Month: October 2016

No. 1 Boulder boys soccer wins league title over No. 3 Broomfield

(Morgan Dzak/CHSAANow.com)

BOULDER — Some of Mitchell Graesser’s family members moved to Seattle at the beginning of August, but his mom, brother and sister made a special trip back to Colorado for the Boulder boys soccer team’s senior night game against rival Broomfield.

Graesser played his heart out on this memorable night in front of his mom and 12-year-old twin siblings, scoring the first goal of the match and helping his undefeated, Class 5A No. 1-ranked Panthers to a 2-1 victory and Front Range League title over No. 3 Broomfield on Thursday night at Christian Recht Field.

Both teams were undefeated in league play coming into this top-10 matchup for the title. Boulder improved to 15-0 overall and finished 12-0 in league on a game-winning goal from junior Nick McCabe. The Eagles are now at a 12-2-1 overall mark and ended the season 9-1-1 in league.

“We have a lot of new faces on the varsity team, but they all buy into a great tradition of playing for the love of each other and being inspired to work hard because of fellow teammates. On senior night that gets elevated,” Boulder coach Hardy Kalisher said.

He added: “Mitchell is the only remaining player from our last league title and has been a varsity starter since his sophomore year.”

Graesser, the team’s most experienced varsity player and team captain, scored his second goal of the season in the 32nd minute on an assist from sophomore Omar Castruita — a team-high 13th assist for the forward.

“My mom wanted to fly in for my senior night and it just meant something a little extra special to go out there and score a goal tonight,” Graesser said. “Not only for my family, but for this team – la familia – it’s just unbelievable and something special. I’m holding back tears.”

Broomfield senior Ethan Campbell slotted a goal in the right corner of the net in the 51st minute, only to have McCabe answer back in the 53rd minute, sealing the 2-1 win for the Panthers.

Boulder started the game out connecting well on passes and moving the ball around. The Panthers had definite home field advantage on the unique East-West facing and narrow Recht Field — one of the oldest stadiums in Colorado.

“Boulder’s had an exceptional season and is obviously very good on their home field,” Broomfield coach Jim Davidson said. “We’re playing on a postage stamp-sized field. It’s always hard and they have a great advantage on this field — it’s 55 yards wide. Every team that comes here has to adjust.”

He added: “You have two very tactical teams that really want to possess the ball and you can’t do that very well on this narrow field.”

Both teams were extremely tough on defense, and Broomfield maintained intensity in front of the goal throughout the entire match. The Eagles were mostly on the defensive side of the ball in the entire first half.

“It was a game against the most well-coached team,” Kalish said. “They’re so well prepared, organized and a very hard-working team. We knew it would take more than one goal to win tonight.”

October 21, 2016
Lewis-Palmer volleyball sweeps Cheyenne Mountain to win PPAC title

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

COLORADO SPRINGS — It’s almost becoming a tradition.

For the last three years, the winner of the Pikes Peak Athletic Conference has gone on to claim the Class 4A volleyball state championship. Last year, it was Cheyenne Mountain. The two years prior to that, it was Lewis-Palmer.

So the top-ranked Rangers (19-0 overall, 7-0 PPAC) have to like that a sweep of the second-ranked Indians (25-16, 25-18 and 25-20) Thursday night put the PPAC title back in their hands.

“We knew we had to tighten up on our skills and get back to the basics,” senior Elizabeth Reich said. “(Cheyenne Mountain) is a great team, obviously, so we had to come in with a lot of fire and energy and be loud.”

And they accomplished that goal. In each set, the Indians (13-5, 6-1) were able to battle toe-to-toe with their league rival, giving the crowd a feeling that a five-set thriller was in the cards.

But somehow, the Rangers would grab momentum and refused to give it back. They were able to go on runs of 10-0, 13-3 and 5-0 to finish out each set.

“That’s something we focus on,” Reich said. “We try to capitalize and not let them get three points and come together and move on.”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

And move on they will. Lewis-Palmer currently sits at No. 1 in the 4A volleyball RPI, which makes them a shoe-in to host a regional. Should they advance through their region, the Rangers will find themselves back in the state tournament, where they lost to the Indians in last year’s final.

But that’s not where their focus is right now. They know that getting better each game is the key reclaiming championship gold, so they look no further than whoever is next on their schedule.

“Every time that comes out wants to be in the state championship,” Lewis-Palmer coach Susan Odenbaugh said. “When we lost in 2012 we knew we had to player harder to redeem ourselves. This year, we haven’t even talked about the loss, we’ve only talked about our potential and what we need to do.”

There is good news for Cheyenne Mountain, however.

The last time that the winner of the PPAC title didn’t win the state title was back in 2012. The Rangers came away with the league crown with a 3-1 win over Cheyenne Mountain.

But the Indians came away with the ultimate prize, beating Lewis-Palmer 3-1 in the 4A title game. They know they can get back to that point, it’s just going to take work to correct the things that went wrong Friday.

“The game definitely prepares us for the future,” senior Casey Ahrendsen said. “It shows us what they have now compared to last year, but it shows us what we have to improve on in order to beat them.”

It was a tall order coming into the night as Cheyenne Mountain coach David Barkley was out of town due to a death in his family.

Interim coach Gail Sanchez knows that the talent is right there to play with the Rangers. But several unforced errors also gave the Indians an unnecessary mental block to overcome.

“I honestly believed coming into this match that we had a chance of winning it,” she said. “But a lot of those errors just went into their head and they couldn’t get out of it.”

Sanchez also believes that the two teams will see each other again. If it happens in the state title game, it will be the fourth time since 2009 that they’ll play for the title.

It’s almost becoming a tradition.

October 21, 2016
Field hockey’s state tournament bracket

The 2016 state tournament bracket for field hockey.

2016 CHSAA State Field Hockey Championships State field hockey

October 21, 2016
Kent Denver top seed in field hockey’s playoff bracket
Kent Denver is the No. 1 seed in field hockey’s state tournament. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

DENVER — Kent Denver is the top seed in the 2016 field hockey state tournament bracket, which was released Thursday night.

The Sun Devils were the lone team to go through the regular season unbeaten at 13-0-2. As a result, they finished No. 1 in the final RPI standings of the season, which were finalized at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The eight-team playoff field was seeded according to those final RPI standings.

The full bracket, which begins play on Friday, is available here:
- State field hockey bracket
Kent Denver will host No. 8 seed St. Mary’s Academy at 4:15 p.m. on Friday.

Palmer Ridge is the No. 2 seed, and hosts No. 7 Regis Jesuit at 4 p.m. Friday.

Colorado Academy, the four-time defending champions, ended up as the No. 3 seed. The Mustangs will host No. 6 Mountain Vista at 11 a.m. Saturday.

No. 4 Denver East hosts No. Cherry Creek at 6 p.m. Friday.

The tournament runs quickly: The semifinals are next Tuesday, with the championship slated for next Thursday. Both of those rounds will be played at All-City Stadium in Denver.
October 21, 2016
Replay: State softball tournaments begin
AURORA — The first day of the state softball tournaments in all classes is on Friday.

Follow along below for live coverage.

Brackets:
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Live coverage

Live Blog State softball tournaments (10/21/16)
October 21, 2016
Inspired Dakota Ridge football knocks off No. 5 Heritage

LAKEWOOD — Dakota Ridge football team wanted to win for a teammate — sophomore Christian Lyons — who couldn’t be on the field Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium.

“This whole Christian thing really took a life of its own. Our kids really fed off it,” Dakota Ridge coach Ron Woitalewicz said after the Eagles knocked off Heritage 24-14 in a Class 4A Plains League game. “We have a kid in the hospital fighting for his life. I told our guys that if you think you are tired and sore to think about Christian for inspiration.”

Players for Dakota Ridge wore orange socks in the “Think Orange” themed game to bring awareness of Leukemia. Lyons is currently in the hospital battling Leukemia.

Dakota Ridge (5-3, 3-0 in league) played inspired and nearly a perfect first half in taking a 24-14 lead. Heritage (5-3, 2-1) came in ranked No. 5 in the latest CHSAANow.com 4A football poll, but never led.

A pair of huge pass plays in the first half allowed Dakota Ridge to grab a 10-point lead at halftime. Junior quarterback Drew Dominic connected with fellow junior Kyle Scofield on a 78-yard touchdown pass with 3:31 left in the first quarter to give Dakota Ridge a 14-0 advantage.

“I saw two defenders and I just slipped right through them,” Scofield said describing his 78-yard touchdown catch on a post route. “I saw the ball floating in the air and I was just thinking to myself I had to catch this ball.”

It looked like Dakota Ridge would just take a 17-14 lead into the locker room, but a short pass near the sideline to senior Kennan Brown turned into a 51-yard touchdown with under a minute to play in the second quarter. Brown did most of the work juking a couple of Heritage defenders before getting into the end zone.

“The touchdown before halftime was obviously huge,” Woitalewicz said.

Heritage’s two second-quarter touchdowns came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Chase Hansen to junior Tyler Zoesch and a 1-yard plunge by Hansen.

While Hansen played a big role in both Heritage scores, he was harassed all night by Dakota Ridge’s defense. The senior quarterback was dropped for a loss on sacks or negative runs 11 times. Hansen carried the ball 18 times for 15 yards.

Heritage senior Chayse Jimenez, left, hauls in a catch in front of Dakota Ridge’s Joe Setter. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

“Our game-plan was to try to go man coverage, blitz and rattle (Hansen),” Woitalewicz said. “We stuck with it the whole game and got a lot of pressure.”

Dakota Ridge junior linebacker Anthony Salvi got beat in coverage on Hansen’s touchdown pass to Zoesch, but Salvi got his revenge on a key drive in the fourth quarter. Salvi sacked Hansen three times on a single drive as Dakota Ridge shut out Heritage in the second half.

“I think we changed it up a little bit in the end,” Salvi could say with a smile. “I got beat for the touchdown, but then they just let me go at the quarterback from the edge.”

While Dakota Ridge’s offense wasn’t able to score in the second half, the damage Dominic did threw the air (11-of-18 for 180 yards and two touchdowns) and junior Eric Palmer did on the ground (20 carries for 95 yards) was enough to get the win.

Brown sealed the victory with an interception of Hansen in the end zone on the final play of the game.

“I don’t think we shocked ourselves,” Salvi said. “We just played like we know how we are able to play.”

Dakota Ridge doesn’t have much time to reflect on Thursday’s game. The Eagles turn around and face area-rival and No. 2 Chatfield (6-1, 2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at Jeffco Stadium.

“If we win next week we win the league. It’s like a dream,” Woitalewicz said. “It’s going to be a big rivalry game. (Chatfield) is a great football team and (Chatfield coach Bret McGatlin) does a great job. We are going to have our work cutout.”

Heritage hosts Golden (1-6, 0-2) at 7 p.m. Oct. 27 before its regular-season showdown against Chatfield at 4 p.m. Friday at Jeffco Stadium.

Chatfield, Dakota Ridge and Heritage will be in a dogfight the final weeks of the regular season to make the 16-team field for the 4A state tournament.

Dakota Ridge junior Kyle Scofield (2) gets behind Heritage’s defense on a 78-yard touchdown catch. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Dakota Ridge junior Erik Palmer, far right, finds a hole during a 24-14 win over Heritage at Jeffco Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

October 21, 2016
Photos: No. 1 Boulder boys soccer claims Front Range title with a win over No. 2 Broomfield

BOULDER — Boulder concluded an impressive boys soccer season with a 2-1 win over Broomfield, giving the Panthers the 2016 Front Range title.

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October 21, 2016
Cherry Creek football takes on Horizon at top of Mount Elbert League

(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

GREENWOOD VILLAGE — The top two football teams in the Mount Elbert League square off in a showdown on Friday night with major playoff implications on the line. The Horizon Hawks, 5-2 overall, lead the league with a 2-0 mark, and the Bruins come in looking to take that top spot. But the Bruins’ three losses come at the hands of some of the top teams in the state.

Cherry Creek is ranked fifth in the RPI standings and Horizon holds steady at 25th. But that could all change with a victory over the Bruins.

“We are looking forward to the challenge [of tonight’s game],” Bruins senior offensive lineman Dominic Montoya said. “[We] always bring high level of intensity no matter the opponent.”

As the Bruin’s schedule ranges from the No. 1-ranked team in RPI (Regis Jesuit) to the last team in RPI (Far Northeast), the level of play won’t change with each opponent Cherry Creek plays.

It’s also no secret the Bruins have been hit hard by the injury bug on the offensive side of the ball.

“The shift hasn’t been too bad,” Montoya said. “Trey’s an amazing leader and athlete who has really taken control of his position and offense.”

The big boys up front often don’t get much credit from anyone. As many have said, if you hear your name get called as an offensive lineman, it’s usually because you made an error. Switching quarterbacks has not affected this line. “[Windham] has really helped us gel together as a unit,” Montoya said.

A big time battle will go down at the Stutler Bowl at 7 p.m. Friday night. Can Horizon pull off the upset? Or will Cherry Creek secure another big victory towards winning the Mount Elbert League? The action will be live on the NFHS Network.

October 21, 2016
Photos: Mountain Vista volleyball gets big league win over Highlands Ranch

HIGHLANDS RANCH — No. 6 Mountain Vista got a big Continental League win, topping Highlands Ranch 25-17, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-15.

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October 21, 2016
5A softball roundup: Fossil Ridge reaches fourth-straight semifinals

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

AURORA — Fossil Ridge is making this an annual thing.

For the fourth-consecutive season, the SaberCats advanced to the state softball semifinals in Class 5A. This time, the young squad did so with a 6-3 win over league foe Loveland at Aurora Sports Park.

“I know we only have two seniors, but there are some kids that because they’ve been to state (before), they get at-bats, they’ve had different roles,” Fossil Ridge coach Dave Philop said. “Now, when they get their chance, that’s paid off.”

Landyn Bruce exemplified Fossil Ridge’s successful youth on Friday. She was the winning pitcher, and also drove in a pair of runs.

“Maybe they think they don’t know any better because they’re so young,” Philop said. “They’re kind of naive. They know it’s tough, they know the moment’s big, but they’re not sure. That’s a little to do with it, because they are young.”

Still, the coach added, “They feel like they can win, and it was their turn. That’s probably a little bit more of it: They want to keep the tradition going as long as they can.”

Fossil Ridge will face another league foe, Broomfield, in Saturday’s semifinals at 10 a.m. Broomfield won their earlier matchup in September, 5-0.

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(2) Cherokee Trail 7, (7) Rock Canyon 4

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Chloe Knapp hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to give the Cougars a dramatic victory.

Rock Canyon led 4-3 going into the final frame before Cherokee Trail was able to load the bases with no outs.

It was the second dramatic win of the day for the Cougars, who edged No. 15 Legacy 11-10 in the first round. Legacy had the bases loaded, but Cherokee Trail was able to get out of the jam.

Rock Canyon beat No. 10 Grand Junction Central 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Cherokee Trail will face Eaglecrest in the semifinals.

(1) Broomfield 12, (9) Douglas County 4

Avery Bohn and Matti Morales each hit three-run home runs to lead the top seed back to the semifinals for the first time since 2014.

The game was close before Broomfield broke it open with a seven-run sixth inning.

The Eagles had beat No. 16 Cherry Creek 16-1 in the first round, while Douglas County eliminated defending champion Mountain Range 10-0.

(3) Eaglecrest 5, (6) Fort Collins 2

Fort Collins got on the board first, but Eaglecrest responded with three runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a lead it would never give up.

Fort Collins did cut it to 3-2 in the third inning, however, the Lambkins couldn’t get any closer. Eaglecrest added two more runs in the sixth.

The Raptors beat No. 14 Brighton 10-2 in the first round, while Fort Collins beat No. 11 Legend 5-3.

October 21, 2016