Kennedy High School is set to be honored this week for its work with Unified Sports.
The school will be recognized at the Special Olympics Colorado Hall of Fame Luncheon this Thursday at the Hyatt Regency in Denver with the Doug Fulton Unified Champion School Kindness Award.
Kennedy recently started its seventh year as a Special Olympics Unified Champion School. The school offers Unified Sports teams for soccer, flag football, bowling and cheerleading.
“The entire school supports a unified model which allows students with and without disabilities to come together and share the importance of inclusion in sport,” according to a release from Denver Public Schools.
The program was started by athletic director Chris Enzminger, Terry Bredehoft, Cami Jensen, Melissa Klomp and Tom Lynch.
After failing to beat La Junta twice last year, Kent Denver needed this one. And with a late field goal, the top-ranked team in the Class 2A CHSAANow.com football poll got it.
The Sun Devils came away with a 10-7 win over the Tigers to somewhat avenge last year’s defeats, the latter of which came in the 2A state title game.
“Anytime you lose the state championship game you have a bad taste in your mouth,” Kent Denver coach Scott Yates said. “All our kids and coaches wanted to try and erase it.”
The win is the 319th for Yates, who remains tied with West Grand’s Chris Brown for the most in state history.
The Tigers (3-1 overall) jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the end of the first quarter.
But the lead wouldn’t hold.
Kent Denver (4-0) was able to tie the game before halftime and the two teams came out unwilling to give each other any more points.
Still locked in a 7-7 tie, it was Kent Denver who would get the edge as Quinn Voboril kicked a late field goal which proved to be the game winner.
“We had to stop them in order to get the ball with enough time to go down the field. That created a little momentum for us,” Yates said. “It gives you an uplift and said let’s do something with it. We marched the ball down the field pretty well.”
The Sun Devils open league play next week when they hit the road and travel to Elizabeth. The Tigers also begin league play next week, hosting TCA.
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8-man: (8) Hoehne 44, (2) Daypsring Christian 37
Hoehne built a 22-8 lead at halftime, but Dayspring Christian did everything possible to make up ground in the second half. But 22 points in the third quarter alone wasn’t going to cut it.
The Farmers were able to put up 22 more points in the second half and finish off the upset over 8-man’s second-ranked team.
Senior Jacob Yates had 202 yards and two touchdowns for Hoehne. Kyle Rowe also rushed for two scores, and Riley Hudson added one.
Christian Still, a freshman, tossed three touchdown passes for Dayspring Christian — all of them to senior Jimmy Fargo.
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5A: (5) Regis Jesuit 24, (9) Highlands Ranch 0
It took Regis Jesuit almost a full 24 minutes of game time to find the end zone. But after scoring just once in the first half, the Raiders turned up the heat in the second.
They added two touchdowns and field goal to get a big win over a top-10 opponent.
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1A: (3) Strasburg 14, (4) Limon 12
Strasburg handed Limon its first loss of the season on Saturday.
The Indians scored touchdown a in each the first and fourth quarters and that was all that was needed to move to 3-1 on the season.
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8-man: (9) Merino 14, (10) McClave 8
Merino remained undefeated on the year with a 14-8 win over McClave. It’s the first loss for the Cardinals, who broke into the 8-man rankings last week.
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Notables:
No. 3 Cheyenne Wells beat No. 5 Kit Carson in a top-10 game in 6-man, 14-12.
Monarch is now 4-0 following a 14-10 win over Brighton in 4A.
Blayden Fletcher rushed for five touchdowns and 227 yards in North Park’s 47-42 win over Briggsdale. He also had 11 tackles and a sack on defense.
Noah Roper’s great season continues: He had 276 yards and three touchdowns as Erie beat Centaurus 38-13 in 3A. Erie is 4-0.
5A No. 10 Fairview rolled over Prairie View 68-0. Sophomore quarterback Aiden Atkinson threw for 305 yards and three touchdowns. Mariano Kemp, Brian Moreno and Jake Sheerin each rushed for two scores. Sheerin also had a receiving touchdown.
Calvin Pope rushed for 135 yards and a touchdown as Denver East beat Hinkley 50-19 for its first win this season.
Gilpin County improved to 3-1 following a 54-0 win over Belleview Christian.
Thane Duzenack threw a touchdown pass for Mitchell and the Marauders beat Ridge View Academy 22-6 to win their first game this season.
Golden beat Far Northeast 17-14. David O’Connell threw two touchdown passes. Jack Walters recovered two fumbles.
James LaCerte had two touchdowns and 182 yards rushing for Cheyenne Mountain in its 30-7 win over Lincoln.
DJ King threw three touchdowns and had 199 yards passing as Mesa Ridge beat George Washington 49-22. Ju-Wan Edgerton added two rushing scores.
Grant Baker returned an interception 47 yards for a touchdown, and then held up as Colorado Springs Christian beat Valley 7-0.
BOULDER — Fairview’s Myles Ellis threw up his hands and ran full speed to embrace his teammates in a rain soaked jersey.
Ellis skipped a shot towards the far post and into the back of the net to give No. 5 Fairview a 1-0 win against No. 3 Broomfield. The Knights now sit in the driver’s seat of Class 5A’s Front Range League.
“It gave us the confidence that we needed, and it allowed our energy to stay high,” Fairview coach Jeff Frykholm said. “It’s certainly better going into halftime up a goal, figuring out how to keep it than trying to chase a goal. Big goal, great start for us, and super finish by Myles.”
Ellis’ ninth-minute goal came on a counter-attack as he streaked down the right side of the field and was fed a near perfect pass.
The message was clear. An energized Fairview squad came out to prove they belong.
“We have to come out. We have to show out tonight,” Fairview senior M Steiner said on the feeling in the locker room. “Our energy was key. After every play, we were there to pick eachother up. We were able to keep eachother going and keep driving for the entire 80 minutes.”
Broomfield came out attacking early, but Fairview’s back line was able to absorb the pressure and clear any chances.
“That was really big for us,” Frykholm said. “So many teams have sat back against us, and when you score early, it opens the game up. Broomfield, they love to play. They love to get up and down. It’s so much more enjoyable where you’re using the whole field as opposed to everything getting condensed.”
The same unit kept the game at 1-0 when the Eagles ripped a line drive shot towards Fairview goalie Luc Albuisson. A Fairview defender stepped in front of the rocket and deflected it wide.
Albuisson came up big in the 50th minute and dove in front of a cross before Broomfield’s Sawyer Giles could attempt a touch in front of the net.
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
And again, it was Albuisson keeping the game at 1-0. He dove to his left and made a save on a Tanner Smith shot.
“Those guys in the back played so well,” Frykholm said. “I don’t know how many balls they cleared under pressure inside our 18. Just ball, after ball, after ball. They really showed their leadership and experience tonight. That was not easy, that was tough.
“(Broomfield) threw a lot of bodies in there, and I’m proud of the way that they stood tall and won. They had courage to win ball after ball.”
Minutes before Ellis scored, Josh Kim gave Fairview its first chance. Kim worked his way through the defense in the box and tried a shot, but it was blocked.
“I would say we were definitely very excited at the beginning of the game,” Steiner said. “It’s a big rivalry game between the two schools. It definitely helped with the momentum. We knew that we were able to come out and play well and beat them at the very beginning. That’s been a problem for us.
“Since the beginning, we haven’t been able to come out with energy, but I think that has changed from now on. We’re here to play the whole 80 minutes.”
The weather certainly played a part in how the teams approached the game. Constant rain made the turf slippery and the ball move, and skip, quick.
“It was sloppy. That was not a typical Fairview effort in terms of ball possession and ball movement,” Frykholm said. “It ended up being a little bit of a street fight for us. A lot of balls in the air, a lot of knockdowns. Broomfield sent a lot of balls in. To be honest, we didn’t get into a very good rhythm tonight.
“Sometimes, you have to find other ways to win and it’s certainly no less enjoyable.”
The win puts Fairview in sole possession of first place in Class 5A’s Front Range League.
As the national climate focuses on and sensationalizes stories regarding symbolism and racial incidents, CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green released the following statement in light of of some recent incidents:
“We all assess situations and how we interpret them through our lens of culture and experiences. Our purpose as an Association is to ensure that all student participants, officials and fans attend all interscholastic events free of intimidation. What we permit, we promote. And, I believe our member schools are aligned with ‘zero tolerance,’” CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green said.
“It all comes down to respect. Respect for our cultural, geographical and diverse educational environments.”
The Colorado High School Activities Association and its member schools adopt policies that are designed to help students learn life skills in an environment called educational athletics and activities.
An important skill is respect. Schools are empowered by the Association to create an environment where each student’s perspective grows through the diverse competitive high school experience without fear of discrimination based on who they are, how they look or where they live.
Students are learning how to be involved in something bigger than themselves and we look to coaches, administrators and parents to model what’s important in our world today.
