The Grandview Wolves fell short last year. They’ll be the first to say that they did not accomplish what they had hoped to do in 2016.

So with the New (calendar) Year approaching, they’re refocused. They’re reenergized. And wins over Archbishop Mitty (Calif.) and St. Mary’s (Calif.), they’ve show that they can hang with the best teams in the country.

The Wolves may not have won the Class 5A state championship last year, but the experience of losing and the tough early-season schedule have them hunting championship gold for 2017.

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Question: How tough is it to come into the season with expectations in the sense that you’re the No. 1 team in the CHSAANow polls, even though you didn’t capture a state title last year?

Ulitzky: I don’t know about the expectation piece. I feel like our kids are pretty focused as a result of what happened last year and how things ended.

I feel like they’ve come back pretty hungry to play well. So I don’t know as far as expectations, as far as that goes, but I know we are certainly getting everybody’s best shot. Which is what we want. So that I think has been more of a thing for our kids.

There is no night off. It’s a great opportunity for us to come out and play consistently and play well, know we are going to get the best game we can get from everybody when we step on the floor.

(Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)

Q: You faced a couple of teams that are right there with you in the MaxPreps rankings, what does it mean for you guys to hold a couple of wins over them so early in the season?

Ulitzky: I think it’s good for our kids to know that we’re playing a competitive schedule and to be able to pull out some wins against those teams is a big confidence boost for our girls.

I would also say that they know that it makes a bigger target on our back. But I think it helps confidence-wise for the them and it reaffirms all the hard work they’ve put in over the summer and fall.

To some degree, it’s validating for the girls, which I’m happy about. I’m happy for them. It also gives us an idea of what’s out there, which is kind of fun to see where you stack up.

That’s why you come out and compete every day, to see where you stand.

Q: You have some strong seniors with Michaela (Onyenwere) and a couple of the others, but you’re also getting very balanced production from her, Leilah Vigil and Alisha Davis, so how dangerous does that make you when there’s not just one player on a nationally ranked team that people have to focus on?

Ulitzky: I think it helps out just to have balance. Those are the three that everyone knows for points, and you have to score, but also defensively there’s not just one kid you have to deal with.

You have Jaiden Galloway, who played an exceptional tournament down at the Tournament of Champions. Kennede (Brown) had a great tournament. Allyah (Marlett) really came on. So those kids really stepped up across the board and it’s nice to see them push each other.

But certainly it’s nice that you have balance and you can go to multiple places to have options to score or options to defend. That’s a real luxury and it’s nice to be able to have that. It’s nice to have so many kids playing so well.

Q: Do you find your girls paying attention to either the MaxPreps polls or the CHSAANow.com rankings just to see where they’re sitting and how do you keep them grounded if they are?

Ulitzky: I’m guessing they do. We don’t talk about it a lot. I don’t know. In the social media world, I’m sure they’re aware of those things far sooner than I am.

As far as keeping them grounded, they’ve taken more accountability in knowing this is all well and good, but we did not achieve the goal we were hoping for last year. We had quite a bit of that notoriety.

It’s nice, but I think they are also so focused on the end result. Playing our best, playing consistently, particularly in March when pressure is turned up and all that stuff is involved, state championships, playoffs, all those things.

Q: What did you tell your girls when they fell short last year?

Ulitzky: I talked to them about how we wanted to use this to get better. To learn from it so that hopefully we don’t run into the same situation again.

I told them first and foremost that I was going to get to work and I had to do a better job of getting them prepared and ready to play. That falls to me.

Just with the kids I have, I know that they looked at themselves in the mirror and there were things that they wanted to do better and work better on. We really try to look at that as hopefully a learning opportunity and also an opportunity to keep us focused regardless of the situations or games lead up to that moving forward.

Q: So did the way that last year ended serve as the biggest learning tool that this group of girls could’ve had coming into this season?

Ulitzky: Yeah. The emotional experience that you go through is probably the best teacher and from what I’ve seen from my kids, they are driven to not have to go through that experience again.

They want to take the steps to get to the final, to get to the championship that we weren’t able to do.

I think in every facet of life, your experiences shape who you are and what you’re going to do moving forward. So I would certainly apply that to our team.

(John Priest/CHSAANow.com)

Q: You play in a league that’s never easy to win, regardless of what sport is being played, so how important was it to schedule Ralston Valley, to play those games out of state in preparation of getting through league and get into March playing the way you want to play?

Ulitzky: I’m excited for the challenge. I told our girls that I tried to schedule the most difficult schedule I could possibly get for us for the next two-year cycle.

I wanted to play Ralston on the road to open, I wanted to play every game on the road, but my AD at the time wouldn’t let me because the reverse-scheduling of next year I guess would make it hard.

I think it’s really important. We want to be challenged at every opportunity. We are challenging ourselves in practice every day. We are trying everything we can to make as competitive as we can possibly get it. We try to simulate game situations to try and be in the pressure cooker and see how we handle those situations.

Hopefully we handle them and learn from our mistakes not just from last year, but from this year as well.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge for you when you’re in the situation of being at No. 1 team and having expectations that are so high?

Ulitzky: I feel like it’s continuing to challenge my kids. Every day in practice, just continuing to push them and to try and get them to where I know they want to be. And then continuing to hold them accountable and those kinds of things.

I don’t think I have to worry about them being complacent. I don’t feel like that’s an issue, but I also want them to be pushed at every opportunity so that at the end of the season, it was worth the energy that we put forward. The challenge that we had.

(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

The annual winter break is upon us, meaning no games will be played, and no matches or meets will be held, from now until Jan. 2.

Additionally, there is a practice restriction over the break. No practices can be held from Dec. 24-27 — or on Jan. 1, which is a Sunday, so no practice would be allowed anyway. This period is also a no-contact period between coaches and players.

Practices are allowed from Dec. 28-31, but any that take place over that time must be on a voluntary basis. No coach may compel a player to participate in practice over this period.

The break ends on Jan. 2, meaning regular practices and competition can resume on that day.

Here’s the calendar in bullet form:

Winter break info

• Dec. 24: Winter break begins. No games, no practices.
• Dec. 25: No games, no practices.
• Dec. 26: No games, no practices.
• Dec. 27: No games, no practices.
• Dec. 28: No games. Voluntary practice permitted.
• Dec. 29: No games. Voluntary practice permitted.
• Dec. 30: No games. Voluntary practice permitted.
• Dec. 31: No games. Voluntary practice permitted.
• Jan. 1: No games, no practices.
• Jan. 2: Winter break ends, normal calendar resumes.

A roundup of Jeffco prep highlights, interviews and schedules with Dennis Pleuss, Jeffco Public Schools’ Communication Specialist. This month’s edition features Pomona in the Class 5A state football title game, early-season boys and girls basketball highlights, along with Wheat Ridge winning the Poms 4A state title at the spirit championships.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — Pueblo South fell right into the game plan that Holy Family had set up. But the Colts aren’t the Class 4A CHSAANow.com No. 2 team in the state for no reason.

They overcame a slow pace and a bad shooting night to come away with a 40-29 win on Wednesday night at South High School.

The main difference in the game was a strong third quarter for the Colts (8-1 overall) where they were able to knock four 3-pointers. Three came right in a row, turning a 17-16 game into a sudden 26-16 lead for Pueblo South.

“It’s always great when you have a double-team (down low) it’s always good to kick it out to your team and have that nice shot,” Gabi Lucero said.

Lucero logged a double-double for the Colts, scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. But it seemed like she was doing much more damage than that.

“She only had 10,” Holy Family coach Ron Rossi asked. “It seemed like more than 10 and it’s hard to defend perimeter as well as inside.”

Maya Austin led all scorers with 12 points, nine of which came from long range. Two of those were in the third quarter when everything started going South’s way.

And that was something that took some time. The Tigers (4-3) came out in a zone press that gave the Colts fits in the first quarter. South was held to three field goals and trailed 10-8 going into the second.

“We didn’t attack (the zone),” Colts coach Shannan Lane said. “We felt like we were going to come up and be just kind of lazy with it. I don’t think (the girls) realized it was aggressive as it was.”

Lane knew that if she could get the ball in the low post and start attacking the Tigers inside, her team could control of the game.

And that’s what happened.

Six of Lucero’s 10 points came in the second quarter. South regained the lead for good when Austin connected on a 3-pointer with about 20 remaining in the first half.

And even if it wasn’t the way that Lane drew it up, her team was able to keep a grip on the lead and ride it all the way to the final buzzer.

“We didn’t play our tempo and we still won,” she said. “I have to kind of look at it like that. We never really got into the flow of our game. We played their game.”

Luckily for South, the Tigers had one of their worst shooting nights of this young season.

“I don’t understand we didn’t shoot the ball well,” Rossi said. “We’re a good shooting club and it didn’t show today. But that’s basketball.”

The scoring was fairly balanced for Holy Family, but it was Izzy Hren who led the team with eight points.

The Colts will host Windsor on Thursday, which will be the last game before the holiday break. With league play awaiting upon the team’s return in January, Lane knows there are plenty of areas that they can improve on in order to achieve its goal of playing well in March and taking the floor at the Denver Coliseum.

“I do not care about our record right now,” Lane said. “I would rather play good in March. We can be 3-6 right now and it won’t matter as long as we’re playing well in March.”

Lakewood’s Rylan Morgan gets back points on Jefferson’s Jose Soto during the 145-pound match Wednesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

LAKEWOOD — If you were late to the wrestling dual between Jefferson and Lakewood on Wednesday night you were likely out of luck.

The dual between the two Jeffco programs lasted about 30 minutes from start to finish. Six forfeited matches, seven pins and one technical fall made for a quick dual at Lakewood High School. No match went the full six minutes.

Lakewood came out victorious with a 41-36 victory. The Tigers jumped out to a 36-0 lead with pins by David Schadler (170 pounds), Brayton Stieger (182) and Michael Inouye (220) to go along with three forfeit victories.

Stieger had the quickest pin of the night. He pinned Jefferson freshman Kyler Tolka in nine seconds.

“I went in there serious and ready to go. I put a fireman carry on his and won,” Stieger said of his fastest pin of his career. “That’s all there is to it.”

Jefferson freshman Nick Gallegos works on his 2nd period pin. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Once the dual got to the lighter weights, Jefferson showed why it currently sits at No. 5 in Class 3A by Tim Yount’s On the Mat rankings. Saints’ Cruz Ortega (106), Randy Duran (126), Nick Gallegos (138) and Brandon Onofre (152) all won by pins and Jefferson picked up two wins by forfeit.

“Just for our kids to compete and get better in every position,” Jefferson coach Oscar Fonseca said of his objective in the dual before winter break. “That is all we are looking at right now.”

The Saints’ returning state champion senior Kyle Cisneros didn’t wrestle with Lakewood forfeiting at 132 pounds. Cisneros won the 3A 126-pound title last winter and On the Mat currently has him ranked No. 1 at 132 pounds in 3A.

“We don’t pay attention to that stuff,” Fonseca said of his five wrestlers currently ranked in the top eight of their weight class in 3A. “Rankings are settled at the last day of state (tournament).”

Fonseca added he believes that with hard work “any kid” has a shot to place at the state tournament come the middle of February at Pepsi Center in Denver.

Lakewood has its own returning state champion. Junior Gabe Dinette captured the 5A title at 145 pounds last season. Dinette and a handful of other Tigers were held out for Wednesday’s dual because of injury.

“A few of our kids are out nursing some small injuries,” Lakewood coach Daren Stennes said, who added Dinette will be good to go after the winter break. “We could have had some good match ups, but we didn’t.”

The match was eventually decided when Lakewood’s Rylan Morgan won by technical fall, 15-0, in the third period in the 145-pound bout to give the Tigers an 11-point lead with one match to go.

Jefferson’s Randy Duran, left, and Lakewood’s Josh Pester lock up Wednesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

However, Jefferson finished the match strong with Onofre’s first round pin to close out the dual.

“You get anxious, but you work through it,” Onofre said waiting for his match, the last of the night.

Onofre is currently ranked No. 4 at 152 pounds. The Saints’ depth this season has Jefferson primed to make some noise at state in the team standings and cement the wrestling program as the flagship athletic program for the school.

“I think it’s fun to be competing at a high level,” Onofre said.

The Saints and Tigers get back to action with duals during the first week of January after the holidays.

“I’m just going to do a lot of running and weight lifting to keep my strength up. Going to eat right too,” Stieger said of his plans over the next two weeks. “Relax of course, it’s break.”

Lakewood’s David Schadler, top, works during his second-round pin of Jefferson’s Kyler Tolka at 182 pounds. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Cherry Creek boys basketball won its annual Cherry Creek Holiday Classic tournament with a 60-53 victory over Mountain Vista on Wednesday.

Andrew Walters led the Bruins with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Joe Owsley added 13, Dimitri Stanley had 12 points and six assists, and Nick Williams scored 11.

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Doherty’s Brevin Brimble (3) is honored for his 1,000th career point. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

COLORADO SPRINGS — Brevin Brimble ended his night tied for his season-low 17 points scored. But he was honored after the game and had a smile that wouldn’t leave his face.

His two-point floater to get point 17 was key in Doherty holding off Regis Jesuit 59-56. But it also gave him a career milestone. It was Brimble’s 1,000th point in a Spartans uniform. For the team and for Brimble, it just appears to be that kind of year.

The Spartans (6-1 overall) led by 11 after the third quarter, but went through a severe scoring drought – Brimble included – in the fourth quarter.

“I thought the start (of the second half) was great,” Doherty coach Jarris Krapcha said. “We fell off, we had a big scoring drought and some traveling calls that didn’t go our way and took some points off the board.”

Brimble didn’t get his first points until there was 1:20 left on the clock in the first quarter. He knocked down a 3-pointer to cut the Raiders (3-5) lead to 14-12. He added another bucket in the final minute.

He added six points in the second quarter to end the first half with 11, but had no idea where he was in terms of career scoring.

“I knew at the end of last year I was around 700,” Brimble said. “I didn’t know I had reached that point this year and my teammates and everybody weren’t telling me.”

They wanted it to be a surprise because the team and coaching staff had signed a commemorative ball ahead of time.

But step No. 1 in starting that celebration was getting a win.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

The Spartans went into the third quarter leading by double-digits, but in no way was a Ken Shaw-coached team going to let that stand.

Connor Hobbs scored seven of his team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 59-56.

The Raiders upped the pressure defensively and nearly came away with a steal, but traveled at mid-court. They fouled Emmanuel Burleson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one giving Regis Jesuit one last chance to tie the game.

Sam Bannec was able to get a 3-point attempt away, but it was no good and the Spartans defended their home court against a traditional Colorado basketball powerhouse.

The Raiders have stumbled out of the gate this season, but hanging on against the CHSAANow.com No. 6 team in Class 5A is something that will benefit them in the long run.

“It’s invaluable,” Shaw said. “You can’t duplicate this stuff in practice, to play a team with a guard like (Brimble) and some good bigs and having to adjust like that.”

After the game, the Spartans presented Brimble a commemorative basketball celebrating his 1,000 points, which he hit on the nose.

“Him getting 1,000 points, I think he really needed that so people can finally recognize him as the good player he is,” Burleson said. “His name’s forever on the wall and he gets the respect that he deserves.”

Lost in the hunt for point 1,000 was the fact that the team only led 57-51 at that point and still had to close out the game.

“My big man Joe (Golden) smacked me and said ‘good job on 1K, now let’s get this W,'” Brimble said.

And that’s what they did. Now the focus for the team is on Thursday’s game with Vista Ridge. And with an individual milestone out of the way, the players are now focused on team milestones and a big win over Regis Jesuit is a great start.

“That’s the type of team we’re going to play in the playoffs,” Brimble said. “Playing them early in the season helps us get to the point where we’ll need to be in March.”

Ralston Valley freshman Caden Gigstad (2) helped lead the Mustangs to a 70-66 2OT win Tuesday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

ARVADA — There was a little bit of overtime to deal with before Ralston Valley’s boys basketball team could focus on winter break.

The Mustangs (5-3 overall) battled to win 70-66 in double overtime Tuesday night against Cheyenne Central from Wyoming at Ralston Valley High School. Freshman Caden Gigstad, junior Jake Nishida and senior Travis Torline combined to go 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the second overtime period and senior Mike VanderWerff had a breakaway layup in the final minute to push the Mustangs to victory.

“It definitely boosts our confidence heading into league,” said Nishida, who iced the victory with a free throw with 1.9 seconds left that gave Ralston Valley a 4-point lead. “We have Lakewood our first game back. We’ve just got to get that confidence up and keep working in practice.”

Ralston Valley junior Jake Nishida (5) goes for a steal. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Ralston Valley opens Class 5A Jeffco League play when it hosts Lakewood (5-2) at 7 p.m. on Jan. 5 in the first game after winter break.

The Mustangs looked like they would slide into the holiday season with a relative easy victory. Ralston Valley had a 25-15 lead at halftime against the Indians from Wyoming, but Cheyenne Central poured in 25 points in the third quarter to tie things up at 40-40 going into the fourth quarter.

“We pride ourselves on our defense. We think we are one of the toughest defensive teams,” Ralston Valley coach Mitch Conrad said. “That third quarter, you have to give them credit. (Cheyenne Central) knocked down shots.”

Besides the Indians getting their offense on track, the Mustangs had to deal with major foul trouble. Starters Trey Conrad, Jerrod Parker (15 points) and Trey Sayers (14 points) all fouled out.

Sayers had a huge layup with 14 seconds left in regulation time and a steal on the next Indians’ possession that sent the game into overtime period. He fouled out with 47 seconds left in the first overtime period.

Ralston Valley senior Travis Torline (24) battle through a pair of defenders. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

Cheyenne Central also had foul trouble with three of its players fouling out. A total of 54 fouls were called during the 40 minutes of play.

“We’ve got to learn and make adjustments,” Conrad said of the 27 fouls called against the Mustangs. “What I loved was the next guy up came in and we really didn’t drop-off that much. That’s a credit to our bench guys that they were ready to go.”

Gigstad showed he was ready with a trio of 3-pointers during regulation time. He came up even bigger in the overtime periods with seven points to finish with a team-high 16 points.

Gigstad admitted there were a lot of nerves on the free-throw line in the overtime periods. The freshman went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe over the final eight minutes to help the Mustangs lasso the victory.

“I thought coming out as a freshman I’d get some spot minutes here and there,” said Gigstad, who is one of the Mustangs’ leading scorers. “It feels great to be welcomed by this team and for (Conrad) to play me and have trust in me.”

Nishida, the Mustangs’ starting point guard, didn’t have any hesitations despite having three bench players on the court during the overtime periods.

“I have trust in my bench players, especially him (Gigstad) right here,” Nishida said standing next to the Mustang freshman after the game. “He comes up big with the 3-pointers. You have to have faith in him.”

It was the fourth one-possession game of the season for Ralston Valley. Conrad believes being in those tight situations late in games already this year helped his squad Tuesday stay poised during the double-overtime victory.

Ralston Valley senior Jarrod Parker (12) had 15 points before fouling out with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter. (Dennis PLeuss/Jeffco Athletics)

COLORADO SPRINGS — Sixth-ranked Doherty boys basketball got a 59-56 win over Regis Jesuit on Tuesday as Spartans’ star Brevin Brimble scored his 1,000th career point.

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Rocky Ford’s Derrick Lucero hit a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater at the end of a quarter on Monday.

His heave came just after Trinidad hit a layup with 6 seconds to play in the quarter. Rocky Ford inbounded the ball, and Lucero’s shot came from just about the top of the opposing 3-point line.

Watch the shot here, courtesy of Twitter user Sam Espinoza:

@SportsCenter #SCtop10 #buzzerbeater #rockypride #meloneers #bigwin pic.twitter.com/WVZzQPv2zB

— Sam Espinoza (@Sam_Espinoza22) December 21, 2016

That gave Rocky Ford a 23-15 lead after the first quarter. The Meloneers would go on to win 62-46.