Sand Creek has a found the man to take over for David Ramirez. Tuesday afternoon, the school tweeted out that Ricky Lobato has been named the new football coach.
Lobato was on the staff at Coronado last year as the special teams coordinator and h-backs coach. He has previous experience on the coaching staff at Sand Creek where was the running backs coach and special teams coordinator in 2016.
“He’s energetic and passionate about what he does he has a plan for growth,” Sand Creek athletic director Brian Petzold said. “He’s someone that can move the program forward with long sustainable success.”
This will be Lobato’s first head coaching job and he is anxious to dive into the experience head-first.
“I’m looking forward to getting into it with the kids and learning from them and helping them learn,” Lobato said. “I want to get the wheels going again at Sand Creek.”
“With coach Ramirez I learned a ton of stuff about high expectations and holding kids accountable,” Lobato said. “Even with coach (Monte) Gutowski (at Coronado). My football knowledge has exploded being around those two guys.”
There are aspects of what Ramirez left behind that Petzold believes Lobato can build on while also putting his own twist to bring success to a program that hasn’t experienced a winning season since 2013.
“I kind of always look at that as there are always things we can build on what’s happened in the past,” Petzold said. “We’ll take the strong things that we have in place that Dave put there and grow from there. Dave did some things well that will allow us to take a step forward without having to go back to square one.”
If you like to eat your breakfast with a spoon (as opposed to drinking it through a straw), what better way to start your day than with this cool, nutrient-rich breakfast? Smoothie bowls have endless possibilities depending on your taste preferences. All you need is a good blender, a bowl and spoon, and your ingredients and toppings of choice.
In a blender, combine:
½ – 1 cup frozen fruit: Try frozen mixed berries, mangos, cherries, or another frozen fruit favorite.
Fresh fruits or vegetables: You might consider ½ to 1 whole fresh banana. The banana adds a nice creaminess to your smoothie bowl. The riper the banana, the sweeter it will be. Or try adding a handful of kale or baby spinach, some roasted beets or fresh peaches.
¼ – ½ cup milk plus ½ – 1 cup vanilla Greek-style yogurt – OR – ½ to 1 cup kefir
Other ingredients of your choosing: Perhaps 1 Tablespoon chia sees, a spoonful of nut butter, a sprinkle of flaxseeds or a scoop of whey protein powder.
Blend until smooth and creamy and pour in a bowl. Play around with the amount of milk/yogurt or kefir, keeping in mind that the thicker the smoothie, the easier it is to eat with a spoon.
A smoothie bowl is not complete without the toppings. Try fresh or dried fruit, a sprinkle of granola, nuts, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, unsweetened shredded coconut, crushed graham crackers or a few chocolate chips. Let your creativity inspire you!
Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Banana Smoothie Bowl
Ingredients
½ or 1 whole frozen banana
1 cup vanilla yogurt
¼ cup oats
2 to 3 tsp cocoa powder
1 tablespoon peanut butter
Splash of milk
Instructions
Place frozen banana, yogurt, oats, cocoa powder, peanut butter and milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour in a serving bowl. Garnish with toppings of choice.
Johnson also plays basketball and participates in track as a thrower. He has played in 14 games for the Falcons’ boys basketball team this winter as a forward.
Mountain Vista’s Jenna Fitzsimmons, the reigning Class 5A individual champion, has been named Colorado’s girls cross country runner of the year by Gatorade.
She is the first girl from Mountain Vista to win the XC award. Fitzsimmons is the fourth recipient from the school in any sport.
Fitzsimmons, a sophomore, won the 5A title with a time of 18:10.3, and also helped the Golden Eagles win the team title. She placed sixth at the Nike Cross Nationals Southwest Regional championships, and 30th at the NXN Final.
After the season, she was named the 5A runner of the year as part of the all-state teams.
Fitzsimmons also has a 4.0 GPA, and volunteers locally to assist special needs children.
“Jenna works extremely hard and is one of the most coachable athletes to come through our program,” Mountain Vista coach Eric Selle said in a statement. “She’s very humble and always puts the team goals ahead of any individual goals she may have.”
We caught some nice individual performances from top players/teams but then this young man from Golden comes out and claims a 47-point double-double effort that may have been one of the best of the year. Adam Thistlewood has Golden on a mission!
Speaking of focused, our Ball Fever “chat” caught up with a senior star from the No. 2 squad in 5A, ThunderRidge, and Kaison Hammonds is ready to lead by example … with his mates ready to do “whatever it takes!”
Big man Tre Pierre got Thursday started with a 20 point, 13 rebound double-double in Widefield’s 8-point win over Sierra. Derrian Reed scored 24 in the loss.
Quite a night for junior Grant Wilkinson who exploded for 39 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in Pine Creek’s 18-point win over Coronado.
No. 3 Chaparral was without stud junior Ronnie DeGray III but his running mate Kobe Sanders simply caught fire nailing 7 three pointers for the Wolverines as they beat Heritage by 14. Sanders finished with 25 points total.
Young soph Mark Oneil scored 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists to help Fairview snatch “braggin rights” from rival Boulder 57-44.
Friday, Jan. 26
(Marlee Smith/CHSAANow.com)
Due to a HEAVY road schedule GW Hoops held their senior night on Friday and Denver South didn’t know they were in for a Patriot Party as “G-dubb” rolled 82-46. How about NINE big blocks for senior Tray Pierce on the night and fellow senior Jon’il Fuggett added the scoring punch with 29!
Smoky Hill looking to get back in our top 10 and more importantly a signature league win which they earned Friday night over No. 7 Grandview. Junior Kenny Foster is increasing his scoring pace and now at 15 points per game.
No. 5 Denver East held Thomas Jefferson to single digits in two separate quarters and that led to a big blow out of 40 points with junior Kwane Marble “stat-stuffin” 20 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 6 steals!
Silver Creek cooled off a bit and is now No. 7 in the poll but hit Northridge with a 25 point loss and Trent Dykema secured a nice double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds. Quite a feat from the guard spot!
Ryan Ongala helped Rangeview take “braggin Aurora rights” from Vista Peak scoring 19 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in the 56-53 win.
Upset CITY! Pueblo West who was handled by Pueblo South also lost a heart breaking 1-point loss to upset minded Pueblo East who are led by Marcus Winston in points and rebounds this season.
No. 1 Lewis-Palmer wasn’t messing around vs. Sand Creek winning by over 40 points and Joel Scott scores 28 to go along with Matt Raggsdale’s 16 on the night.
Golden, 4A No. 4 last week, beat a solid D’Evelyn team by an impressive 20 points and Adam Thistlewood might just have hit the “MONSTA” double-double of the year dropping 47 points with 10 rebounds! Watch this team to use adversity to make a late season run.
Junior A. Rodriguez scored 27 for Pueblo Centennial but not enough to halt hot Pueblo South who showed no let down in the 68-57 win.
Saturday, Jan. 27
(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Our state’s No. 2 5A squad ThunderRidge continues roll along at 14-1 and the teams senior leader took some time for a “Ball Fever” Chat after Saturday’s thumping of Legend 79-54.
Senior Kaison Hammonds is leading the Grizzlies at 16 points per game and his love for T-Ridge shines through as he explains that including Gold Crown youth ball he’s been a part of the program for 9 years
“I feel like our team has been working hard and we’ve been pushing each other to get over the hump and win a state championship,” said Hammonds, who added he remembers losing the state title to Overland and a Final 4 loss last season.
Hammonds commented that he loves the way his teammates will do whatever it takes to win, “Whether that’s playing hard defense, or taking a charge that changes momentum, my teammates and I will do whatever!”
Hammonds feels his memories of tough losses and experience will help T-Ridge come playoff time, but right now he’s focused on league play saying, “Rivalries versus Rock Canyon and Mountain Vista, playing in front of pack Continental crowds” is what he really enjoys. “There’s nothing like it!”
Look for this talented young man to play long beyond our high school scene. He has next level ability, gives his all on BOTH ends of the floor, and that will make some college coach happy in the future.
Mesa Ridge joined last week’s top ten and if they keep 5 players scoring double figures like they did in putting up 88 points on Canon City they may very well stay. Senior Tristan Widic led all with 22 points.
Montbello (FNE) is short their senior star Sindou Cisse due to injury during the Kansas tournament and that didn’t bode well for their ThunderDome “city showdown” with No. 5 Denver East. Stud Daylen Kountz took full advantage of Cisse’s absence scoring a game high 26 points with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals in the Angels blowout win.
Speaking of Continental league rivalries, No. 1 Rock Canyon may have another senior we can add to “The Firm” of Gilbert, Masten, and Williams! Joe Bryson scored 10 points and pulled down 5 rebounds to join “The Firm” in double digit scoring taking down the Eagles 68-53 to keep the Jags unbeaten on the season.
Evergreen, up to No. 8 last week in 4A, gave 22 points to Standley Lake’s Garrett Martin but they held on for the home win by 13.
Longmont, led by Luke Johnson averaging 18 points per game, routed Roosevelt by 45 Saturday!
No. 6 Valor used a team, defensive effort to hold Littleton to 39 while putting up 56 of their own and the full roster contributed to the scoring column.
Lewis-Palmer shaking off that first loss to a 4A squad and got 41 combined points from Joel Scott/Matt Ragsdale to hold on to that top spot in win over Erie.
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The Look Ahead
Monday, Jan. 29
Denver East looks to hurt Denver North in the city…
Silver Creek vs. Littleton.
Falcon vs. Cheyenne Mountain, southern action.
Elizabeth, No. 10 4A, vs. Sierra.
Mesa Ridge broke in top 10 too and face Classical Academy.
Tuesday, Jan. 30
Longmont faces Mountain View.
Douglas County gets their shot at No. 1 Rock Canyon!
Highlands Ranch/Pondo in other Continental action.
Hot GW eyes Kennedy in the city.
Fort Collins & Fossil Ridge rivalry up north!
Castle View & Regis.
No. 2 T-Ridge looks to pounce on Heritage.
Wednesday, Jan. 31
Hot Golden faces Wheat Ridge. How does Thistlewood follow-up 47!??
Vista Ridge with a chance at No. 1 Lewis-Palmer.
Smoky Hill must leave no doubt vs. C-Trail.
Valor vs. Green Mountain.
Elizabeth hosts Harrison.
Evergreen will be tested by D’Evelyn.
Grandview & Arap!
Overland vs. Creek in Centennial, too.
Mesa Ridge and Widefield both 12-4!
Thursday, Feb. 1
Montbello (FNE) vs. D South in the city.
Doherty vs. Pine Creek!
Liberty/Palmer down south as well.
Friday, Feb. 2
Highly-anticipated 5A Top 5: Chaparral/Rock Canyon is here!
Pueblo South tries to continue domination vs. P Central.
Lincoln/Denver East is good Denver Prep League ball!
Not good news for Niwot that Longmont is comin!
Legend faces Regis.
Gets real good in 4A: Top 10 Valor & Golden get it on.
ThunderRidge/Highlands Ranch in rival “braggin’ rights”!
Pueblo County/Pueblo West down south.
Falcon & Lewis-Palmer won’t let you down!
Elizabeth vs. Widefield.
C Trail/Grandview closes out the night!
Saturday, Feb. 3
Arap/Eaglecrest have your 2 pm Centennial stuff!
H Ranch & Denver South non league fun.
Pueblo West vs. Liberty.
Pine Creek testing Pueblo South!
Rocky Mountain at Longmont.
Overland & Smoky Hill will be rockin’ to close the week!
An action packed week lies ahead of us folks with some highly anticipated top games. Can’t wait!
Pueblo South (4A) and Holly (1A) took over the top spots in their respective basketball rankings this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Chaparral has entered this week’s hockey rankings, joining at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, the poll will release each Monday.
Three new teams broke into the girls basketball rankings this week: Eaton (3A), Paonia (2A) and Haxtun (2A).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
First-place votes are in parentheses.
Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.
Class 5A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Regis Jesuit (8)
14-3
111
1
1-0
2
Horizon (3)
16-1
107
5
2-0
3
Grandview (2)
13-3
96
3
2-0
4
Highlands Ranch
14-4
92
4
1-1
5
Ralston Valley
14-2
78
2
2-1
6
Lakewood
14-3
64
8
2-0
7
Castle View
16-2
48
6
2-0
8
Fruita Monument
16-1
46
7
1-0
9
Cherry Creek
12-4
31
10
2-0
10
Fossil Ridge
13-4
27
9
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Fort Collins 6, Doherty 4, Mountain Vista 4, Columbine 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Pueblo West (14)
15-1
158
1
2-0
2
Evergreen (2)
15-1
130
4
2-0
3
Holy Family
15-2
128
2
2-0
4
Air Academy
16-1
99
5
3-0
5
Golden
15-2
95
3
1-1
6
Mesa Ridge
13-2
73
6
3-0
7
Valor Christian
13-4
65
7
2-0
8
Windsor
12-4
43
8
2-0
9
D’Evelyn
12-5
27
10
1-1
10
Thomas Jefferson
15-2
24
9
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Widefield 22, Pueblo South 4, Rifle 3, Centaurus 2, Mountain View 2, Pueblo County 2, Greeley Central 1, Mead 1, Skyview 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
St. Mary’s (10)
13-0
127
1
2-0
2
Colorado Springs Christian (1)
13-2
108
3
2-0
3
Centauri (1)
14-1
98
2
1-1
4
Pagosa Springs (1)
12-2
96
4
2-0
5
Lamar
11-3
68
5
1-1
6
Kent Denver
12-2
55
7
1-0
7
Resurrection Christian
13-1
43
8
2-0
8
Cedaredge
11-1
35
6
1-1
9
Sterling
10-4
29
9
2-0
10
Eaton
13-2
15
–
3-0
Others receiving votes:
Jefferson Academy 11, Manitou Springs 6, Lutheran 5, Moffat County 5, Grand Valley 4, Delta 3, Alamosa 2, St. Mary’s Academy 2, University 2, DSST-College View 1.
Dropped out
University (10).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Yuma (9)
13-0
107
1
3-0
2
Wray
11-3
76
3
2-1
3
Swink
12-2
66
2
1-1
4
Del Norte (1)
11-3
65
6
2-0
5
Limon
11-1
38
5
1-1
6
Holyoke
12-2
35
4
2-0
7
Paonia
9-5
33
–
1-2
8
Haxtun
8-4
30
–
1-0
9
Simla
11-1
29
7
3-0
10
Ignacio
11-0
25
8
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Denver Christian 20, Lyons 15, Soroco 15, Evangelical Christian 10, Highland 8, Akron 7, Meeker 7, Clear Creek 5, Ellicott 5, Sanford 5, Burlington 3, Center 1.
Dropped out
Denver Christian (9), Soroco (10).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Kit Carson (15)
13-0
159
1
4-0
2
Fleming
12-1
137
3
2-0
3
Kim/Branson (1)
11-2
112
2
0-1
4
Briggsdale
11-2
109
4
0-1
5
Sangre de Cristo
13-1
94
5
1-0
6
Holly
10-4
67
6
1-2
7
Springfield
8-4
57
10
1-1
8
Antonito
10-3
44
7
2-0
9
Heritage Christian
11-2
41
8
2-0
10
La Veta
11-2
31
9
4-0
Others receiving votes:
Eads 23, McClave 22, Sierra Grande 11, North Park 10, Wiley 7, Cheraw 4, Cotopaxi 4, Belleview Christian 3.
Liberty has named Erick Gossage its new football coach, the school announced on Monday.
Gossage had been the offensive and defensive line coach for the Lancers the past two seasons. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator at Sand Creek and Palmer, and has also been an assistant at Coronado, Wasson, Watson Junior High and Palmer.
He takes over for Marc Sites, who was 13-27 in four seasons.
Liberty was 2-8 last year in Class 4A.
Gossage is a cousin of baseball Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, who went to high school at Wasson.
ARVADA — There should be some thank you cards or emails coming to Arvada West’s boys basketball team in the coming days.
A-West knocked off league-leading Bear Creek with a 66-41 home victory Saturday afternoon to turn the race for the Class 5A Jeffco League title into a free-for-all.
“This league is so crazy. It’s the wackiest thing I’ve seen in the 16 years I’ve been in the conference,” A-West coach Jeff Parriott said after his Wildcats (11-6, 6-2 in league) jumped into a tie for first with Bear Creek (10-5, 6-2) in 5A Jeffco. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Every team can beat anybody. No score is going to surprise anybody.”
A-West senior James Pelon (12) goes up for two of his 22 points Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
The 5A Jeffco League has been unpredictable this season and is still up for grabs with six conference games remaining for all eight teams.
Besides A-West and Bear Creek still in the mix to stake claim to the league title, Columbine (5-3) along with Chatfield, Dakota Ridge and Lakewood — all sitting at 4-4 in conference play — have legit shots at getting hot over the next three weeks to take league.
“If you are within two or three games of the top spot you feel like you have a chance to win the league title,” Parriott said.
A-West increased its chances with a third straight conference victory. A huge point of the game proved to be a 9-0 run put on single-handedly by A-West senior James Pelon.
The senior guard buried a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first quarter. Pelon kept it going with two more from long range in the opening minutes of the second quarter to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 18-8.
“We had a mindset today to come out and give it our all like it was our last game,” said Pelon, who finished with a game-high 22 points. “Our focus was defense and defense brings offense. We were super solid on defense.”
Bear Creek’s Jovan Dodig (2) goes strong to the basket Saturday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Bear Creek was held to a season-low 41 points as the A-West focused on slowing down senior guards Manuel Perez and Jovan Dodig. Perez was held to five points, while Dodig did manage 20 points with his aggressive style of driving to the basket.
“I thought defensively our guys were really good tonight,” Perriott said. “(Manual Perez) is such a terrific player. I thought our guys did a heck of a job on him. I’m really proud of how my guys played tonight.”
The Bears went to full-court aggressive defense in the second half in an attempt to close the double-digit deficit. While the style led to some steals, it also lead to numerous fouls.
Four of five starters for the Bears fouled out with more than five minutes left in the game. A-West went 20-for-26 from the free-throw line in the second half to seal the victory.
Junior Josh Rogers (12 points) and senior Isaiah Brewer (11 points) joined Pelon in double-digit points for A-West.
“Life gives you adversity and tonight is that adversity,” Bear Creek coach Will Gosch said. “We got punched in the mouth and we didn’t show up. I give a lot of credit to Jeff (Parriott). I knew A-West would be a well-prepared team and we weren’t. We’ll learn from this.”
A-West junior Joseph Call drives to the basket. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Gosch admitted that if someone told him at the beginning of the season that his Bears would be tied for the conference lead with six league games left he would take it.
According to Jeffco League records, Bear Creek hasn’t won a boys basketball league title since the 1992-93 season. The Bears claimed the 6A Jeffco League championship 25 years ago.
The Bears have their final two regular-season home games of the season next week. Bear Creek hosts Ralston Valley on Wednesday and Dakota Ridge on Friday. Both are 7 p.m. tip-offs. The Bears close with six straight road games, four conference and two non-league games.
A-West heads to Dakota Ridge on Wednesday and host Chatfield on Friday.
“Always focus on the next game,” Pelon said when asked about what will be an interesting final three weeks to league play. “We are already preparing for Dakota Ridge and hopefully get the win our their court Wednesday.”
A-West and Bear Creek are now tied atop the 5A Jeffco League standings with six conference games remaining. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
