Columbine junior Nate Surd (22) makes a run toward the goal during the Rebels’ 14-7 win Friday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Columbine’s boys lacrosse team might have been second guessing its choice to wear its alternative green jerseys on St. Patrick’s Day.
It an early season top-10 Class 5A boys lacrosse showdown Friday night at Trailblazer Stadium in Lakewood, Monarch raced out to a 4-0 lead in the opening eight minutes.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. I thought we had a great warmup, honestly, and we were down 4-0 before we could even turn around,” Columbine coach Matt Plitnick said. “I didn’t know which way it was going to go.”
The Rebels turned the tide getting goals from Gabe Mein, Nate Surd and Tanner Hollens in the final 3 minutes of the first quarter to quickly cut the Coyotes’ lead to 4-3. Columbine continued its run outscoring Monarch 4-0 in the second quarter with goals from Dylan Leinhart, Nick Darrow, Matthew Georgiades and Patrick Stadelmaiser to take a 7-4 halftime lead.
“Our patience,” Georgiades said of what turned thing around for the Rebels, who went on to double-up Monarch 14-7 with the final score. “We knew what to do and how to run our offense. We knew when we got the ball we would capitalize on it.”
Rebels celebrate a goal during a 7-0 run against Monarch. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Monarch regrouped after halftime getting early goals by Tyler Bradley and Drew Tausan to cut Columbine’s lead to 7-6, but the Rebels answered again. Columbine scored the next four goals to push its lead out to 11-6.
“They pulled together,” Plitnick said. “It wasn’t just one person. It was a lot of our junior guys who have been on varsity for three years that stepped up and brought it together. I’ve never been apart of one like that.”
Mein (4 goals) and Georgiades (3 goals) led the way offensively, but the Rebels got plenty of contributions with eight different goal scorers.
“We are deeper than we have been,” Mein said. “It’s nice to have confidence in eight or nine players that can rotate in.”
Columbine finished the game in style outscoring Monarch 3-0 in the final quarter. Rebels’ goalie Gavin Beilman came up with some big saves to shutout the Coyotes in both the second and fourth quarters.
“These are two big non-conference wins that are going to help us with the RPI and playoff seeding,” Plitnick said about victories over Grandview and Monarch to start the season. “I couldn’t be happier. I’m ecstatic.”
No. 5 Columbine (2-0) and No. 7 Monarch (1-2) were both ranked in the CHSAANow.com 5A boys lacrosse preseason poll. The Rebels edged Grandview 10-9 in their season opener. It was always a bit of revenge. The Wolves upset Columbine in the first round of the 5A state tournament last year.
Columbine’s Taylor Gustafson (34) absorbs a check by Monarch’s Will Zwiers. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“We’ve got to take it game-by-game, but it’s definitely our goal to get out of the first round this year,” Mein said. “It’s our first goal on the list.”
Monarch has also played a challenging early schedule. The Coyotes, who advance to the 5A state quarterfinals last season, lost to No. 8 Colorado Academy by a single goal Wednesday.
Columbine has conference games against Pine Creek and Lakewood in the newly formed 5A Jeffco League next week before heading to Arizona for two games during spring break.
“This is definitely a big one for us,” Georgiades said. “This is going to bring our confidence up for next week and the trip to Arizona.”
Monarch junior Tyler Bradley (7) makes a run by getting checked by Columbine’s Andy Stasch on Friday at Trailblazer Stadium. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
GREENWOOD VILLAGE — Mountain Vista continued its perfect start to the 2017 season with an extra-inning upset win against Cherry Creek on Friday.
The Golden Eagles, now 3-0, beat the second-ranked Bruins 5-3 in eight innings.
“It’s huge,” Mountain Vista’s Sam Ireland said of the win. “They are one of our bigger rivals, next to ThunderRidge. That game was so much fun. That was probably one of my best high school games and definitely the most fun one for me.”
Ireland wiggled out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh after allowing the tying run to score. With the bases loaded and no one out, he struck out two and then forced a groundout to send the game to extra innings.
“It was intense,” Sam Ireland said of the late-game situation. “‘Don’t let them hit it out,’ is about all I could think.”
In the eighth, Mountain Vista scored two runs on two Cherry Creek errors. The Golden Eagles then held the Bruins in the bottom half to secure the win.
The game started out as a pitchers’ duel between Cherry Creek’s Sam Colehower and Mountain Vista’s Jack Liffrig, as the two battled and had it scoreless through four innings.
In the fifth, the Golden Eagles were able to break through to the score column as a bunt to Colehower was misfielded, causing a hurried throw that sailed high and allowed Zach Paschke to come around to score from first base. The Golden Eagles scored another run on a single from Ireland.
The sixth went by quietly, and then Cole Blatchford hit an opposite field bomb on a 3-2 pitch to extend Mountain Vista’s lead to 3-0 in the seventh.
Liffrig trotted out in the seventh but Cherry Creek was not going to go down quietly. The Bruins put up two quick runs and Mountain Vista moved to its bullpen.
Ireland came in and immediately allowed a single and RBI to tie it. It was then, with the bases loaded and no one out, that Ireland struck out two and got the groundout to send it to the eighth.
“I was focused when I got (to the mound),” Ireland said about coming on to pitch after playing first base. “I knew I had the chance to go in and I couldn’t let my guard down.”
Mountain Vista will be back in action March 29 after spring break. Cherry Creek will face Regis Jesuit on the road next Tuesday as the Bruins hope to get back in the win column.
Pomona’s Ryan Marquez, right, and Ralston Valley’s Tyler Shannon, left, are two of the top hurdlers in 5A. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — Pomona junior Ryan Marquez stays focused in the moment be it on the football field, basketball court or track.
“Of course school comes before everything,” said Marquez, a three-sport athlete for the Panthers. “To be the best in every sport really drives me to focus on each sport individually when I have the time. When I come out on meet days or games days I come out to do the best of my ability.”
Marquez doesn’t just tinker in his three sports. He has quarterbacked Pomona to back-to-back Class 5A football state championship appearances. Marquez was a 5A Jeffco League basketball second team all-conference selection this winter leading the Panthers in scoring, rebounds and assists.
Now, it’s track season where Marquez placed third in the 300-meter hurdles at the state meet last year as a sophomore.
Pomona junior Ryan Marquez has excelled at football, basketball and track. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“What a phenomenal athlete,” Pomona track coach Jeff Donnel said of Marquez before the start of the Arvada City Championships on Saturday at Jeffco Stadium. “He totally fits the mold of what we try to do at Pomona. We are all about having multi-sport athletes. In this day and age its kind of a dying breed.”
Encouraging multi-sport athletes has benefited Pomona’s strong football, wrestling and track programs. Marquez said the bonding has been key over the past few years.
“A lot of the football guys do track. It’s a great atmosphere,” Marquez said. “Everyone is having fun and joking with each other. Everyone really bonds during track season. It’s a great feeling being apart of that.”
It’s also a nice feeling being the defending 5A boys track and field team champions. Pomona racked up 94.5 team points last season distancing itself from runner-up Fountain-Fort Carson (79 points). It was the first team track state title in the school’s history.
“Of course that’s in the back of our minds,” Marquez said of defending the 5A title. “Early in the season we are just looking to get better for the end of the season. We are training hard right now. Everyone is devoted. When time comes for state everyone will be ready to go.”
Marquez won the 300 hurdles and finished second in the 110 hurdles to Ralston Valley senior Tyler Shannon on Saturday. Shannon placed third at state in the 110 hurdles last spring. Marquez and Shannon — good friends — will line up against each other plenty of times this spring.
Pomona was ready to go Saturday winning both girls and boys team titles at the Arvada City Championships.
The Panthers did lose a few key cogs from last year’s Class 5A state championship team. Junior Max Borghi — second in the 100, third in the 200 and on both the 4×100 and 4×200 relays at state — is still recovering from torn ACL and MCL in his knee that happened during the state football quarterfinals. Borghi won’t run this spring.
Pomona seniors Jeremy Gonzales, left, and Miles Matulik finished 1-2 in the 100 meters Saturday at the Arvada City Championships. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Jake Moretti — first in the shot put at state — graduated a semester early and is already enrolled at the University of Colorado where he will play football for the Buffaloes. Also, Danny Williams — fifth in the high jump, second in the long jump and first in the triple jump at state — graduated.
“We’ve still got some great kids,” Donnel said. “If everything falls into place anything can happen. Never turn your back on an opportunities.”
The cupboard isn’t even close to bare for the Panthers. Seniors Brandon Micale and Issac Lopez return as two of top in the discus and shot put in 5A. Micale placed fourth in the discus and Lopez took sixth in the shot put at state last year.
Pomona returns 3-of-4 runners — seniors Jeremy Gonzales, Adam Eckhardt and Miles Matulik — from its state championship 4×100 relay. It’s likely Uriah Vigil, another three-sport athlete, or Marquez will fill the void of Borghi in the 4×100 and 4×200 really teams.
“I don’t see any pressure in this sort of sport,” said Gonzales, who was seventh at state in the 100 and 200 last year. “You’ve got to go out there and give 110 percent every time. If you do that your outcomes will be good.”
Gonzales, Matulik and Eckhardt finished 1-2-3 in the 100 on Saturday. Gonzales, who will play football and run track at South Dakota School of Mines next school year, also won the 200.
“Without a doubt he (Gonzales) has a chance to really shine,” Donnel said. “Of course we are going to miss Max, but Jeremy has the chance to be the guy.”
Gonzales is clearly focused on helping the track team duplicate the accomplishment Pomona’s wrestling team did last month in winning back-to-back 5A team titles.
“It would be amazing. I think we deserve that at Pomona,” Gonzales said about repeating as state champs. “We work really hard. We really take this sport it seriously.”
Pomona hopes to sprint to a second straight 5A boys track and field state championship title. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
D’Evelyn sophomore Laryssa Hamblen (5) head a ball in traffic Thursday against Lakewood. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
LAKEWOOD — D’Evelyn’s girls soccer team played greedy Thursday at Lakewood Memorial Field
The Jaguars (3-0 record) simply wouldn’t give up the ball on their way to a 4-0 non-league victory against Class 5A Jeffco’s Lakewood.
“We definitely try to go forward as much as we can, but as long as we possess it we know at some point we are going to get it in,” D’Evelyn sophomore Laryssa Hamblen said.
D’Evelyn, ranked No. 8 in the CHSAANow.com preseason 4A girls soccer poll, dominated possession which led to a pair of goals in the opening 15 minutes. Hamblen knocked in a rebound after a free kick in the 7th minute. Junior Anna Wright gave D’Evelyn a 2-0 lead on a straight-on run toward Lakewood senior goalie Brynne Davis in the 14th minute.
D’Evelyn junior Anna Wright (14) is congratulated by teammates after a 1st half goal. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“When the goalie started coming out on me I knew I had to place it,” Wright said of her goal. “I just went for it and it went in.”
The Jaguars tacked on another pair of goals in the second half. Sophomore Shiloh Miller got a little lucky when her outside shot hit the cross bar, but bounced off the back of Davis and into the back of the net in the 48th minute.
Miller is one of three high-level club players who decided to play at the high school level this season. D’Evelyn coach Paul Moline says the added talent has “changed the dynamics” of the squad.
“We were a very good team last year, but I don’t think we had the depth like we have this year,” Moline said.
D’Evelyn lost 1-0 in the second round of the 4A state tournament last year to eventual state champion Lewis-Palmer.
Sophomore Anne Pampalone closed out the scoring volleying in a ball off a corner kick in the 73rd minute. D’Evelyn has outscored Chatfield, Battle Mountain and Lakewood 11-2 in its three early-season victories.
“I think we are doing very well,” Wright said. “Our possession is very good moving from defense to midfield to forward.”
D’Evelyn has a pair of non-league games against Dakota Ridge and Centaurus next week before heading into spring break the final week of March. The Jaguars begin their conference schedule against No. 7 Wheat Ridge (4-0) on April 4.
“It’s a monster. Hopefully you are ready to plan in the tournament after playing in 4A Jeffco. It’s a handful,” Moline said of the 4A Jeffco League that features four teams that were in the top-10 in the CHSAANow.com 4A girls soccer preseason poll. “Valor is loaded. That’s the team to beat.”
Lakewood (1-3) has a trio of games in four days next week. Tigers’ coach Tom Noor believes next week might be the biggest week of the season for Lakewood.
“I think more important for us is next week when we aren’t playing top-10 teams,” Noor said. “We’ve got to get some wins.”
All three of Lakewood’s losses have come against ranked teams — Evergreen and D’Evelyn in 4A and Arapahoe in 5A. The Tigers were also missing a pair of starters Thursday who were at a club tournament in Las Vegas and have also been dealing with injuries already this season.
“They are a good team for sure. No doubt about it,” Noor said about D’Evelyn. “We got a little beat up Tuesday against Evergreen, another top-10 4A team. I don’t know if we’ve recovered from that.”
After a busy week, the Tigers have nearly a two-week break before the start of their 5A Jeffco slate that begins against Ralston Valley on April 6.
The Jaguars and Tigers both will be busy next week before Jeffco schools go on spring break. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Rock Canyon boys lacrosse topped Chatfield to stay undefeated this season. The Jaguars were ranked sixth in the CHSAANow.com boys lacrosse preseason poll.
