DENVER — KIPP scored five goals in the second half en route to a 7-1 win over Denver Science and Tech-Stapleton in the Class 3A boys soccer quarterfinals.
DENVER — No. 1-seeded Denver East improved to an 18-0 record with a 2-1 victory over No. 8 Fort Collins on Saturday night to advance to the 2016 5A state semifinals.
PARKER — The Chaparral volleyball team beat Eaglecrest in three sets, 25-20, 25-29, 25-26, in a Class 5A Regional on Saturday. The Wolverines advanced to the 5A state tournament.
Pomona is the No. 1 seed in 5A football. (John Priest/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — The playoff football brackets were released on Sunday in Class 3A, 4A and 5A, and Discovery Canyon, Denver South and Pomona earned the top seeds.
For each class, the first round of the playoffs begins this weekend. Quarterfinals are Nov. 17-19, semifinals are Nov. 25-26 and the championship games will be Dec. 3.
The 4A field was initially released on Sunday morning, but had to be taken down and reseeded after a discrepancy. It was published against on Sunday afternoon.
For the 5A and 4A playoffs, each round through the semifinals will be hosted at home sites. Those championship games will be held at Mile High Stadium. All games in the 3A playoffs will be held at home sites, with the championship game hosted by the highest seeded team in that matchup.
In the 5A field, No. 1 seed Pomona finished the regular season at 9-1. The Panthers, runner-up a season ago, will host No. 16 Bear Creek in the first round.
Also hosting first-round games in 5A are No. 2 Mullen, No. 3 Valor Christian, No. 4 Regis Jesuit, No. 5 Eaglecrest, No. 6 Grandview, No. 7 Cherry Creek, and No. 8 Highlands Ranch.
Denver South is the No. 1 seed in 4A. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
The 4A bracket is headed by Denver South, which went unbeaten at 10-0. The Rebels will host Vista Ridge in the first round.
Other high seeds include No. 2 Chatfield, No. 3 Pine Creek, No. 4 Ponderosa, No. 5 Broomfield, No. 6 Rampart, No. 7 Monarch and No. 8 Windsor.
The No. 1 seed in 3A, Discovery Canyon, also finished the regular season unbeaten. The Thunder will play No. 16 Skyview in the first round.
Also hosting first-round games in 3A are No. 2 Pueblo East, No. 3 Palisade, No. 4 Lewis-Palmer, No. 5 Silver Creek, No. 6 Palmer Ridge, No. 7 Holy Family and No. 8 Conifer.
Discovery Canyon is the No. 1 seed in 3A. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
A discrepancy in the 4A football RPI standings changed the final qualifier for the 4A football playoff field. As a result, Vista Ridge has made the field, and Loveland has not.
Here’s what happened:
Loveland played Mountain View in Week 5. Mountain View finished 5-5, with a win over a 3A team.
Mountain View, a 4A team, played three 3A teams this season. Only the first game against a team from a lower classification is exempted from point modification.
Mountain View lost to Holy Family in the first game (exempted), then beat Thompson Valley in the second game (not exempted). This was reflected correctly in Mountain View’s final adjusted winning percentage of 0.487.
Loveland was incorrectly getting credit for Mountain View having an exempted win over Thompson Valley. This resulted in Loveland’s OWP being calculated as .322222222. The correct figure is .320772947.
As a result, Loveland’s correct RPI is 0.524075.
Vista Ridge’s RPI is 0.524495.
This also slightly adjusted final RPI numbers for Loveland’s opponents, though it did not affect their standings in the RPI.
The responsibility of the CHSAA office is to ensure that the playoff system approved by sport committees and the Legislative Council is applied and adhered to. This change in qualifiers ensures that this happened.
We apologize for the mistake, and to the affected communities.
Chatfield senior Dalton Keene (16) fights for extra yards Friday at Jeffco Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Chatfield football coach Bret McGatlin received a cold shower after the Chargers won its first conference title during McGatlin’s tenure as head coach.
Chatfield (9-1, 5-0 in Class 4A Plains League) wrapped up an undefeated record in conference play in late Friday afternoon showdown against Heritage at Jeffco Stadium. The Chargers, No. 2 in the final CHSAANow.com 4A football poll, defeated Heritage 27-10 to win the conference title.
More importantly, Chatfield clinched an automatic berth into the 16-team state tournament field.
“It means a lot. It’s been 11 years,” McGatlin said after getting doused with the team’s water bucket after the win. “We’ve been second a few times. It’s kind of like the monkey off our back.”
Chatfield’s Cole Ingersoll, left, and Heritage’s Josh Martin go up for a pass Friday afternoon. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
It’s only the second conference football title in the school’s history. Chatfield High School opened its doors in 1985.
“It means everything for us. It was our main first goal — a league championship, now a state championship,” Chatfield junior Keland Rumsey said. “We’ll do it one game at a time.”
A punishing ground game and stifling defense paved the way against Heritage. Chatfield put up nearly 300 yards on the ground with seniors Tylor Rowles and Dalton Keene leading the way. Rowles had 18 carries for 132 yards and Keene finished with 25 carries for 107 yards.
“Honestly, we weren’t looking to get a certain amount of yards or touchdowns,” Rowles said. “We were just looking to come out here to get the W.”
Rowles, who also plays receiver, has been pressed into running the ball more with junior tailback Ben Frenette out the past few weeks with a knee injury. Frenette had nearly 500 yards rushing this season through the first eight games. The junior said he hopes to be back for the playoffs.
With the Chargers a little shorthanded, Heritage cut Chatfield’s lead to 13-10 with 3:51 left in the third quarter with a 48-yard field goal by senior Henry Hemphill, but it was all Chargers after that.
“It’s scary,” McGatlin said after the Eagles cut Chatfield’s once 13-0 lead to just three points. “We told guys at halftime that we though we had the advantage in the game upfront and running the football. We put it on their shoulders.”
Chatfield quarterback Colton Arne scrambles out of the pocket. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Chatfield’s ground game responded with touchdown drives of 80 yards on 14 plays and 70 yards on 13 plays to run over nine minutes off the clock in the second half. The Chargers extended their lead to 27-10.
The quarterback tandem of juniors Colton Arne and Matt Moon finished off both key touchdowns drives with 1-yard touchdown runs each.
“We pulled some Columbine stuff out and just ran the football,” McGatlin said. “We moved the clock and that is what we put it in for. When you have a lead in a big game you can just wear teams out.”
Chatfield’s defense held Heritage in check for the majority of the game. The Eagles had just 30 yards of total offense at halftime. Heritage senior quarterback Chase Hansen was intercepted three times. Rumsey, Chandler Callejo and Jared Ridl all picked off Hansen.
“All season he (Rumsey) has been on fire. He is probably one of the most reliable players we have,” Keene said. “Rumsey and Chandler Callejo are irreplaceable. They made the plays tonight.”
The road did get a little rocky for the Chargers last week on the way to a league title. Area-rival Dakota Ridge gave Chatfield a major scare Oct. 28 at Jeffco Stadium. The Chargers needed to score 19 unanswered points to escape with a 36-29 victory over the Eagles. If Dakota Ridge (6-4, 4-1) defeated Chatfield, the Eagles would have taken the league title and automatic playoff bid.
Chatfield had outscored its previous four opponents 206-12 prior to the close call against Dakota Ridge. The Chargers lone loss this season was to 5A’s No. 6 Columbine.
Heritage (6-4, 3-2) will have to wait until Sunday, when the postseason brackets are released to see if it makes the field. The Eagles were No. 16 in the RPI rankings heading into the final week of the regular season.
“It’s all out of our control right now,” McGatlin said. “All we know is we did what we had to do here tonight. That is what matters the most.”
Chatfield senior Tylor Rowles (25) breaks free of a tackle Friday against Heritage. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
COLORADO SPRINGS — The last time Rampart won a league championship in football, the Chicago Cubs had yet to go a full century without a World Series win.
Since one of those droughts ended earlier this week, the Rams decided they wanted to get in on the fun. And they did just that in a tough, physical game that saw them beat Vista Ridge 20-10 and claim the Class 4A Pikes Peak title.
Rampart last won a league title in 2001.
“They knew what they had to do,” Rampart coach Rob Royer said of his players. “We talked all year about playing four quarters.”
And that’s what they did, even if they only scored in two of them.
Coming into the game, the Rams (8-2 overall, 5-0 Pikes Peak) were determined to control the clock and be successful in the run game.
It looked like they were more than happy to do that on the opening drive as they marched right down the field and Joey Williams was able to punch it in the end zone to give Rampart an early 7-0.
“That’s what we do,” Royer said. “We knew we were going to follow our big boys.”
The Wolves (6-4, 4-1) were having moderate success themselves on the ground, but the heart of the offense has always been the air attack. Dylan Schindele reminded the home fans of that with a 40-yard strike to Marquez Trunnell to tie the game. Vista Ridge briefly took the lead in the second quarter when Fernando Diaz Gomez connected on a 21-yard field goal attempt to make it a 10-7 game.
But the Rams wasted no time in regaining the lead as they drove down to the one-yard line and before Jackson Beale took a sweep to the left side and barreled into the end zone. The Wolves went right back to work on offense with Schindele continuing to the air the ball out.
But Williams just needed to get the better of him just once. He picked off Schindele in the back of the end zone with under a minute remaining, putting the ball back in the offense’s hand.
“I forget who else was on that side,” Williams said. “We had it locked down, I was just lucky enough to come over and make the play. Our d-line pressured him and he just had to throw the ball up and we got it.”
And then Keion Cross came in like a wrecking ball.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
He broke a 69-yard touchdown run, leaving 8.8 seconds remaining on the clock in the second half. Momentum was squarely in Rampart’s favor.
“Coach just called the right play and put us in the right position,” Cross said. “We just executed.”
With a two score lead and a guaranteed playoff berth in its sight, Rampart turned to the defense in the second half to limit an offense that had averaged over 32 points per game.
And they did just last. After taking a 10-7 lead, the Wolves failed to score again.
“Our defensive staff and defensive kids stood tall and held a high-powered offense to 10 points,” Royer said. “That was big for us.”
Vista Ridge did not go without its chances in the second half. Schindele was able to find a wide-open Trunnell, but the standout receiver let it slip through his hand. The catch almost certainly would’ve led to a touchdown, which would’ve cut the Rampart lead to at least four.
“Too many missed opportunities,” Wolves coach Jerimi Calip said. “The shots we took, we didn’t capitalize when we needed to and sometimes that happens.”
While Vista Ridge must await the final RPI standings to be released Sunday morning, the Rams already know they’ll be playing next week. They sat at No. 12 in this week’s ratings, so assuming they stay around that spot, they should host a first-round game.
But that’s for later.
Friday night, they wanted to enjoy all they had accomplished.
“Coach always says to enjoy the victory for 24 hours,” Williams said. “Then it’s on to playoff. I”ll enjoy it for a bit, but we’re ready for playoffs.”
ARVADA — Max Borghi is a runaway semi-truck going downhill on a mountain road whenever he has the football. Defenders can’t stop him, and if they try, Borghi just drags them right down the field with him, careening towards the end zone.
Pomona’s junior running back stud punched in four touchdowns for Class 5A’s season-long No. 1-ranked Pomona football team on Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex in the Panthers’ 35-8 win over Cherokee Trail.
The Panthers clinched the Mount Evans League title and closed out the season 9-1, unbeaten by Colorado teams. The Panthers’ lone loss was at the hands of Georgia’s Glynn Academy, 33-14, in the second game of the year.
The Panthers, led on offense by the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Borghi, didn’t play the best game of the season against the Cougars, but still controlled the game.
“We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot and they were making us work for everything we got,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “But they made us fight. Our defense did a great job and our offense found its rhythm in the second half.”
Junior quarterback Ryan Marquez overthrew two early passes to Borghi on the first possession, and the Panthers’ offense looked a little off in the beginning, but the team still remained in the lead the entire time.
The two squads traded turnovers in the sloppy, scoreless first quarter as Pomona’s fumbled ball was recovered by Cherokee Trail senior back Max Gonzales, and then CT sophomore QB Dylan James was intercepted by Cougars junior defensive back Santos Maguina.
Cam Gonzales’ big 61-yard run opened the second, but he was called on a face mask penalty. Borghi put the Panthers on the board first that same possession on a 15-yard touchdown run.
(John Priest/CHSAANow.com)
“We had a couple mistakes, but we clicked and came together overall as a team,” Borghi said. “The O-Line killed it and my backs and wide outs blocked for me. We came into the game thinking we were going to sweep ‘em, but in the second half we came in level-headed and did our jobs.”
Borghi, arguably the best player in the state, started the game off doing what he does best: slicing past defenders and bulldozing through guys on a 45-yard kickoff return.
“We gave him the ball a few more times tonight. We’ve been limiting his touches to about 10 a game to keep him healthy, but we needed him tonight. We were struggling running inside, so we had to go outside and he’s out outside runner,” Madden said.
He was nearly impossible to stop on the ground and proved to be his own biggest opponent tonight after he muffed a third quarter punt return and the ball bounced off his helmet into the hands of Cougars defensive back Tyler Kruse, who ran into the end zone, but couldn’t advance the ball for the score.
Borghi ran in his second TD on a 21-yard rush, then scored two more in the second half to finish the season with 19 TDs.
Pomona’s defense was solid and shut down Cherokee Trail, 5-5, forcing James to hold on to the ball most of the night, even though he did a good job picking up yardage on shifty dashes for the Cougars.
Panthers DB Uriah Vigil was all over the field swatting down balls and making big plays. He chased down CT senior running back Brenden Holt on what could have very well been a TD, and brought him down at the 6-yard-line.
The Cougars were able to score one TD off a James QB keeper, and then got lucky on a 2-point conversion as backup QB Ethan Leisgem strolled into the end zone completely unguarded to give CT eight points.
Brandon Micale had a sack for a loss of 8 yards and Jeremy Gonzales had another interception for the Panthers’ defense.
“It’s very true that offense does win games, but defense is going to be the one that wins championships,” Vigil said. “If we have a solid defense, and once we get our offense going, we have a good shot to keep it rolling.”
Marquez ran in a 10-yard keeper for one of the five Pomona TDs and Tyler Thimsen hit all extra point attempts for the Panthers.
Billy Pospisil also played very well for the Panthers and proved to be an extremely difficult wide receiver to bring down with some clutch receptions.
The 5A football state tournament playoff brackets come out on Sunday, and the Panthers remain focused on a mission.
“It’s been a journey,” Borghi said. “it’s been a fun journey, but everyone knows what we want: a state championship.”
