and four more scores.

“Ryan is real even just all the time. Since I’ve known him he’s just super even and consistent,” Pepper said. “Justin is more of a home run-hitter. He can get four carries in a row and get 0 yards, and then if he gets a seam he can bust one for 50 to 60 yards. Or he can jump up and catch a pass with one hand and take it to the house.

“It’s a pretty good combination.”

Sargent moved two former tight ends to the offensive line this fall in Ty Harrison and Justin Johnson, both of whom have helped stabilize things up front. Christian Schaller, who broke his arm last season and missed nearly all of 2015, is averaging 13 tackles a game from his linebacker position. Hacsi has three sacks.

Sangre de Cristo, which started 4-0 before falling to Mancos last weekend, will provide another challenge for the Farmers. A road trip to face that same Mancos squad awaits at the end of the regular season, followed by the playoff opener.

There is still plenty of season left to play before that can take place, but the prospect of what could be resonates in the mind of each player.

“I’m excited about it. We’ve been to the playoffs all three years I’ve been in school,” Hacsi said. “We’re just real excited knowing that’s a possibility, and we’re looking forward to it.”