The state football championships in Class 4A and 5A have been on TV in recent years, but that won’t be the case this season.
Why?
“You need somebody that wants to televise it,” CHSAA commissioner Paul Angelico said on Friday morning. “We have tried to get it televised. No station has picked up sponsoring it, and we are not going to spend money to pay to have it televised.
“The only offer we received was someone who said we would have to pay them to do it,” Angelico said. “We cannot use funds for all sports from all schools to fund televising one sport in two classes.
“Why wouldn’t we do 3A? Why wouldn’t boys soccer three weeks ago be on TV? That doesn’t even touch girls sports. If we were funding it, we better get lots of our sports televised.”
The rights to all of CHSAA’s postseason contests have previously been purchased by the NFHS Network.
Earlier in the season, an outlet did request a proposal from the NFHS Network to show the 4A and 5A games, but declined the offer and did not submit a counter-offer. No further communication on the postseason has been had since that point.
As a result, all three championship games will be shown on the NFHS Network this Saturday. But to many in the public who are used to seeing them on TV, that isn’t good enough. The NFHS Network broadcast also charges a $10 monthly fee.
“We have an ownership stake in the NFHS Network, and they have all the rights to the postseason games,” Angelico said. “So in order for them to give those up, someone needs to purchase those rights, and not just give them away for free. Unfortunately, they couldn’t work out an agreement for this fall.”
Angelico also voiced frustration that, “Somehow, (TV networks are) willing and able to do this for regular season games, but not for postseason games, and we don’t understand that. And there must be a good reason.”
Any fee that is charged to television stations during the regular season goes to the home school, according to Bert Borgmann, CHSAA assistant commissioner who handles broadcasts.
“We were hopeful someone was going to step up and but no one has,” Angelico said. “Many, many cable channels want to broadcast the championships, but no one wants to take the risk to do it. They want to put it on our backs on to finance it.”
Discovery Canyon and Pueblo East will play for the 3A championship in Colorado Springs. The 4A (Pine Creek vs. Broomfield) and 5A (Pomona vs. Valor Christian) games are at Mile High on Saturday.
All games will have complete live and postgame coverage on CHSAANow.com.
(Photos: Renee Bourcier/CHSAANow.com; Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
DENVER — Nobody could blame Pomona junior quarterback Ryan Marquez for wanting to stay warm as wore his letter jacket during the indoor press conference Tuesday morning at Mile High Stadium.
There is definitely a chill in the air as the prep football season comes to a close Saturday with the Class 5A state championship game between Pomona and Valor Christian. However, Marquez has been on fire leading the top-seeded Panthers back to the title game.
“(Marquez) makes plays when we need them,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said Tuesday. “He can throw two bad balls then throw the best 25-yard seam route you have ever seen on 3rd and 16.”
The junior has come up big combining for 507 yards passing in Pomona’s state quarterfinal and semifinal wins. Marquez had a career-best 285 yards passing and three touchdowns against rival Columbine in the quarterfinals.
Marquez proved he can be productive on the ground in the semifinal victory over Regis last Saturday, rushing for a pair of touchdowns. Valor coach Rod Sherman is well aware of the problems defending the dual-threat quarterback.
“(Marquez) hurt us a lot with is legs,” Sherman said, talking about Valor’s 23-16 loss to Pomona during a regular-season meeting back on Sept. 23. “We lost some contain in the pocket and our rush lanes. The thing with Ryan is he can buy you three first-downs in a game with his legs in crucial plays, that’s killer.”
Sophomore Billy Pospisil has been Marquez’s favor target. Pospisil had seven catches for 211 yards and three touchdowns against Columbine in the quarterfinals. The sophomore is over the 900-yard mark receiving on the season.
(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“I’m not that surprised,” Pospisil said of the passing numbers Pomona has put up. “We worked hard all summer and worked hard consistently throughout the season.”
Pomona, historically a run-heavy offense, has had to look to the air during the postseason with the loss of its two returning all-state running backs.
Junior Max Borghi and senior Cameron Gonzales both suffered season-ending injuries in the first quarter during quarterfinal and semifinal victories.
Borghi and Gonzales has accounted for 2,610 yards of total offense and 35 touchdowns this season.
Valor’s senior quarterback Dylan McCaffrey made it clear Tuesday that the Eagles aren’t taking the Panthers lightly despite Pomona’s losses due to injuries.
“A big emphasis this week in practice is Pomona is full of tough guys who has talent across the board,” McCaffrey said. “They are going to hit you in the mouth.”
When it comes to Pomona’s running game, junior Kenny Maes has be thrust into the spotlight heading into the championship game scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday at Mile High Stadium. (It’s the first rematch in the biggest classification since 1955.)
Madden admitted that the Panthers must have a run game Saturday against Valor. He added if Pomona has to pass on every play it’s going to be “a long game” for the Panthers with Valor’s strong defensive line.
“I honestly think Kenny is one of the best running backs in the state,” Pomona senior Brandon Micale said. “He just happens to be behind Max and Cam. I think he can get it done.”
Micale, who leads Pomona with eight sacks on the season, knows the Panthers’ defensive priority will be similar to Valor’s defensive emphasis — slow down the quarterback.
“It’s the focus,” Micale said of McCaffrey. “If you give him time in the pocket he’ll hit a guy that is double-covered. You have to get him moving and out of his comfort zone. We have to keep him contained on the option and obviously make the pocket a little more hectic for him.”
McCaffrey, headed to the University of Michigan next season, was instrumental in the Eagles’ fourth-quarter rally against Pomona last year in the state title game. McCaffrey downplayed his individual performance in the 29-26 win.
“A lot of people think the quarterback does everything, makes all the decisions, but you can’t do anything without the team around you,” McCaffrey said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can make some plays and a defense that is really stout.”
Not surprisingly, McCaffrey has led the way for the Eagles offensively. McCaffrey will start in his third straight 5A title game. Has thrown for more than 2,642 yards and 29 touchdowns. He has also rushed for more than 500 yards and nine touchdowns.
(John Priest/CHSAANow.com)
“Obviously, (McCaffrey) is the best (prep) quarterback in the country,” Madden said. “That is our No. 1 focus, but they do so many different things that if you spend all your time looking at him, Luke McCaffrey is going to get you or Christian Elliss is going to get you around the edge. The key is we need to control the ball so (McCaffrey) doesn’t have it.”
Sophomore Joshia Davis is Valor’s leading rushing the season with 811 yards on the ground and nine touchdowns. Davis burned the Panthers in the title game a year ago with 84 yards rushing and two touchdowns as a freshman.
“We thought he had his best game last year in this game (state championship),” Sherman said of Davis. “We’ve been pretty balanced in a run-game. We want to maintain balance and take what the defense gives us.”
Valor’s deep receiving core is led by the youngest of the four McCaffrey brothers. Sophomore Luke McCaffrey has 695 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
Making it a low scoring game is what Pomona’s defense would like to see Saturday.
“My mindset coming into this game is if they (Valor) don’t score they can’t win,” Micale said. “That’s what we are going to put on our shoulders. It’s a tall order with playmakers like McCaffrey and Joshia Davis, but that’s the beast in front of us — hold them to zero.”
McCaffrey just wants to walk off the field Saturday night with Valor’s seventh state football trophy in hand in his final high school football game.
“Obviously, I’d like to go out with a win. I think that’s every game for me,” McCaffrey said. “It doesn’t matter if I’m playing chess or football. I want to win.”
(Photos: Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com; Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
When a two-time defending Class 4A state champion gets knocked out in the semifinals before getting a chance to contend for a third title, it becomes a major learning experience.
Todd Miller and his Pine Creek Eagles learned the hard way a year ago that they just weren’t good enough. And after a couple of early-season losses this year, Miller knew that his team still wasn’t good enough.
Yet, Pine Creek will be playing in the 4A title game on Saturday against Broomfield, hoping to win its third championship in four years.
“You deal with things in different ways,” Miller said. “As a coaching staff, we got together and said we’ve got to better. We have to do things better. You can’t take things for granted.”
So that’s what they did.
Senior quarterback Brock Domann had seen first hand what it took to win a state championship and to do on a stage as big as Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
He believed.
And when a team’s senior leader believes, it’s easy for that trickle-down effect to take hold. In what Miller called the turning point of the year, Pine Creek topped Vista Ridge 39-14 and there was no looking back.
(Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
And after missing the state title game last year, Domann was going to take Miller’s words to heart and not take anything for granted.
“(It means) a lot more,” Domann said. “Especially as a senior too. Last year we had a ‘what if’ season and this year we came out hungry. We had some troubles early on, but we’ve really come together.”
Domann has nearly 2,500 yards of total offense to go with 31 total touchdowns. He’s provided the steady hand for Pine Creek in the effort to turn around their early struggles.
But it’s the play of freshman David Moore III that has been the difference maker. Moore has rushed for 1,384 yards and 17 touchdowns this season.
Which only means that Saturday’s game with a battle truly fought in the trenches.
Broomfield will be countering with its own 1,300-yard rusher in Jalon Torres. He has been the driving force behind the team’s offense and coach Blair Hubbard knows that the ground game will be a major factor in bringing back a state title.
“I think the running game will be very important for both teams,” he said. “Jalon has done a great job learning our offense and knowing what we want from him.”
Like Miller, Hubbard is so stranger to coaching for a state title. He won three of them at Faith Christian, most recently in 2009.
When he was hired by Broomfield in the offseason, he gathered his team together and showed them pictures of Sports Authority Field.
That is where the state title game is going to be played.
This is the goal.
(John Priest/CHSAANow.com)
After going 5-5 the year before, the upperclassmen were ready to embrace that goal.
“I really have to give credit to our seniors,” Hubbard said. “They embraced the newness. They were hungry for some new things.”
And their appetites were satisfied. Now, with 48 minutes of game time remaining in the season, both teams are hungry once again.
The Thunder is 3-1 in the regular season meetings. The Eagles are 3-0 in the playoff games, the fourth of which will be played Saturday at District 20 Stadium.
Unlike the previous three games, however, the state championship is on the line this time.
Pueblo East is looking for its third-straight state title and looking to do it with its third head coach.
Andy Watts is looking to give his senior class a parting gift in the form of another championship.
“We have multiple seniors who weren’t just on the sideline, but actually played in the title games,” Watts said. “That senior experience is huge.”
Especially in a situation where the Eagles have a sophomore signal-caller in Luc Andrada who has not necessarily seen a state championship atmosphere.
But by no means is he unprepared.
Andrada came into the season with two pass attempts under his belt. This year, he threw for 1,742 yards and 12 touchdowns. He added 291 yards on the ground and found the end zone six times with his feet.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“I think he’s ready,” Watts said. “He’s been building on his confidence all year. I see a lot of confidence with him.”
It also helps to a have a bruising back like Bryson Torres to help. Torres rushed for a career-high 1,684 yards in 2016. He’s one of the seniors that Watts will heavily lean on to help the Eagles overcome any nerves of a state championship atmosphere.
Discovery Canyon will look to counter with its own running game led by Josh Tomjack.
The senior leads the Thunder with 1,029 yards on the year. But junior back Trevor Ivy (807) and senior quarterback Tyler McFarland (760) are very much involved in the tripe-option attack.
“I’d even throw Colt O’Connell in there too and say four-headed,” coach Shawn Mitchell said. “It’s going to be important that we distribute the ball. That’s something we’ve relied on all year; the ability to hit defenses in multiple places.”
The biggest obstacle for Discovery Canyon to overcome is mental. Each of the last three seasons, its season has to come to an end at the hands of the Eagles.
It’s a streak that the Thunder very much hope to break, but it simply does not have history on its side.
“I hope a lot is going to be different,” Mitchell said. “I hope we win this one. But I’m proud of this group and these seniors in general. I’m proud of the way they’ve met challenges this year.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Last year when the Eagles traveled to District 20 Stadium for a playoff showdown, they came away with a 47-13 win, leaving little question as to who was the better team.
The Thunder had edged out Pueblo East 27-21 during the regular season in 2014, but lost by three scores when the postseason matchup rolled around, falling 39-21.
“I haven’t had to say too much to them,” Mitchell said. “The kids who are seniors on this team, that is their memory of playoffs the last three years. East has been the reason we left the playoffs early.”
But this time will be different before any outcome is decided.
For the first time, these teams are meeting with the state championship on the line.
The Thunder’s season will once again end with a game over Pueblo East. But if the No. 1 team in the bracket has any say, it will be them finally celebrating a state championship win.
COLORADO SPRINGS — St. Mary’s junior guard Camden Raedel was feeling it from long distance.
He knocked five 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points as the St. Mary’s Pirates topped Discovery Canyon 59-50 to open the 2016-17 boys basketball season.
“I give it all to my teammates,” Raedel said. “They gave me the ball when I was wide and we ran the offense perfectly.”
The Pirates (1-0 overall) led 29-24 at halftime, but the offense sputtered in the third quarter. Raedel and Tyler Englert each knocked down a triple, but those along with a single made free throw amounted to the only scoring in the third quarter.
As a result, the Thunder (0-1) took a 40-36 lead going into the fourth quarter. Hayden Fry led the Discovery Canyon offense with 14 points on the night.
The Pirates were able to clamp down defensively in the final quarter and get clutch buckets from Englert and Raedel to pull ahead and get the win.
Starting the season off with a win was very important for the Pirates and first year coach Pernell Baca.
“It was huge,” Baca said. “We have a tremendously tough schedule ahead of us. To start of like this is tremendous. It’s huge.”
Evergreen’s 6-foot-2 sophomore Claudia Dillon will help lead last year’s 4A state runner-up. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
EVERGREEN — While Claudia Dillon enjoyed her state experience making it to the Class 4A girls basketball championship game as a freshman, she wasn’t thrilled with her vantage point in the end.
Dillon fouled out with just under six minutes to play in the title game against Jeffco League rival Valor Christian. With the 6-foot-2 forward on the bench, Evergreen suffered a 55-40 loss.
“I’m going to have to watch that and take extra careful measures,” Dillon said about staying out of foul trouble heading into her sophomore season. “Last year’s championship game keeps running through my mind. I still want to be aggressive, but I have to be smart.”
The fact that Valor handed Evergreen three of their four losses last season is something that eats away at the Cougars. Evergreen will get at least two cracks at the two-time defending state champions with conference games Jan. 18 and Feb. 11.
Evergreen senior Keigan Drysdale will run the point guard position for the Cougars. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“My goal is to definitely beat Valor in at least one game, if not both. That would be ideal,” Evergreen senior Keigan Drysdale said. “Conifer might be our rival, but Valor is more important to me to beat.”
Drysdale, one of only two seniors for the Cougars, steps into the starting point guard role this season. Evergreen lost a lot of depth at the guard position do to graduation.
The graduation of Samantha Kisiel, who finished her impressive four-year career at Evergreen with more than 1,300 career points and nearly 700 rebounds, is also a glaring loss the Cougars must overcome.
“We’ll have to rely more on our inside game, but luckily we have Claudia,” Drysdale said. “It’s nice to have a sophomore who is 6-foot-2. She is quick and can run. She does a little bit of everything. If we have to lean on her (Dillon) we can. She will want the role and will go at it with everything she has.”
Dillon averaged eight points and seven rebounds per game last year. She really came on during the playoffs, including 14 points and seven rebounds in the Cougars’ state semifinal victory against Sand Creek.
“She (Dillon) definitely came on strong at the end of last year,” Evergreen coach Amy Bahl said. “She is going to get a lot more attention this year. We’ll see how that goes and how she deals with that. She is still young at only a sophomore.”
Dillon says she is up for the challenge to carry more of a load this season. She has a unique skill-set with not only size, but speed and mid-range shooting ability.
“I’m really looking to use my speed, especially when it comes on the defensive side,” Dillon said. “Looking for the steals and pushing the ball up the court.”
Evergreen has key non-league games against Holy Family and Mullen before Winter Break. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Bahl is entering her fifth year at the helm of Evergreen’s girls basketball program. She guided the Cougars to their first championship game appearance last year with a 24-4 record. Bahl feels the experience showed the young girls in her program what it takes to have success.
One goal Bahl would like to reach this season would bring home a conference title, something that has eluded the Cougars during Bahl’s tenure. Not an easy task with Valor reloading with talent every year, along with strong programs at D’Evelyn and Golden.
“I think our league is going to be really strong this year. Maybe the best in state,” Bahl said. “Our league will be tough and will prepare us for the playoffs.”
Juniors Baylee Galan-Browne, Hannah Kennedy, Meriel Hahn and Kristina Schreiber are four other returning varsity players who will be key roles for the Cougars as they attempt to climb back into title contention.
“I don’t think people are expecting us to be as good as we were with all the seniors we lost,” Drysdale said. “It would be super cool to come out and surprise everyone.”
Evergreen, No. 4 in the CHSAANow.com 4A girls basketball preseason poll, got off to a solid start to the season on opening night Wednesday with an impressive 46-19 road victory over Centaurus. The Cougars have back-to-back, non-league tests against other 4A state favorites next week. Evergreen hosts No. 2 Holy Family on Dec. 8, and travels to No. 3 Mullen on Dec. 9.
Evergreen coach Amy Bahl is in her fifth season leading the Cougars. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
