Jeffco’s Bryan Wickoren, far right, organized the first Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament on Thursday at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Jeffco Public Schools’ Adapted Athletics program made to quantum leap Thursday hosting the inaugural Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament.
A total of 21 schools — 31 teams — took part in the tournament. Teams from school districts in Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Denver, Colorado Springs, Frederick, Greeley, Littleton, Longmont and Jeffco gathered at Gold Crown Field House in Lakewood first state-wide basketball tournament of its kind in Colorado for students with special needs.
“We had a great response,” said event organizer Bryan Wickoren, Adapted Physical Education Coordinator for Jeffco Public Schools. “It’s a great representation of schools from the eastern side of the state. It’s a start.”
The event got such a great response that 10 schools were on a waiting list for the tournament. Wickoren, who is a part of the Department of Education adapted team advisory counsel, presented his idea last fall of having a state basketball tournament that Jeffco would host.
Wickoren said there is already talk about adding a state-wide soccer tournament in the fall, along with state-wide track and field meet next spring to serve students with special needs.
Sand Creek senior D’Shawn Schwartz, left, served as a coach for the Adapted Basketball tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“I’m extremely proud,” Wickoren said of the growth of Adapted Athletics. “Eight years ago we had five schools doing a couple of athletic events. Now we are doing something every month in Jeffco. We are just building and growing. We have a solid foundation and base. We’ll keep going.”
Bringing in schools from outside Jeffco has been a goal for Wickoren.
“We want to offer this to more than just Jeffco schools,” said Wickoren, who added he hopes in the future Adapted Athletics will be sanctioned by the Colorado High School Activities Association like it is in Minnesota.
Bonnie Mendenhall, Adapted PE teacher for middle and high schools in Falcon School District 49 in Colorado Springs, jumped at the chance to get her students involved in Thursday’s basketball tournament. Sand Creek brought two teams to compete.
“We’ve always wanted to get involved in unified sport, but we just didn’t have anything going on in the Springs,” Mendenhall said. “Talking to Bryan (Wickoren) he told me all about it. We decided to come up. This is our first time and our two teams we have are really excited.”
Schools from across the state took part in the Adapted Basketball Tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Sand Creek also brought up a familiar face to Colorado prep basketball fans. Senior D’Shawn Schwartz, one of the top basketball recruits in the state that has committed to play at the University of Colorado next school year, was on hand as a coach for the Scorpions.
“This is my first time,” Schwartz said about helping with Adapted Athletics. “We had one practice and then came out here. It’s pretty fun. It’s cool.”
A couple of teachers at Sand Creek told Schwartz about the tournament and he decided to be apart of it. Schwartz has helped lead the Scorpions to a 13-1 record this season averaging more than 26 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game.
“It’s different, but it feels good to get away from competition,” Schwartz said about being a coach on the basketball court instead of facing a box-and-one defense. “I can just come out here and be loose.”
Arvada and Standley Lake high schools had members of its basketball teams on hand too as referees and scorers for games. Jeffco will hold its Adapted Athletics Basketball Day for Jeffco schools Friday, Jan. 20.
“We want to keep more kids involved in sports. It’s a win-win for everybody,” Mendenhall said. “They see the other kids in sports and it gives them the opportunity to be in sports. It gives them great self-esteem. They can be a part of a team.”
At the end of the day Thursday, Gateway lifted the first-place trophy.
Gateway was crowned the first-place champions in the first Colorado High School Adapted Basketball Tournament. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Dakota Ridge’s Drew Eickelman, right, eludes Ralston Valley’s Matthew Trubacz during the Eagles’ 7-4 victory Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LITTLETON — It was a first for Dakota Ridge’s hockey program Tuesday late afternoon at Edge Ice Arena.
The Eagles, No. 8 in the latest CHSAANow.com hockey rankings, scored their first-ever victory against Jeffco rival Ralston Valley, which is ranked third this week. Dakota Ridge scored three straight goals in the third period to take a 7-4 victory over the Mustangs (6-3, 3-2 in Foothills League)
“I think a lot of people underestimated us going into the game,” Dakota Ridge captain Charles Huang said. “This victory, we were expecting it. We just haven’t played enough competition to show how good we are.”
Charles Huang had two goals for Dakota Ridge. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The fast-paced and hard-hitting game was 4-3 in favor of Dakota Ridge heading into the third period. Johnathan Tanji put home a rebound at the 4:22 mark in the third to give the Eagles (6-1-1, 4-1) a 5-3 lead.
Drew Eickelman and Huang, who both scored two goals in the victory, scored 52 seconds apart just past the midway point in the final period to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead.
“It was kind of lucky,” Huang said of his short-handed breakaway goal with just more than 7 minutes left that gave the Eagles a 7-3 lead. “It was our afternoon. That was the cherry on top.”
The first-period shots on goal statics didn’t look good for Dakota Ridge. Ralston Valley outshot the Eagles 13 to 4, but the Mustangs couldn’t capitalize on a pair of power plays.
“I thought we played a good first period. I thought we had good energy,” Ralston Valley coach Matt Schoepflin said. “That’s a good team over there and if you don’t capitalize on mistakes it gives them a little momentum.”
Dakota Ridge’s Lane Levine, left, tries to skate away from Ralston Valley’s Dominic Enyart. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Dakota Ridge leaned on goalie Nick Scott to keep the Mustangs scoreless in the first period. Jack Bonniwell’s shot from the outside worked its way through traffic and beat Ralston Valley goalie Joseph Doig with 19.9 seconds left in the first period to give the Eagles a surprising 1-0 lead.
“I just wanted to keep the team in it,” Scott said about the first period. “I knew we would get some goals. My mindset was we would get some goals.”
The goals came in waves in the second period. Ralston Valley showed its firepower with goals from Andreas Fuentes, Jack Steffer and Andrew Frerich. Dakota Ridge got second-period goals from Huang, Eickelman and Carter Jones to keep the 1-goal lead.
“We’ve been struggling to put the puck in the back of the net the last two of games,” Dakota Ridge coach Alec Hines said. “Today was fun to watch.”
The three straight Eagle goals in the third period put the game away. Frerich scored his second power-play goal for Ralston Valley with 23.5 second left to make the final score 7-4.
“For our seniors it means a lot,” Scott said. “Ralston Valley has always been a good team. It feels good to finally beat them.”
Ralston Valley and Dakota Ridge have been the top of the class of the five Jeffco schools that have hockey programs over recent years.
The Mustangs won back-to-back state championships in 2013 and 2014. Ralston Valley advanced to the state quarterfinals in 2015 and semifinals last year.
Dakota Ridge have made the 16-team state tournament that past three seasons, including an appearance in the semifinals in 2015 and advancing to the quarterfinals last season.
Ralston Valley gets its shot against top-ranked and defending state champion Regis Jesuit (8-0, 4-0) at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Apex Ice Arena in Arvada. The Raiders have outscored their opponents 50-8 so far this season.
“With the realignment of everyone I think that’s the beauty of it. Every (league) game is a tough and important game,” Schoepflin said of the Foothills League that features six of the top eight ranked teams in the state. “I think we are excited about Friday night and hopefully we can have a better effort. I think we will.”
Dakota Ridge has another tough test as it hits the road to face No. 9 Resurrection Christian (4-3, 4-0 Peak League) at 8 p.m Friday in Fort Collins.
“This was a very big step about where we are in this league,” Huang said. “There is no doubt in my mind we can keep this momentum going against Rez Christian.”
Ralston Valley’s Kyler Medley-Wallis (14) has room in the Eagles’ defensive zone in the first period. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
