CHSAANow

Month: September 2017

  • No. 5 Mead football runs away with season-opening win against No. 9 Lewis-Palmer

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    MONUMENT — Derek Edwards looks more like semi-truck than he does a sports car. But he showed on Friday night, that once he gets up to speed, he can be tough to catch.

    The 215-pound fullback from Mead put up a modest 188 rushing yards in the Mavericks’ 41-14 win over Lewis-Palmer on Friday night at Don Breese Stadium.

    On the last play of the first half for Mead, he broke for a 44-yard touchdown run and on his first touch of the second half, he went for a 63-yard score. The big guy is deceptively fast.

    “It all starts with the offensive line,” Edwards said. “They make us look pretty. Without them, we wouldn’t do anything. We just like to run and go fast and that’s what we practice all week.”

    And it’s not just him.

    The Mavericks (1-0 overall) have a three-man band working in perfect harmony in that backfield. Edwards, along with running back Nathan Mackey and quarterback Tyler Keys, combined for 395 yards on the ground.

    The first game of the week can usually result in some jitters and nerves, but if there were any for Mead, Keys thinks the team got over them fairly quickly.

    “We were a little nervous before (the game), but that’s normal,” Keys said. “As soon as the first play was over, I think we were all good.”

    On the first drive of the game, Mead was able to march 90 yards down the field. Facing fourth and goal at the two, they opted to go for it, but the Lewis-Palmer defense stood tall to force the turnover on downs.

    But as in-sync as Mead was offensively, the Rangers (0-1) struggled to establish any momentum.

    “About everything that could’ve went wrong in the first half went wrong,” Lewis-Palmer coach Dustin Tupper said. “We turned the ball over. I thought up front, we got dominated on both sides of the ball.”

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    They finally found some offense on their second drive of the first half as quarterback Cole Recker found Joel Scott for a 63-yard touchdown pass.

    But the Mavericks answered right away as a Mackey 38-yard run helped set up a Keys touchdown run, one of three for him on the night. Of the three-man band, Mackey was the only one to not find the end zone, but it didn’t bother him in the least.

    “That’s what we knew coming into the year, that we were going to spread the wealth and everyone was going to get touches,” Mackey said. “It doesn’t matter who gets the ball, whoever gets it just needs to run and get touchdowns.”

    The Rangers were able to find the end zone one more time on a two-yard run from Dieudonne Chea, but the game was too far out of reach by that point.

    Perhaps the most underrated aspect of the game was that the Mavericks forced two turnovers and scored touchdowns off both of them. Coach Jason Klatt knows that teams who can take advantage of those opportunities will always find success.

    “When you win the turnover battle, good things happen,” Klatt said. “I was really proud of our defense. This team put up 50 on us last year. They were really good.”

    But this year, it’s Mead who turned out to be pretty good. The Class 3A No. 5-ranked Mavericks are off and running in search of a remarkable season.

    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

  • Photos: Boulder football upsets No. 9 Denver South

    DENVER — Boulder football knocked off No. 9 Denver South on Friday, 27-25, with a last-second touchdown.

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  • Pick-6 on final play lifts Lakewood football over Arvada West

    Lakewood senior Blake Cowden (88) races down the field Friday night at Jeffco Stadium during the Tigers’ dramatic 35-29 victory over Arvada West. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    LAKEWOOD — It was an ending to a football game rarely seen — a walk-off interception returned for a touchdown with zeros on the clock.

    “I was sitting my coverage and I saw the running back (Arvada West sophomore Isaiah Ocana) coming out for a screen,” Lakewood senior Ezekiel Sundberg said describing the final play Friday night at Jeffco Stadium. “I focused on coming up to make the tackle, but it was overthrown and I got it. Picked it off and scored.”

    Sundberg’s pick-6 from midfield on the final play gave the Tigers a dramatic and improbable 35-29 victory over old Jeffco rival A-West.

    “I just told them we couldn’t get the ball thrown over our head,” Lakewood coach Jeff Braun said of what he told his defense with the game tied at 29-29 and six seconds left in regulation time. “(Sundberg) is a baller. He came up and made a play.”

    Lakewood senior Ezekiel Sundberg (3) scores his first of two TDs Friday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Sundberg sprinted into the end zone with zeros on the clock and the entire group of Tigers raced toward Lakewood’s student section to celebrate the win.

    It was a heartbreaking loss for A-West. The Wildcats grabbed a late 29-21 lead after Sundberg was intercepted by senior Jason Jantz. Jantz returned the interception to Lakewood’s 3-yard line and senior Anthony Gallardo scored his second short touchdown run of the night on the next play to give the Wildcats an 8-point lead with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter.

    Lakewood didn’t panic needing a touchdown and 2-point conversion after being shutout offensively in the second half. Senior Elzia Sekou capped off a 10-play, 57-yard scoring drive with his second touchdown run of the night to cut the lead to 29-27.

    On the same play call as the touchdown, Sekou ran in the 2-point conversation to tie the game at 29-29 with 1:09 left in the fourth quarter.

    “I thought (A-West) knew it was coming. It looked pretty clogged before the play,” Sekou said. “Someone cleared a hole and I saw it.”

    A-West managed a first down in an attempt to win the game in regulation, but on 4th-and-10 from the Wildcats’ 41-yard line with a few seconds left A-West junior quarterback Johnny Krutsch tried float a screen to Ocana.

    Lakewood junior Kegan Hufford (33) had three interceptions against A-West. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    “This one is on me,” A-West coach Brad Pyatt said. “At that point in the game I think we were probably stretching it a little bit, but my nature is go for the win. We’ve got playmakers and my kids understand that we go for the win. You never expect that, very heartbreaking for us.”

    It was a wild game with a total of eight turnovers. Seven of which were interceptions. Lakewood junior Kegan Hufford had three interceptions alone. Krutch, a three-year starter at quarterback for A-West, finished 20-for-36 for 145 yards and four interceptions.

    “He had a good game, even if the stats don’t show it,” Pyatt said of his quarterback. “As an offense we just weren’t clicking. We’ll get going. We aren’t going to quit throwing. I believe in him.”

    A-West couldn’t have got off to a better start. On the opening play from scrimmage junior running back Tony Cass broke through the middle of Lakewood’s defense and dashed 80 yards in 13 seconds for a touchdown. Cass gave the Wildcats a 8-0 lead when he ran in a 2-point conversion.

    However, the Tigers owned the major of the remainder of the first half scoring 21-unanswered points. Sekou, along with the quarterback tandem of Sundberg and Pierce Holley all had short touchdown runs to give Lakewood a 21-8 lead in the second quarter.

    A-West got a much-needed touchdown late in the first half when Cass struck again with a 54-yard touchdown run to trim the Tigers’ lead to 21-15 at halftime. The junior finished with 15 carries for 185 yards.

    The Wildcats regained the lead midway through the third quarter. A Tiger turnover at Lakewood’s 11-yard line set up an eventual 1-yard touchdown dive by Gallardo. The Wildcats grabbed the lead back 22-21.

    “I’m happy with where we are at as a team this early,” Pyatt said. “We are disappointed, but our season won’t be defined by this. We just have to keep fighting and learn how to finish off games. I think we’ll be fine.”

    A-West has its home opener Sept. 7 against Mountain Range at NAAC. Lakewood gets another test against an old Jeffco rival in Bear Creek the same night back at Jeffco Stadium.

    “A-West is a good football team and Brad (Pyatt) is bringing the program back. Their kids played hard,” Braun said. “We just happened to get the bounce at the end to get the win.”

    A-West junior Tony Cass breaks off an 80-yard touchdown run against Lakewood on Friday night. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

  • Doherty and Rangeview combine for 138 points in a football game

    (@DohertyAthletics/Facebook)

    Basketball season doesn’t start for another few months, but you wouldn’t know that based on this final score: Doherty beat Rangeview 83-55 on Friday night.

    In football.

    Doherty racked up 708 yards of total offense, and the two teams combined for 21 touchdowns. Spartans senior Julian Cooks rushed for 303 yards.

    This comes on the heels of the crazy Zero Week game between Aspen and Middle Park where the teams combined for 130 points and made their mark on the record book.

    Doherty scored more than 20 points in the first, second and fourth quarters, while Rangeview did it in the second and fourth quarters. Both schools play in Class 5A.

    The 138 combined points are tied for the 12th-most in state history, and are the most scored at the big-school level since Palmer Ridge beat Air Academy 88-54 in 2014.

    The two teams combined to score 48 points in the fourth quarter on Friday night, which is the seventh-most in state history.

  • Photos: Lakewood football stuns Arvada West in the final moments

    LAKEWOOD — On the final play of the game, Lakewood football returned an interception for a touchdown to beat Arvada West 35-29 on Friday.

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  • Photos: Fountain-Fort Carson football edges Ralston Valley

    ARVADA — After winning just three football games last year, Fountain-Fort Carson started its season right. The Trojans beat Ralston Valley 21-16 on Friday.

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  • Photos: No. 5 Regis Jesuit football rides fast start to upset win over No. 3 Cherry Creek

    GREENWOOD VILLAGE — No. 5 Regis Jesuit jumped out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter and disrupted No. 3 Cherry Creek just enough to come away with a 25-20 win.

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  • No. 1 Boulder boys soccer beats No. 4 Fairview with late free kick

    Fairview Boulder boys soccer
    (Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    BOULDER — Boulder’s Omar Castruita stepped up to the free kick with the game tied at 1. It was a familiar position for Castruita, who practiced almost the exact free kick earlier in the week.

    “Earlier this week, we were practicing free kicks and I had a similar free kick,” Castruita said. “I practiced that and I hit it in the same spot as in practice.”

    Castruita banged it in left side in the 73rd minute and gave the No. 1 Panthers their first lead of the game in a 2-1 win against No. 4 Fairview.

    “What’s going through Omar’s mind is that he can do it,” Boulder coach Hardy Kalisher said on what he was thinking with Castruita about to take the kick. “I have confidence in him.”

    It was a game that could have just as easily been mistaken for a playoff game in November.

    Fairview controlled the majority of the chances in the first half, with Boulder weathering and sending through balls on the counter attack.

    “We have a system that we’re playing in and we know that they’re going to build out of the back,” Kalisher said. “Nobody is scoring goals from 80 yards out, so we have to be comfortable with their possession of the ball and trust that we’re going to create some chances.

    “Yes, they had the possession in the first half, but I think we had better chances. They happened to finish theirs.”

    Fairview’s Austin Dahl controlled the pass, turned towards goal and shot left side on Cameron Casey. Dahl’s shot went just over the outstretched hands of Casey and found the back of the net.

    Dahl finished, but it was Sajji Singh that set it up. Singh stole the ball from Boulder’s Omar Castruita at midfield and found Dahl at the top of the box.

    Boulder broke through in the 48th minute. It was Daniel Zapatero that shot a ball so hard it went through the net to tie the game, 1-1.

    Fairview Boulder boys soccer
    (Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    “Daniel (Zapatero) has been tremendous with effort,” Kalisher said. “Each game, he’s been very close to getting some finishes, so tonight, to get the equalizer from a guy who might weigh 105 pounds is pretty great.”

    Nick McCabe was busy for the Panthers, as his teammates found him streaking towards the net twice. McCabe put a low, skipping shot on net that was saved. Then, McCabe tried to leave a pass in front of goal, but the Fairview defense cleared the chance.

    Boulder’s best scoring opportunity in the first half came on a free kick in the 37th minute. Fairview’s goalie had the ball go off his hands and fall into a scrum at the front of the net. The ball went out of bounds for a corner.

    The Panthers found motivation in playing their style of play. Castruita put it as, “Just another day at the office.”

    “Play the Boulder way,” Castruita said. “Just a love for eachother. We know we can trust those around us. Myself and my teammates try to make everyone around us better. Make better players.”

    Boulder isn’t fazed by a halftime deficit. Kalisher and the Panthers relish the opportunity.

    “We want to be down 1-0 at this point in the season and see what we’re made of,” Kalisher said. “We responded well. Trust the players you have on the field, trust the guys who have the experience. They came through.”

    Casey came through in goal. Zapatero came through with the equalizer. Castruita came through with the finisher.

    “We don’t rebuild,” Castruita said. “We reload.”

    And the Panthers seem to have done just that so far this season with wins over No. 2 Broomfield and No. 4 Fairview.

  • Sterling volleyball coach Lisa Schumacher notches win No. 400

    (Courtesy of Sterling HS)

    Sterling volleyball coach Lisa Schumacher won the 400th game of her career on Thursday night.

    Schumacher’s Tigers beat Fort Morgan 25-23, 21-25, 25-16 and 25-15 to open their season. According to the school, that victory helped her reach the milestone.

    After Thursday’s win, Schumacher is now 400-211 in her career.

    “It was a pretty unique experience last night,” Schumacher said on Friday. “The atmosphere, our kids, and the cheering section was awesome.”

    (Courtesy of Sterling HS)

    Schumacher’s daughters, Allie, a freshman on the team, and Kirsten, who graduated from Sterling in 2010 and played for her mom, were both there, and a number of her former athletes also attended the match.

    “It was very, very nice,” Schumacher said. “It was nice to be home on our home court. It was pretty special.”

    But the coach didn’t want to make too much of a deal out of the milestone.

    “Whenever you’re playing a match, it is important,” she said. “I don’t know, it’s a big deal, but it’s kind of not a big deal because we have a lot more games to go. It’s more like, ‘Yes! We got another win. We still have 24 more to go!’”

    Schumacher is actually a Sterling graduate (in 1986), and is now in her 24th year as head coach at the school. She started as an assistant in 1991, and took the reigns of the program in 1993.

    “I never planned on this,” Schumacher said of her longevity at the school. “I thought I would probably move back up on the Front Range and I never left. I love my job.

    “I’ve been very blessed to be at Sterling High School with the staff and the coaching staff and the administration that I’ve had throughout the years,” she added later. “I feel that I’m very, very lucky.”

    Schumacher led the Tigers to a Class 4A championship in 2005. They were runner-up in 2003, and placed third in 1994.

    Sterling went 21-6 last season, and advanced to the 3A state tournament. It was the fifth consecutive season the Tigers had reached the tourney.

    “If you look at my state championships? Yeah, one,” Schumacher said. “I sit there and I go, ‘OK, Lisa, is it about state championships, or is it about making the best with what you have and trying to make a run at it every year you can?’

    “Sometimes it’s the bigger picture of the people you’ve met, the kids that you’ve helped, and sometimes it’s more the kids who have help you become a better person and a better coach yourself,” she continued. “Is the whole big picture on wins and losses? Sometimes I don’t think so.

    “If I have more kids loving the sport of volleyball and wanting to be a great person and a hard-worker in life, and they’re able to stand on their own feet, to me that’s what probably brings me more joy and happiness knowing I’ve helped someone go in the right direction.”

    In 2013, Schumacher won the Helen McCall Memorial Coach of the Year award, given annually by the Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports. She has also previously served on CHSAA’s volleyball committee.

    “She was honestly one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” Schumacher’s oldest daughter, Kirsten, told the crowd after the match on Thursday. “I’m not saying that just because she is my mom, but because she truly is great at what she does. I know I can speak for all her players when I say thank you for everything you’ve done.”

    (Courtesy of Sterling HS)

  • New era officially begins for Golden football under Jared Yannacito

    Golden coach Jared Yannacito led his Demons onto the field for the first time Thursday at NAAC. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    ARVADA — It might seem like an eternity since Golden football played in the Class 4A state championship game in 2002.

    In fact, the starting quarterback for the Demons 15 years ago was Mark Melancon. Golden’s three-sport athlete has pitched for six Major League Baseball teams (New York Yankees, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants) and been named to three MLB All-Star Games since Golden was edged by Monarch in the 2002 4A title game.

    It has been a struggle for the football program at Golden over the past several years. The last winning season for the team was in 2009.

    First-year coach Jared Yannacito, a Pomona High School graduate and former offensive coordinator for the Panthers, hopes to turn the Demons’ football program around from the ground up.

    “The thing as coaches we are building is just a family, building a team again,” Yannacito said after the Demons’ season opener Thursday night. “Our big motto has been ‘Close the gap’. I think fans saw it and coaches saw it. The kids played as hard as they could. I’m really proud of them.”

    Golden junior Jordan Fehrn celebrates after a touchdown catch. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Yannacito and his Demons officially kicked off the new era of Golden football against Skyline at the North Area Athletic Complex. The Falcons shut out the Demons 41-0 a year ago in the season opener. It was the beginning of a 1-9 season for Golden.

    It was a much different story this time around. The Demons actually led 13-12 at halftime. Golden kept it going in the third quarter too.

    Senior Joe Madsen caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback David O’Connell with 2:08 left in the third quarter to give the Demons a 27-20 lead.

    “I’m still in shock. I think it’s awesome that we were tied up with a team that beat us by almost 50 points last year,” said Madsen, who eight catches for 62 yards and was also an impact player on defense. “We were in contention to win it. This team is on the rise and I’m really proud to be a part of it.”

    While Golden had the feel-good story going through late in the third quarter. The Falcons showed they had the resilience to grab the momentum and game away from the Demons.

    Skyline scored four unanswered touchdowns from late in the third quarter until the final whistle to come away with a 48-27 victory.

    Skyline junior Jeremy Hollingsworth rushed for four TDs in the Falcons’ 48-27 win. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    “I’ve been part of a new coaching staff. I understand the fire and excitement,” said Skyline junior running back Jeremy Hollingsworth, who finished with 12 carries for 91 yards and four touchdowns. “Golden played a great game, but I think we helped them out in the first half for sure.”

    Skyline junior quarterback Nate McGregor had an impressive game going 12-for-16 through the air for 225 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also rushed for 69 yards. Junior Kyle West was McGregor’s favorite target making nine grabs for 172 yards and a touchdown.

    “The offense that we run. What can you do to stop it? Pick your poison,” Hollingsworth said. “We are going to do it until teams stop us.”

    West did his part on defense to seal the win. His interception and 50-yard scamper into the end zone for a defensive score in the final minutes of the fourth quarter finished off the flurry of points by the Falcons.

    “They (Hollingsworth, McGregor and West) let us bring an exciting brand of football,” Skyline coach Michael Silva said. “If you play with energy and focus on all levels it’s fun to watch.”

    Silva admitted his players probably overlooked the Demons after the shutout win a year ago, but he was proud of how is team responded in the second half to pull out the victory. Skyline stays on the road as the Falcons face Coronado next Thursday at Don Breese Stadium in Colorado Springs.

    “Skyline is a heck of a football team,” Yannacito said. “They have some skill guys who can go the distance on any given play.”

    Golden hits the road next week to face Littleton on Thursday, Sept. 7.

    “Everyone tonight realizes — even if we didn’t come out with a victory — that the culture has changed,” Yannacito said. “It’s a new era. We have to let this soak in a little bit and get ready for Littleton next week.”

    Golden senior Scott Holman (7) attempts to break away from Skyline defenders during the first half. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)