CHSAANow

Month: May 2018

  • Grandview, Windsor, Jefferson Academy and Dawson take top seeds in girls soccer tournaments

    The Academy Peak to Peak girls soccer
    (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    Girls soccer’s state tournament brackets were released for all classes on Sunday, signaling the official start of postseason play for team sports.

    Grandview, Windsor, Jefferson Academy and Dawson took the No. 1 seeds in their respective brackets, which used the final RPI standings of the regular season as the primary seeding factor.

    Find the full brackets here:

    Play will begin on Tuesday for Class 5A and 2A while 4A and 3A will get things rolling on Wednesday.

    Championship games will be held on Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on May 22 (3A and 2A) and 23 (5A and 4A).

    [divider]

    Class 5A

    Arapahoe Grandview girls soccer
    (Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com)

    The Wolves come in as the top seed after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to eventual state champion Mountain Vista a year ago. They capped off an undefeated season with a 1-0 win over Columbine on Saturday. They also finished unbeaten in Centennial League play and won the league Fintitle outright.

    Defending champion Mountain Vista is seeded fifth in the tournament.

    Broomfield, Rock Canyon and Fruita Monument are the top seeds for each quadrant of the bracket.

    Find the complete 5A girls soccer bracket here.

    [divider]

    Class 4A

    Dakota Ridge D'Evelyn girls soccer
    (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)

    The Wizards amassed a 14-0-1 record in the regular season and swept their way through the Tri-Valley League. That performance was good enough to earn them the top seed in the 4A tournament.

    Windsor fell just short of making it to last year’s title game, losing to Evergreen 2-1 in the semifinals.

    Defending 4A champion D’Evelyn grabbed the No. 4 seed in the bracket, meaning as long as they are playing, they will host each game leading up to the semifinals on May 19.

    Valor Christian and Holy Family are the other top seeds in their respective quadrants.

    Find the complete 4A girls soccer bracket here.

    [divider]

    Class 3A

    Jefferson Academy Manitou Springs girls soccer
    (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

    Perhaps no one had to do what Jefferson Academy did on its way to getting the top seed in the 3A bracket.

    The Jags played games against the six teams directly below them in the 3A RPI, going 4-2 along the way.

    Defending champion The Academy grabbed the No. 4 spot in the bracket, a better spot than last year when the entered the tournament at No. 6.

    Find the complete 3A girls soccer bracket here.

    [divider]

    Class 2A

    Dawson Denver Christian girls soccer
    (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)

    Dawson stayed well ahead of defending champion Denver Christian to grab the top spot in the 2A bracket. The Thunder will come into this year’s tournament as the No. 2 seed.

    The Mustangs didn’t lose a single game to a 2A team this year and their only two losses came to teams seeded in the top-10 of the 3A bracket.

    Fountain Valley (No. 3) and Crested Butte (No. 4) round out the top four teams in the 2A bracket and they, along with Dawson and Denver Christian, will start the tournament off with a bye.

    Find the complete 2A girls soccer bracket here.

  • Photos: Cole drives in three to lead Monarch baseball over Fossil Ridge

    LOUISVILLE — Ben Cole drove in three runs to help Monarch baseball wrap up the regular season with a 10-0 win over Fossil Ridge.

    [divider]

    [ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”1177″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_pro_mosaic” row_height=”180″ margins=”5″ last_row=”justify” lazy_load_enable=”1″ lazy_load_initial=”35″ lazy_load_batch=”15″ display_type_view=”default” ngg_proofing_display=”0″ captions_enabled=”1″ captions_display_sharing=”0″ captions_display_title=”0″ captions_display_description=”1″ captions_animation=”slideup” is_ecommerce_enabled=”1″ order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”10000″]

  • No. 7 Ralston Valley baseball gets another walk-off win against Dakota Ridge

    ARVADA — Baseball can be a strange, strange game.

    Dakota Ridge looked in perfect position Friday afternoon to score an upset victory over Ralston Valley, No. 7 in the current CHSAANow.com Class 5A baseball poll, in the semifinals of the 5A Jeffco League Tournament. The Eagles, fighting to grab enough RPI points to snag a spot in the 32-team postseason field, held a 4-0 lead through five innings with senior Cole Binder throwing a one-hit shutout.

    However, Ralston Valley (14-4, 7-2 in 5A Jeffco) woke up its bats and took advantage of a few of fielding miscues by the Eagles (8-10, 4-5) in the final two innings to take a 5-4 victory at Nate Jurney Field.

    Ralston Valley junior Elliot Stern (11) hit a big solo home run to begin the Mustangs’ 3-run seventh inning Friday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    “We just kept chipping away,” Ralston Valley coach Brad Madden said of the Mustangs’ rally in the final innings. “It was big hits by a number of different guys. That was one of the better team wins we’ve had for sure.”

    Ralston Valley junior Trey Adams lined a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to drive in junior AJ Jergensen for the walk-off victory. Adams was the only Mustang with multiple hits. Ralston Valley’s shortstop finished 3-for-4 with three singles and a pair of RBIs.

    “We keep saying — never say die,” said Jergensen, who had a 2-out RBI single earlier in the seventh inning to drive in the tying run.

    Junior Elliot Stern got things going for the Mustangs with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning to cut the Eagles’ lead to 4-3.

    “We really had a better approach later in the game,” said Ralston Valley junior Calvin Hunt, who reached on an error and scored on Jergensen’s single.

    Ralston Valley has a pair of walk-off victories against Dakota Ridge this season. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Junior Otto Jones reached on a throwing error after Jergensen tied things up. Adams then delivered the final blow to give the Mustangs a second walk-off victory against the Eagles this season. Ralston Valley edged Dakota Ridge 4-3 in a conference opener back on April 10.

    “It’s frustrating because we were in control and our defense just let us down,” Dakota Ridge coach Jeff Legault said. “Three errors in the last two innings, that’s been our Achilles heel. We thought we were over it, obviously not.”

    Hunt pitched 5 and 2/3 innings for the Mustangs. He was able to settle in after giving up four runnings in the first three innings. Sophomore lefty Billy Wall actually picked up the victory retiring all four batters he faced.

    The win, coupled with No. 8 Chatfield (12-6, 7-2) getting upset by Lakewood 9-2 in the other semifinal Friday, Ralston Valley hosts Lakewood (10-8, 5-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday in the 5A Jeffco Tournament title game.

    “We’ll hopefully go out tomorrow and take care of business,” Madden said of facing Lakewood. “In the big picture all that matters is RPI, seed and draw.”

    Ralston Valley junior Trey Adams receives the ball and tags out Dakota Ridge junior Henry Fox on a steal attempt Friday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    While winning a league title would be nice, it’s not the end goal for Ralston Valley.

    “League is one of our goals, but if that doesn’t work out we have bigger goals ahead of us,” Jergensen said.

    Chatfield hosts rival Dakota Ridge in the third-place game tomorrow. The Chargers could still win the league title if they defeat the Eagles since Chatfield has the head-to-head victory over Ralston Valley during league play.

    Legault believes it will be a must-win situation for Dakota Ridge, who defeated Chatfield 13-9 last week.

    “Our kids have been resilient all year. Lately we’ve been playing really good,” Legault said heading into Saturday’s third-place game and on the bubble to make the postseason. “Hopefully we do have a bounce back because I believe tomorrow is a playoff game. It’s win or stay home.”

    Ralston Valley sophomore Billy Wall picked up the victory on the mound retiring all four Dakota Ridge batters he faced in the final two innings. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

  • After getting delayed, No. 1 Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse beats No. 2 Columbine

    Mountain Vista Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse
    (Daniel Deschane/CHSAANow.com)

    The first attempt didn’t go all that well, but in the end Class 5A No. 1 Regis Jesuit boys lacrosse solidified its spot as the top team in the state with a 8-4 win over No. 2 Columbine.

    The Raiders had taken a 2-0 lead over the Rebels on Wednesday, but weather forced the majority of the game to be pushed back to Thursday. When play resumed, the Raiders (13-1) overall maintained that 2-0 lead with 8:39 left in the first quarter.

    Jake Taylor quickly added to the lead, making it a 3-0 game. Columbine finally got on the scoreboard, but Regis got one right back with Anders Erickson finding the back of the net.

    Reed Babcock and Erickson both scored goals in the second quarter to put the Raiders up 6-2 half.

    The scoring slowed for Regis in the second half, but the necessary damage had already been done. Taylor scored his second goal of the game in the third and Patrick Poe added one more in the fourth quarter.

    The win over Columbine is the 10th-straight win for the Raiders, who haven’t lost since a spring break trip to California where they fell 15-8 to Torrey Pines.

    They’ll conclude their regular season Friday when they travel to Denver South. Playoff seeding will be done this weekend, but as of Friday morning, Regis was sitting at No. 1 in the 5A RPI ratings.

    The Raiders fell to Cherry Creek in last year’s state title game. They last won the championship in 2016 with a 11-6 win over Arapahoe.

  • Girls tennis: Regional results and state qualifiers

    A database of qualifiers to the 2018 girls tennis state tournaments, sortable by class, position and region.

    Results are updated as they are entered from site directors at each regional.

    The state tennis draws and brackets will be available next week.

    [caspio method=”embed” subdomain=”true” url=”https://c0gaf245.caspio.com” appkey=”d2f23000c31444047cee48869c1a”]

  • 8th annual Vocal Gala set for Friday night at DU

    Music vocal gala DU Mountain View
    Mountain View. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

    CHSAA’s eighth annual Vocal Gala will be held on Friday night at the University of Denver’s Newman Center.

    A schedule of performances is below.

    [divider]

    Time School Director
    6 p.m. Rock Canyon Julia Dale
    6:15 p.m. Discovery Canyon MS Alyssa Miller
    6:30 p.m. Castle View Heath Walter
    6:45 p.m. Doherty Todd DiCamillo
    7 p.m. Standley Lake Cass Chatfield
    7:15 p.m. Palmer Ridge Arianne Thomas
    7:30 p.m. Woodland Park Dani Bovee
    7:45 p.m. Lutheran Chris Loesel
    8 p.m. Chappelow K-8 Kris Pierce
    8:15 p.m. Intermission  
    8:30 p.m. Air Academy Austin Lee
    8:45 p.m. Lewis-Palmer George Douthit
    9 p.m. Montezuma-Cortez Marla Sitton
    9:15 p.m. Basalt Brittany Von Stein
    9:30 p.m. Rifle Daryl Gingrich
    9:45 p.m. Eaton Christina Contreras

  • Colorado Springs Christian names Jeff Platt new boys basketball coach

    Colorado Springs Christian Colorado Academy boys basketball
    Jeff Platt will replace Mark Engesser as boys basketball coach at Colorado Springs Christian. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)

    Colorado Springs Christian has hired Jeff Platt, a coaching veteran with a background in both the high school and college ranks, to be the school’s boys basketball coach.

    “I am honored and grateful to lead the boys basketball program at Colorado Springs Christian,” Platt said in a statement released by the school. “Coaching at CSCS is a valued opportunity to guide and impact the lives of young people. I’m excited to work with our student-athletes, coaches, faculty and administration and be a part of the CSCS community.”

    Platt was an assistant coach in college at West Point, Arizona State, Oklahoma Baptist and Air Force Prep.

    He got his start in high school coaching at Basha High School in Arizona in 2006-07, leading the program to its first-ever winning season. He also coached at Liberty Christian in Virginia from 2011-14, going 43-31 in three seasons, and leading that program to a Final 4 appearance.

    “CSCS basketball has a long tradition of excellence and success. We wanted to make sure the person taking over the program had the pedigree that met our commitment to excellence and understood our mission,” Colorado Springs Christian athletic director Jason Rollins said in a statement. “Without question, I believe Jeff Platt has the background to continue our standard of excellence as well as uphold and live out our mission. We are very excited to say the least.”

    Platt will take over at CSCS for Mark Engesser, who stepped down from his role as boys basketball coach in March. Engesser’s teams were 156-26 in seven seasons, and they won two state championships. Engesser remains as the school’s girls basketball coach.

    CSCS was 15-8 in 2017-18, and lost to Grand Valley in the first round of the Class 3A state tournament.

  • Photos: Colorado Board 4 Awards Ceremony honors basketball officials

    The annual Colorado Board 4 Awards Ceremony honoring basketball officials was held recently.

    [divider]

  • Golden hires Lou Vullo and Rex Terry as new boys and girls basketball coaches

    (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)

    Golden has filled its two basketball coaching vacancies.

    J.C. Summers, the school’s athletic director, said Thursday that he has hired Lou Vullo (boys) and Rex Terry (girls) to head the Demons’ programs.

    Vullo comes to Golden from The Pinnacle, where he was 146-64 in nine years. He has also coached at Thomas Jefferson (JV head coach) and Sheridan.

    Last season, Vullo won his 200th career game. Every one of his teams has reached the state tournament.

    Terry most recently was the boys basketball coach at Sheridan, going 30-38 in three seasons. Prior to that, he was the girls coach at Alameda.

  • Alamosa baseball wins first Intermountain League title since 1990

    Montrose Alamosa baseball
    (Tom Hoganson)

    Alamosa coach Jason Romero came close to winning a Class 3A Intermountain League baseball title once. But he was a young coach and his temper got the best of him in a crucial game against Bayfield.

    “My first year in 3A, we were going to win,” Romero said. “I ended up getting tossed in the first inning of the game. They suspended the game and gave the first one to Bayfield because they said I didn’t leave in a timely manner.”

    According to Romero, the Maroons finished third that year. Since then, he has been determined to win a league championship, something Alamosa hadn’t done since 1990.

    This year, he finally accomplished that feat.

    The team has had success on the diamond, but a league championship just felt elusive and was something that Romero and his players have wanted over the years.

    “It’s been my mission to win a league championship,” he said. “The year we went to state, we took second in (league) but got to state ahead of Bayfield and that felt good.”

    This year, his guys put together a solid effort on the diamond and got the result they so badly wanted.

    Two seniors in Tyler Zimmerman and Chance Strand led the way both at the plate and on the mound. Both kids batted over .430 for the season and drove in at least 13 runs.

    “Tyler was a third- or fourth-string kid coming out of middle school,” Romero said. “He put in the work and bought into the program.”

    A good chunk of the production for the team also came from a deep junior class. This is a group of kids that participated in Alamosa’s summer program and developed into a team that came into the last week of this regular season as the No. 10 team in the 3A baseball rankings.

    “The bulk of those juniors I’ve had since seventh-grade,” Romero said. “They all bought into the philosophy and it was huge.”

    The Maroons concluded league play with a sweep over Montezuma-Cortez on Saturday. They went undefeated in Intermountain League play and drawing on the past, Romero remained calm in order to avoid a repeat of what had happened just a few years earlier.

    “I was a young coach then, just in my third season,” Romero said. “I’ve learned to handle the umpires a little more carefully.”