“We felt good about the win,” Durango coach Dalon Parker said to the Durango Herald. “We’re happy to get out of there with a win. We’re still trying to find our feet and identity and how to execute the identity we want. A game like this at the beginning of the year helps us.”
The 1-0 overtime win moves Durango to 2-0. The Demons travel to Fruita Monument on Tuesday for a Southwestern league matchup.
Sophomore Brooklyn Mueller led with 10 kills as Swink beat Sargent in five sets (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 16-25, 15-7) on Saturday.
The Lions took the first two sets, apparently seizing control before stuttering in the second two. They were able to regain momentum and take the third set, and the match.
Tierra Holland helped out on the offensive end with 22 assists to go with Mueller’s kills. Mueller was also big along the net as she led the team with six blocks.
Holland recorded 23 digs and Brianna Denton helped on that front with 20 of her own.
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Palisade 3, Battle Mountain 1
In an early-season league match, Palisade grabbed a 25-23, 26-28, 25-11, 25-20.
According to the Grand Junction Sentinel, Alexandra MacAskill led the Bulldogs with 17 kills.
Palisade will head to the Colorado Springs area next weekend to compete in the Mesa Ridge Tournament. Battle Mountain will see league action on Saturday when it hosts Rifle.
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Centauri 3, Sangre de Cristo 0
Centauri grabbed a 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 sweep over Sangre de Cristo on Saturday to move to 4-0 on the regular season.
An early three-touchdown lead for Fruita Monument is exactly how the Wildcats were looking to pace their second win of the year.
That lead took Discovery Canyon away from the running game that got them to the 2016 Class 3A state title game and ultimately led to a 49-14 for Fruita.
“We’re ahead of where we were last year,” Wildcats coach Todd Casebier said. “I thought our defense good a job of taking away the inside run game. It kind of forced them to go outside and we have really good athletes on the edge.”
By the time Treyton Queen trotted into the end zone to make it a 21-0 game, the Thunder (0-1 overall) was forced to do something it doesn’t do often: go to the air.
But that’s about as close as the game would get. The Wildcats (2-0) came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and got the season off with a win against a traditionally tough opponent.
“It’s no more or less important than the win last week,” Casebier said. “It’s a good sign of where we’re at.”
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(1) Pine Creek 23, ThunderRidge 7
David Moore III ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns as Class 4A No. 1 Pine Creek topped 5A’s ThunderRidge 23-9.
Quarterback J.C. Coulter found Gene McFarland through the air for the Eagles’ other touchdown on the day.
(5) Peyton 49, Byers 0
Trevor Walker ran for 108 yards and scored one of six rushing touchdowns for Peyton in its 49-0 win over Byers.
The seventh touchdown for the Panthers came on a Charles Sparks punt return.
Rocky Mountain Lutheran 65, Custer County 18
Charlie Hahm had himself a nice little Saturday as he ran for 244 yards and six touchdowns. He added one catch for 60 yards that also went for a touchdown.
The Eagles are 1-0 to start the year in 8-man play.
LONGMONT — Longmont’s Austin Hassler sealed a 31-6 upset win over No. 1 Pueblo East with his second interception of the game.
“(Hassler) has instincts that you cannot coach,” Longmont coach Doug Johnson said. “He does things that cover up for other kids and is very tough. He’s an amazing player.”
The win ended an 11-game winning streak for Pueblo East.
“That sends our season in a positive direction,” Hassler said. “We knew we had to come fight, but we knew we could get the job done. We knew it would be a tough game. We knew they would be good.
“I think we just wanted it more than they did.”
Hassler returned the ball to the one-yard-line, setting up a quarterback sneak from Oakley Denning and a two-point conversion to give No. 7 Longmont a 17-0 lead in the top-ten matchup.
“I’m happy,” Johnson said. “I think we made a lot of mistakes and it’s hard to know who the top team is right now. I’m happy for our kids, but I think we can play a lot better football.”
Pueblo East cut the lead to 17-6 with a 51-yard touchdown pass from Luc Andrada to Marcus Winston. The Trojans responded with a clock-eating methodical drive that saw Longmont come away with a missed field goal and all of a sudden there was a chance.
That chance fell flat as the Longmont defense once again stood strong. And the offense distanced itself from Pueblo East for good, 24-6 on a 38-yard rushing touchdown by Cruz Garcia.
Sage Yazzi made it 31-6 with 2:40 remaining when he hauled in a touchdown pass from Dehning.
Dehning completed just two passes in the first half. But, it was his first completion — a 66-yard touchdown pass that was the difference in a 9-0 first half lead.
“We just said to play disciplined,” Johnson said. “We did some good things in that regard, but we did some things where we could do a lot better, so that’s encouraging.”
Facing third down, Dehning sat in the pocket and found Nick Paone streaking over the top.
The series before, Pueblo East went for it on 4th down, but did not convert.
“I think we came together as a family and showed that we have eachother’s backs,” Hassler said. “In the first quarter, they drove the field on us, but we stopped them and showed that we had eachother’s backs from that point on.”
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Garcia put a 35-yard field goal through the uprights and the three-time defending champions were officially on upset alert.
Pueblo East failed to get points on the board with solid opportunities twice in the first half.
“We wanted to make sure that we kept a handle on their quarterback because he’s special,” Johnson said. “He runs really well, so we were worried about him scrambling and making plays with his arm. I thought we did a good job of boxing him in after the first quarter.”
The Eagles missed a field goal attempt with their first opportunity. Then, just as Pueblo East seemed to be grabbing some momentum after Andrada broke off a 23-yard run, Longmont quite literally took it back.
Hassler intercepted Andrada and Longmont took over with 1:27 in the second quarter.
“I’m just looking to do my job,” Hassler said. “I just happened to be at the right spot at the right time.”
One play prior, Anthony Rodriguez had a sure interception go right through his hands in the back of the endzone. Hassler and the Trojans smelled blood, and he sat underneath the route for the turnover.
Luke McCaffrey rushed for two touchdowns as Valor Christian got its first-ever win over Mullen on Friday night.
The Eagles, top-ranked in and two-time defending champions of Class 5A, beat the No. 4 Mustangs 31-7.
With senior Blake Stenstrom out due to a concussion, it was the first career start at quarterback for McCaffrey.
“Any player that comes into the game just wants to do everything that they can,” McCaffrey told Altitude TV after the game. “I don’t really focus on the snaps, just making the snaps count. I really just went out there and tried to do everything I could.”
Valor Christian was 0-2 against Mullen in the short history of their rivalry, having lost to the Mustangs last season and in 2012.
“It was incredible, just to do something that nobody at Valor has done before,” McCaffrey told Altitude. “That was one of our themes all week, just focusing on that: do what’s never been done, and do everything you can for your brothers.
“I thought each and every player contributed. … It was special to see.”
The Eagles’ Joshia Davis had a key touchdown late in the first half when he scored off an option pitch with three seconds remaining. Davis had set the Eagles up at the 2-yard-line with a long run just before the half.
Valor Christian travels to play at Greater Atlanta Christian next week, while Mullen continues a tough early slate of its own by playing No. 5 Regis Jesuit. The Mustangs lost to No. 2 Pomona in Zero Week.
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3A: (3) Holy Family 56, (8) Palisade 20
(@HF_Athletics/Twitter)
Holy Family went on the road and put on a show.
Palisade actually had rallied from an early 14-0 hole to tie the game at 14-14, but then Holy Family connected on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Stone Samaras to Kyle Helbig on 4th down and 1.
Samaras finished with four touchdown passes and a rushing score. Helbig had three receiving touchdowns.
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2A: (7) Sterling 42, (8) D’Evelyn 28
Sterling moved to 2-0 with yet another big top-10 win on Friday night.
The Tigers beat No. 6 Resurrection Christian in Zero Week.
“We’ve had a pretty good run these two games of being able to put together enough to win a football game,” coach Rob Busmente told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show after the game.
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4A/5A: Boulder 27, (9) Denver South 25
(Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)
Boulder won on the final play of the game after an 80-yard kickoff return set up a 1-yard touchdown.
On Friday, the Panthers jumped out to a 16-0 lead, and also led 18-6 at halftime. Denver South battled back and eventually took the lead, but last-second heroics from Patrick Fletcher on his return set up the winning touchdown by Shane Provost.
It was a great note to start the 2017 season for the Panthers. Last season, Denver South beat Boulder 56-17 to open the season. Boulder went on to finish 1-9.
“There was 12 seconds left and I wanted to score and I wanted to get that ‘W’ because I knew it would change the program and change the environment,” Fletcher told BoCoPreps.com of his kick return.
In a rematch of the 6-man title game, No. 3 Cheyenne Wells beat No. 1 Flagler 70-20. It’s complicated, but many of Flagler’s players played at Hi-Plains last season when Flagler dropped its program. This season, Hi-Plains dropped its program, and now many of those players are playing for Flagler.
In a big 5A game, No. 5 Regis Jesuit fought off No. 3 Cherry Creek, 25-20. The Raiders led 12-0 after the first quarter, but the Bruins slowly chipped away. They cut it as close to 19-14 in the fourth quarter but Kiahn Martinez had a TD that sealed the game with a minute to play for Regis.
2A No. 3 La Junta beat Gunnison 42-0, and 1A No. 1 Strasburg beat No. 8 Burlington 24-6. That extended each team’s winning streak to 14 games, which is the most in the state.
Caliche snapped a 15-game losing streak with a 50-28 win over Kiowa.
Another local rivalry: Fort Collins beat Fossil Ridge 17-6. Fort Collins finished minus-5 in turnover margin but still won. “Our defense stuck their neck out there, and they played hard the whole night,” coach Eric Rice told the Scoreboard Show.
In 1A, Monte Vista upset No. 9 Cedaredge 31-8. “We just kind of wore them out in the second half,” coach Manny Wasinger told the Scoreboard Show.
In 2A, No. 9 Faith Christian edged No. 6 Resurrection Christian 9-0.
4A No. 5 Windsor beat Vista Ridge 14-3 in the return of coach Chris Jones. Jones took a year off of coaching before returning to the sidelines this fall.
6-man: No. 6 Stratton/Liberty ran away from No. 7 Genoa-Hugo 51-14. “It was a weird 6-man game,” coach Toby Kechter told the Scoreboard Show. “Usually, it’s a two-or-three touchdown game and you’re nervous as heck, but our defense was so good that it just felt really good and our kids were really confident in what we were doing.”
8-man: No. 3 Hoehne edged No. 4 Sargent 30-27. “Things went our way in the end,” coach Gabe Dasko told the Scoreboard Show. “I just kept telling our kids: ‘You guys have got to learn to finish in the end.’ Our two big leaders, Jacob Yates and Trystan Moltrer, stepped up and made some big plays for us.”
Grand Junction beat local rival Grand Junction Central 21-0.
Buena Vista and Alamosa didn’t kick their game off until 9:32 p.m. due to a shortage of officials. They ended at 11:45 p.m., a 37-7 Alamosa win.
Denver South’s Yonatan Kefle raced away from the field to capture the Wash Park Invite on Friday afternoon.
The junior won in 16:29, ahead of Jefferson Academy senior Ryan Lehmuth, who was second in 16:52. SkyView Academy’s Ryan Butler was third along with Castle View sophomore Aidan Scott (both finished in 17:12).
Castle View won the Invite on the boys side, with five runners placing in the top 13. Denver South, the host school, was second, and SkyView Academy placed third.
Castle View also won the girls team race as their five scorers all placed in the top 21. The Sabercats were led by senior Erin Kraus, who won the individual event in 19:53.
Brighton junior Kiran Green was second (20:21), and Dakota Ridge senior Skylar Lodice (20:32) finished third.
Dakota Ridge was second in the girls team race, and Longmont finished third.
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Devil’s Thumb Hill Climb
Grand Junction freshman Dolcie Hanlon narrowly won the Devil’s Thumb Hill Climb on Friday, edging Rifle senior Sarah Wagler by 0.57 seconds to win.
Hanlon won the race in 27:53.30. Wagler finished second in 27:53.87.
Gunnison won the girls team race by having runners finish third through sixth, led by sophomore Bria Rickert (29:06.85). Rifle was second as a team.
On the boys side, Gunnison senior Colton Stice led the field and won in 22:36.77. Rangely senior Patrick Scoggins was second in 23:01.11 — narrowly edging Montrose senior Evan Graff, who finished in 23:01.76.
Gunnison also won the boys race. Paonia was second.
