Palmer Ridge began the 2017 football season knowing it could be among the best teams in the state. That message has now been received loud and clear after the Class 3A CHSAANow.com No. 4-ranked Bears knocked off No. 7 Discovery Canyon 49-28 on Thursday night.
The Bears are good. And everyone is starting to take notice with each passing week.
“We knew from the start that we were a contender,” junior quarterback Ty Evans said. “We just came out with the mindset that we’re going to play every game the same and eventually the state is going to take notice.”
It was Evans who helped dictate the pace early for Palmer Ridge (4-0 overall). He came out firing with a 35-yard completion to Cameron Colandgelo to start the drive. The Bears then turned to the ground, finding the end zone on nine-yard touchdown run from Anthony Roberson II.
The Thunder (2-2) put together a solid first drive, but a holding call on 3rd and goal at the six killed the momentum. Cory Gurnett’s field gaol attempt was blocked, leaving Discovery Canyon empty-handed after a promising offensive start.
And then Evans went back to work. After the Bears scored again on the ground, he began picking the Thunder defense apart and threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, including a 47-yard strike and a 52-yard bomb to Roberson.
“I feel like our coaches put us in a good position every week,” Roberson said. “It’s up to us to execute that game plan and I think we did an excellent job of that.”
Discovery Canyon got its first sign of life on the opening drive of the second half. On the fifth play of the series, sophomore Marshall Pike broke free for a 60-yard touchdown run, putting the Thunder on the board.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
On the first play for the Discovery Canyon defense, it came away with something it wasn’t able to get in the first half. Daniel Eggleton and Bryan Frye sacked Evans, throwing Palmer Ridge for a loop. The increased pressure led to a 4th down where a bad snap gave the Thunder the ball on the Bears’ 10-yard line.
It took just one play for Zack Anderson to get into the end zone and all of a sudden, Discovery Canyon had something cooking.
“We had to get some more pressure on (Evans),” Discovery Canyon coach Shawn Mitchell said. “We can’t just let the kid stand back there and pick us apart. I was pretty happy with the way that we played in the second half for the most part.”
The only problem was the hole that the team had fallen into in the first half.
Evans ended his night throwing for 390 yards and four touchdowns. The Bears scored on five of their first six possessions and surrendered no points in the first half.
All against the team who finished as the 3A runner-up last year. Palmer Ridge coach Tom Pulford couldn’t have asked for a better result.
“Any time you play Discovery Canyon, you know they’re going to fight,” he said. “You know they’ll be in it until the bitter end and they their kids in positions to go make plays.”
Pulford was able to do the same with his guys. And after Thursday’s win, it won’t be long before the Bears are viewed as one of the teams to beat in 2017. And that’s the message they’ve been sending since the start of the season.
Grand Junction Central had jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, but Jacob Burns returned a kickoff 89 yards for a score to make it 12-7 at the end of that frame, according to the Daily Sentinel.
Braeden Graham’s 2-yard rushing touchdown gave Fruita Monument lead at 14-12 just prior to the half.
Early in the fourth quarter, Grand Junction Central retook the lead on the second of two rushing scores from Joey Estep.
Ultimately, Brown’s interception with six minutes left proved to be the difference.
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Notables
(Marlee Smith/CHSAANow.com)
4A No. 6 Loveland cruised to 4-0 with a 41-7 win over Fort Collins.
3A No. 1 Holy Family looked as strong as ever, beating Thompson Valley 49-2.
4A No. 4 Windsor jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, and went on to beat a tough Greeley West squad 17-7. The Wizards are now 3-1.
Alec Lewis threw two touchdowns as Legacy topped Horizon 16-7 to move to 3-1.
Bennett volleyball’s Larry Deffenbaugh recorded his 500th career win with a sweep against The Academy on Thursday.
“I just feel so privileged to have been able to coach this long in a game that I dearly love,” Deffenbaugh said. “And to be able to work with so many wonderful athletes and coaches along the way.”
Deffenbaugh holds a 500-214 career record.
“It’s been a wonderful road. I love what I do,” Deffenbaugh, in his 40th year in education, said. “There’s good days and bad days, we’re not going to kid ourselves here. I just have always enjoyed going to work in the morning.”
In his 31st year coaching volleyball, but Deffenbaugh has had many titles in his career. He’s been a middle school and high school teacher, an assistant principal, a middle school principal, a coach and athletic director.
“I’ve coached everything from six-man football in Kit Carson, Colorado in 1978 to volleyball,” Deffenbaugh said. “I’ve worked with a lot of different boys and girls along the way, young men and women. A lot of wonderful teachers, administrators and coaches. Parents, they’ve been a big help, they’ve been great. And, you know, the communities.
“The fan support and how they rally around their athletics and their activites in small schools is really special to watch.”
Deffenbaugh’s previous stops include one season at Rangeview, two at Castle View and 13 at Strasburg.
His overall record at Strasburg was 275-72.
(Courtesy of Bennett HS)
Deffenbaugh’s bio states that, “He understands that success comes from everyone pulling together as one.”
Bennett is 9-1 this season and has rattled off eight wins in a row. Deffenbaugh’s team has lost just four sets this year.
“I have a very supportive family, especially my wife,” Deffenbaugh said. “When you’re a coaches’ wife, you go through all the trials and tribulations. All of my kids were there last night, except for my oldest daughter who is in Malaysia with her family. That was really special.”
Brittney Mackey went 2-for-4 with a double and four RBIs to help Class 3A No. 8-ranked La Junta get a 14-13 upset win over No. 4 Rocky Ford.
The Tigers (7-6 overall, 5-2 District 2) went into the top of the third trailing 4-1. But that’s when their offense changed the entire flow of the game. La Junta plated six runners in the inning, grabbing the lead from the Meloneers (10-5, 6-2).
The Tigers added four runs in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Hailey Vaughn did her part, going 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a home run.
Heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Meloneers found themselves down 14-8. They were able to get five runs in to cut the lead to one. But senior Lexi Smith settled down on the mound and La Junta was able to prevent any further damage.
La Junta hopes to keep momentum rolling when it hosts St. Mary’s on Saturday morning.
Rocky Ford will take a little over a week off and then travel to James Irwin for a double-header on Sept. 30.
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4A: (8) Holy Family 8, (3) Erie 6
Erin Caviness and Haley Almeida each drove in a pair of runs as Holy Family grabbed a big top-10 upset win over Erie.
Holy Family grabbed a 5-0 lead early, but gave up six runs in two innings putting Erie ahead 6-5.
Holy Family rebounded with a two-run fifth inning and added one in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach for Erie.
Caviness threw a complete game, striking out seven and giving up just one earned run.
Top-ranked Kit Carson volleyball swept No. 7 Wiley to move to 10-0 this season.
The Wildcats got the sweep from a balanced attack as Tess Hornung had 13 kills, while Haley Johnson had 21 digs.
Reyna Isenbart and Micayla Isenbart each recorded 14 assists.
“There were long rallies and they did a great job on defense,” Kit Carson coach Penny Isenbart said. “We just had to keep hitting and hitting. They hit back at us so our passing wasn’t that great and they took us out of our system. We had to learn how to deal with it.”
Elsewhere, 2A No. 6 Swink topped No. 10 Fowler, and 4A No. 1 Lewis-Palmer swept No. 5 Valor Christian.
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Fruita Monument volleyball has trusted the process. They’re ready to see results.
The Wildcats have a lineup that’s as seasoned as they come. The Wildcats have eight seniors and seven juniors on the 15-person roster, and it’s been just about the same group for the past three years.
“We went to state in 2013. That team was comprised of nine seniors,” Fruita Monument coach Bob Richardson said. “So, the next year, we were basically rebuilding. Our senior class now has only known four other seniors. When they were freshmen, we had three seniors, when they were sophomores, we had one senior, when they were juniors, we had no seniors.
“We’ve been essentially the same team for the last three years.”
This experienced group has known since freshman year what they had to live up to.
“Our seniors that graduated before we came in were a very talented group, so looking up to that, we saw what we had to live up to,” libero Kenzie Wells said. “They went to state, and they were a great team. They had all the pieces. They had a Riley Snyder, they had a very good setter and a libero who is playing in college. They were a very talented group, so we knew going in that we had a lot to live up to.
“We were kind of initially the base of the varsity team, and it’s pretty much just progressed from there.”
In its early years, the unit struggled. The Wildcats endured two losing seasons, but turned it around junior year with a 19-8 season. Fruita Monument lost to Pine Creek in a regional tiebreaker game.
“At first, we were young and just freshman figuring it out,” Wells said. “We got to our junior year, and that wasn’t an excuse to use anymore. We really have to make this happen now. Having that four years of experience under your belt, and to be in the moment is kind of awesome.”
This season, the Wildcats have beaten four teams that were state qualifiers in 2016.
“The teams that used to beat up on us two years ago are teams that we’re able to compete with now,” Richardson said.
Fruita Monument is in the moment and primed for a run. And they’re shifting the perception and raising the bar of what they expect to be.
“One of the things we’ve had to learn through the years is that just because we can beat teams on the Western Slope doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot,” Richardson said. “We’ve had to raise the bar of what we expect to be. Instead of just trying to compete in the SWL, we’re trying to make a name for ourselves in the state and trying to be competitive with top ten teams in the state. That’s been the message over the last four years.”
Among those that have been there as Richardson built this veteran team are Wells, setter Truth Hafey and outside hitter Riley Snyder.
“It’s been awesome to see the development of everyone and just to grow together,” Wells said. “To be able to look back at how we started as freshman leading this team and being the base and the foundation. Now, we’re doing great things, and we’ve really progressed and gotten better.”
Wells has 1,865 career digs. That’s a state record for career digs, and she has played less than half the games of her senior season.
Hafey has 2,553 career assists. Snyder has 1,001 career kills. All are school records.
(Courtesy of Fruita Monument HS)
“I don’t think we’ve really thought about it that much,” Wells said on the legacy the three will leave behind. “We’re just really in the moment and trying to make the best out of this season and working toward our team goals that we set. Really being that top-dog team.
“I think everyone on the team is understanding of what’s going on, but we’re more focused on the bigger goal of winning state than what the individuals have done.”
That shows exactly what this team is about: the team. They’ve been playing together for so long that they’re incredibly tight-knit.
“I think this is the best team that I’ve ever had,” Richardson said, emphasizing team. “I don’t just mean competitively. The kids get along, trips with them are fun and enjoyable. They’re knit together pretty well.”
Wells said the majority of the team has had a solid three to four years playing together at the high school level. Multiple girls have even played together for the last seven or eight years, counting club volleyball.
“That’s definitely helped with our growth,” Wells said. “All of us are super close. You can tell there’s that bond on the court. You know, that special relationship that we all have together. Just coming from the amount of time that we’ve spent together and the bonds that we’ve been able to built. Trusting each other off the court, then that leads to trusting each other on the court to be in the right spots and talk more.”
Also, Wells, Hafey and Snyder all play multiple sports. Snyder has racked up 1,213 career points in basketball, while Wells and Hafey are three-sport athletes.
“I like for kids to play multiple sports. I think it’s good for them, I think it’s good for sports. It’s good for the school,” Richardson said. “You definitely see improvement. Particularly Riley can not have played volleyball since last year in early November when we were done, and all of a sudden in August, she shows up and she’s actually improved as a volleyball player. It’s hard to figure out how, but it’s because she’s improved as an athlete.
“I think they’re tougher as athletes. They don’t get nervous on the court, they don’t get skittish, it just toughens them up.”
Wells added that playing multiple sports together has helped the trio work well together. They’ve figured out how to help each other on and off the court.
“We’re really able to continue that bond and help each other out there,” Wells said. “Hold each other accountable and be leaders for everyone else.”
One addition that’s elevated the team is the recent play of Dana Thomson. Thomson’s uptick in production has given a compliment to Snyder on the outside.
“Thomson has really come on. She’s grown a lot as a player since she was a freshman,” Richardson said. “Two years ago, we didn’t have enough hitters. We didn’t have enough scoring. Now, between Dana and Riley, we’re not lopsided anymore. We’re pretty good in every rotation, offensively. That’s helped us. That, and the experience, just having been there before.”
Fruita Monument’s denouement has finally come. It’s been a journey, but a journey they’ve undergone together.
“You can tell that there’s a flip of the switch because this is our last run, this is our last time to go do this together,” Wells said. “This is all we’ve got, so you can tell that there’s that extra little bit of energy and motivation to work as hard as you can and do all the little things.”
David Sommers still remembers the moment when Holy Family’s no-huddle offense took root and a high-octane passing attack was born.
The Tigers had qualified for the Class 3A state playoffs for the first time back in 2011 after moving up from 2A the year before. Playing against eventual state champion Windsor in the first round, Holy Family found it couldn’t match up with the Wizards’ size. But when the Tigers went no-huddle in a two-minute offense, the team was much more competitive.
Holy Family made the change in scheme permanent heading into the 2012 season and has never looked back. For his part, Sommers, who quarterbacked the Tigers from 2011-13, helped establish an offense that was scoring nearly 20 points more a game just four years later.
“I think it made the game a lot more exciting. We started putting up more points and had drives where we scored fast,” said Sommers, now a redshirt junior wide receiver at Colorado School of Mines in Golden. “It also helped with controlling the tempo, too. We had the ability to go fast, and we could also slow it down if we needed too.”
(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
Holy Family has made the passing game its bread-and-butter, but the Tigers are far from alone in that area. Programs like Bear Creek, Arvada West and Mullen in the 1990s used an aerial attack to break records and play for state titles, helping to pave the way for future pass-heavy offenses like Fairview, Valor Christian and D’Evelyn, among others.
A glance at the CHSAA records book would back that up. While a handful of those former Bear Creek quarterbacks own the top career passing marks, single-season records from the past decade have climbed into the top-10 in nearly every category.
“You look at those Bear Creek teams holding a lot of those (passing records), and all of a sudden you look at the last five to seven years and it’s been incredible how many of those records may have been added to,” said Fairview coach Tom McCartney, who is in his 25th season of coaching the Knights.
“I think with the college game, and CU being in the Pac-12 and how many teams can really light up the scoreboard … the last seven to 10 years has been an incredible offensive output,” McCartney continued. “It’s coming down to the high school level as well.”
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“It takes a special quarterback.”
Johnny Feauto. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Under McCartney’s guidance, Fairview quarterbacks have put on quite the show in recent years. The Knights own the top three spots in the state records book for single-season completions and have three of the top six spots in single-season passing yards.
On the way to the 2013 state championship game, quarterback Anders Hill threw for nearly 3,900 yards and 36 touchdowns, and wide receiver Sam Martin set a state record with 1,860 yards. His 112 receptions was a record that stood for two years before D’Evelyn’s Charlie Davis beat it by one catch in 2015. (The Jaguars also have three players in the top 10 for career receptions.)
One year later, Johnny Feauto took his turn, throwing for 3,953 yards and 40 touchdowns (tied for sixth in the state’s history). That’s to say nothing of Taylor Tharp, who in 2002 set state records for attempts (484) and completions (293).
“Sometimes I feel like those are obviously just stats, but you still want to win,” McCartney said. “Tharp took our team to two state championship appearances, and Johnny had an undefeated regular season. Anders took us to the title game.
“I definitely take pride in the achievements of those teams.”
Fairview opened the 2017 season with three consecutive victories behind sophomore quarterback Aiden Atkinson. The 6-foot-3 Atkinson is averaging 306 yards a game to go along with eight touchdowns.
“I’ve been extremely impressed with Aidan. He’s also a 4.0 (student) and he’s really smart. He knows how to apply it to the football field as well,” McCartney said. “He’s very, very hungry to learn.”
RJ Peshek. (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
Second-year Aspen coach Karson Pike feels the same way about his senior quarterback, RJ Peshek. After winning only two games each of the past two years, the 2A Skiers jumped out to a 3-0 start that included an 80-point showing the first week of the season against Middle Park.
Operating out of a no-huddle offense designed to wear down opposing defenses, Peshek has passed for 748 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushed for 268 yards and six scores.
“RJ is a special kid. His dad coaches on the staff as defensive coordinator, so he’s been going home with a coach ever since little league,” Pike said. “What it boils down to is he wants to flat-out win, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes.”
Pike came to Aspen after several years of working as an assistant with a handful of smaller colleges. He brought the no-huddle offense with him after seeing the success of an up-tempo offense at his previous stops.
Aspen took some time to acclimate to the offense, but Pike said the biggest key was his players sacrificed their time in the offseason to get better. With only one senior graduating from last year, the experience factor has also helped the Skiers get off to a strong start.
But it still takes a quarterback who can grab the reins and run that type of offense.
“You can get a lot of work done in the passing game if you want to dedicate yourself to that,” Pike said of the offseason work. “I think you can be successful, but it takes a special quarterback, no question.”
After Sommers graduated and headed to Mines, Holy Family coach Mike Gabriel found a new signal-caller in Chris Helbig. In his two years of leading Holy Family, the Tigers averaged 46.0 and 48.1 points per game, and in 2015 Helbig passed for 3,517 yards and 39 touchdowns – both of which are good for eighth-best in state history.
Helbig also owns the state record with 43 completions in a single game. So current Tigers quarterback Stone Samaras recognized the task ahead of him when he took over in 2016.
“I got thrown in freshman year and I was oblivious to the whole thing,” Samaras said. “Sophomore year, coming out the very first game and starting, it really hit me: ‘Holy cow, I’m taking Chris Helbig’s spot and I’ve got to fill his shoes.’”
Samaras did just that though, passing for nearly 2,800 yards and 33 touchdowns as a sophomore, with three players catching at least 46 passes. Samaras has eight touchdown passes in three games this fall for the top-ranked Tigers, seven of which have gone to junior Kyle Helbig.
“Stone had big shoes to fill, as did Chris. But he grew up this offseason and he’s taking control of the offense,” Gabriel said. “A lot of the stuff you see on field, he’s adjusting to. He’s leading that side of the ball for sure.”
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There’s good and bad to an up-tempo offense.
Stone Samaras. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Every coach will tell you though that balance needs to be added to the equation for any offense to be successful. Even with the impressive passing numbers teams have put up, there will be times where running the ball is necessary.
Fairview senior Mariano Kemp is averaging 7.2 yards per carry for the Knights through three games and has seven touchdowns. Last fall, Holy Family’s Michael Zeman rushed for 2,185 yards and 23 touchdowns.
“You are going to see some tough weather from time to time, and you are going to see some interesting defenses. You’ve got to be ready for those kinds of things,” McCartney said. “There are certain situations where you’ve got to run the ball.”
Another key factor from a fast-paced offense is the wear-and-tear it creates for its defense. As Holy Family’s offense struggled to find a rhythm last Friday night against No. 2 Fort Morgan – enduring a number of three-and-out possessions – the Tigers’ defense had to rise to the challenge and keep the Mustangs in check.
“It’s a big challenge if you’re not in rhythm and you don’t get at least one first down,” Gabriel said. “A three-and-out can kill your defense, but we’ve got the defense to back it up this year. I think we’re better suited to do both.”
But it still comes back to executing through the air in order for that style of offense to work. As McCartney pointed out, as more and more teams find success with spread offenses, the trickle-down effect to the high school game may also increase.
Sommers had the opportunity to catch passes from Harlon Hill trophy winner Justin Dvorak at Mines last fall. Dvorak threw for more than 4,500 yards and 53 touchdowns in a spread offense that produced another Harlon Hill winner, Chad Friehauf, back in 2004.
“I think the numbers kind of speak for itself. The spread creates matchups and 1-on-1 situations,” Sommers said. “It’s not just assignment football for the defense. You can mix and match and basically pick the perfect play, while in certain other offenses you don’t have that exact ability.”
There are other factors that work in the favor of up-tempo offenses. The popularity of 7-on-7 camps allows athletes to get the work in over the summer and nail down timing headed into fall.
“First, I think it’s safer because now instead of what’s called ‘phone-booth football’ – where everybody lines up inside the hash and runs at each other for 48 minutes – now you’re looking at players in 1-on-1 space,” Pike said. “The other factor is you can’t do a lot in the summer, but you can always throw.”
A lot of that success boils down to personnel and ability. As the constant edits to the state’s record books in recent years show, with the game continuing to evolve, Colorado continues to produce some impressive talent.
“As a coach it’s great when you have great players. I think just having an identity and staying true to it and believing in it is probably one of the biggest factors,” McCartney said. “But when you get great players and have an identity you believe in, that’s a good mix.”
