The 8-man football team at Justice High School jumped into a 15-passenger van and headed on a five-hour trek to play their first game of the season in the mountain town of Hayden.
Mountain Vista’s boys and girls cross country teams had an outstanding day at the 41st annual Liberty Bell Invitational on Saturday.
The Golden Eagles swept the Sweepstakes Division, with the girls placing four runners in the top seven, and the boys having four among the top 28.
Mountain Vista’s Jenna Fitzsimmons, the defending Class 5A individual champion, led the way with a time of 17:29.1 to win the girls Sweepstakes race. Brody Dempsey led the way for the Golden Eagles boys, finishing sixth.
Both of Mountain Vista’s teams are defending 5A champions.
Niwot’s Cruz Culpepper won the boys Sweepstakes race, finishing in 15:28.5. His teammate, Ares Reading, was second in 15:30.6.
Loveland (boys) and Heritage (girls) were the team champions in Division 1. Valor Christian’s Cole Sprout (15:33.6) won the boys race in that division, and Regis Jesuit’s Isalina Colsman (18:07.0) won the girls race. Sprout won the 4A title last season.
In Division 2, Silver Creek (girls) and Frontier Academy (boys) won the team races. Tiya Chamberlin of Wheat Ridge (18:13.5) won the girls race; Henry Barth of Glenwood Springs (15:39.5) won the boys race.
In Division 3, University (boys) and Moffat County (girls) captured team titles. Individually, Moffat County’s Wyatt Mortenson (16:33.2) won the boys race, and Colorado Springs Christian’s Rachel Ingram (18.43.4) won the girls race.
A little more than a year ago, Max Nikkari and Brandon Miller were doubles partners for the Grand Junction boys tennis team. On Saturday, they were opponents on the opposite side of the net playing for the Western Slope Open No. 3 singles title.
LAKEWOOD — A one-dimensional offense worked out just fine for Wheat Ridge’s football team Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.
The Farmers picked up their first win of the season keeping the ball on the ground almost exclusively in a 28-14 victory over Widefield.
“With a quarterback in there not that experienced throwing the ball we knew we definitely were going to have to pound out the run game,” said Wheat Ridge junior running back Nick VonFeldt, who led the way with 25 carries for 124 yards and three touchdowns. “We had two backs over 100 yards each. We owe that to our offensive line for sure.”
Wheat Ridge junior Nick VonFeldt rushed for 124 yards and three TDs against Widefield. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Wheat Ridge (1-1 record) ran 45 offensive plays from scrimmage against the visiting Gladiators (0-2) from Colorado Springs. The Farmers rushed the ball 43 times for 252 yards and four touchdowns. Rocco Tate had just six carries, but an 85-yard touchdown run in the second quarter helped the sophomore post 114 yards on the ground.
Wheat Ridge coach Stacy Coryell held out three-year starting quarterback Anthony Tate because of injury. The Farmers’ starting quarterback did dress, but Coryell wanted to keep him on the sideline this week to hopefully have him back 100 percent next week against Arvada West.
Junior Tristen Boggess got the start at quarterback. Boggess threw the ball just twice as VonFeldt and the younger Tate did their damage on the ground.
“He (VonFeldt) is our workhorse back there,” Coryell said of the junior running back. “We try to give him a break on defense, but he is our workhorse there too. He is just a great kid.”
VonFeldt’s final touchdown run with less than two minutes to play ended the second-half comeback attempt by Widefield after the Gladiators cut it to a one-score game.
“It felt good,” VonFeldt said of his third touchdown run where most of the offensive line helped push him into the end zone on the final few yards. “It felt like a team touchdown.”
Wheat Ridge juniors Soren Howard and Max Christensen (29) combine to tackle Widefield quarterback Treshawn Greene for a loss. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Wheat Ridge’s defense forced three turnovers and tackled Widefield quarterback Treshawn Greene for a loss eight times. Juniors Max Christensen and Soren Howard were in the backfield going after Greene on several occasions.
“We got a little tired in the end there,” Coryell said of the Farmers’ defense that was stellar in the first half, but ended up allowing Widefield senior running back Frankie Ingraldi rack up 141 yards on 19 carries.
The Farmers took advantage of turnover for their first score. Wheat Ridge junior Jack Michel recovered a fumble by Widefield senior Nathan Broadbent. The Farmers took over on the Gladiators’ 14-yard line and scored three plays later on a 2-yard touchdown run by VonFeldt with 4:42 left in the first quarter.
Wheat Ridge’s second touchdown in the first half came on Rocco Tate’s 85-yard touchdown run. The Farmers faced a 3rd-and-9 from their own 15-yard line, but the sophomore was able to take a sweep to the left for the longest play from scrimmage in the game.
Wheat Ridge has a tough challenge next week. The Farmers face undefeated A-West (3-0) next Friday night up at the North Area Athletic Complex in Arvada. The Wildcats have feasted on their non-league opponents before getting into arguably the deepest conference in Class 5A — Metro West League.
The Farmers finish their non-conference schedule with games against Centaurus and Liberty. Wheat Ridge opens play in the 4A Jeffco League on Oct. 5 against Chatfield.
Widefield continues its non-league schedule on the road against Centaurus next Friday night.
Widefield junior Damieon Nichols (15) isn’t able to make a grab behind Wheat Ridge defenders Dominic Cross (7) and P.J. Dewitz (3). (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Kit Carson controlled the game from start to finish in moving to 2-0 this season.
“We ran the ball really well,” coach Curt Connelley told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “Our special teams really got us on the board quickly.”
Joe Bryan returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and his brother, Chris Bryan, returned a punt for a score.
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8-man: Fowler 28, (4) Akron 20
Fowler knocked off the previously-unbeaten Rams with a late score. The Grizzlies recovered a kickoff after a fortunate bounce to set up the touchdown.
“It was a lot of smashmouth football. Akron had a couple of big plays on us. They did a great job defensively,” coach Mark Van Sickle told the Scoreboard Show. “We were three- to four-yards and a cloud of dust. It was great to get back to what I think Fowler football is.”
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Notables
Ponderosa got a huge win by upsetting No. 3 Windsor in 4A, 17-13. Nick Hoff and Ethan Waite each rushed for a touchdown.
Hinkley is off to its first 2-0 start since 2014 following a 7-0 win over Gateway. The Thunderbirds have opened the season with consecutive shutouts.
Pagosa Springs knocked off 1A No. 3 Centauri 31-12.
Smoky Hill is now 3-0 for the first time since 2007. The Buffs beat Northglenn 21-6.
Quite the stat line for Bryson Long of No. 6 Peetz in 6-man: He rushed for 270 yards and had five touchdowns in a 67-22 win over No. 9 Fleming.
It’s always a big rivalry game, and even though they’re now in different classes, this matchup was no different as 1A No. 1 Strasburg beat 2A No. 8 Bennett 32-8.
In a game that featured six lead changes, 4A No. 4 Chatfield held off Brighton 39-30.
In 8-man, No. 4 Prairie beat No. 10 Briggsdale 56-40. “We had a little bit more offensively efficiency. Our offense clicked a lot more tonight,” coach Justin Kerns told the Scoreboard Show of the difference from his team’s first game to its second. Photos from the game are here.
5A Castle View won a wild back-and-forth game on the final play of the game against Wasatch (Utah), 36-35. The Sabercats are now 2-1 under Todd Casebier in his first year — doubling their win total from last season.
Evergreen blocked a last-second field goal to upset Mead.
Denver North QB Erik Flores threw for 370 yards and five touchdowns in his team’s 56-40 win over Englewood. Four of those TDs went to Keon Brickens.
In 5A, Highlands Ranch beat Regis Jesuit in overtime, 20-17.
Eagle Valley snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 57-12 victory against Alameda.
2A No. 7 Basalt cruised to a 47-6 win over Battle Mountain. “The offensive line really played well tonight,” coach Carl Frerichs told the Scoreboard Show.
8-man No. 1 Sedgwick County has now won 25 games in a row after beating Gilpin County 60-0.
In a 2018 rematch of last year’s first-round game that also pitted two of Class 4A’s top-10 teams, Monarch wasn’t able to rid itself of the nagging feeling Rampart continues to cause them.
MONUMENT — This highly-anticipated Class 3A battle on the gridiron between Pueblo East and Palmer Ridge lived up to the hype.
At least for senior Pueblo East stars Kain Medrano and Luc Andrada anyway.
Medrano had three interceptions and ran one back 55 yards for a score and caught a 41-yard touchdown pass and knocked the final pass of the game down in the end zone as time expired.
Andrada, meanwhile, chipped in two touchdown passes and a 5-yard score run.
Those performances powered the Eagles, ranked No. 3 by CHSAANow.com, past the No. 2-ranked Bears 28-21 Friday night at Don Breese Stadium.
“This was a crazy game,” said the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Medrano, who is verbally committed to UCLA. “We came in more prepared, I think, and we were able to take advantage of the opportunities we were given.”
East, which won the Class 3A state championship three years in a row from 2014-16, improved to 3-0 on the season. Palmer Ridge, the reigning Class 3A state champ,s dropped to 1-2.
“This was a great win,” the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Andrada said. “We haven’t had a win like this in a while. Our defense played great and we just came together as a team. We need to build on this and keep our momentum going.”
The Eagles’ defense did rise to the occasion. They caused the Bears to commit seven turnovers. Ty Evans, Palmer Ridge’s senior quarterback who is committed to the University of Colorado, was 22-of-41 passing for 173 yards with one touchdown and five interceptions.
“It wasn’t one thing multiple times,” said Palmer Ridge coach Tom Pulford about the turnovers. “We have to protect the football and we will make sure we do that from here on out. Adversity builds character and character helps us to improve and stick together and move forward. Everything is still out in front of us. We’ve played some very good football teams and we know what this team is capable of and now it is time to go back and improve on the things we have identified and get better.”
Despite all the miscues, the Bears still had a chance to potentially tie the game, facing a third-down-and-10 with 3.1 seconds to play from the Eagles’ 36-yard line. Evans launched a pass into the back-right corner of the end zone, but Medrano, playing free safety, swatted it to the ground.
“I had to beat that ball down,” Medrano said. “I couldn’t let anybody catch it.”
Leading 21-14 at half, the Eagles immediately increased their advantage to 28-14 when Medrano intercepted a pass — his third pick of the game — and returned it 55 yards for a score 29 second into the third quarter,
The Bears answered back when Raef Ruel muscled in for a 4-yard score with 7:53 showing on the third-quarter clock to get within 28-21, which is where the score would remain until the final buzzer.
East’s offense disappeared in third quarter as the Eagles had minus-22 yards rushing.
Palmer Ridge was on the verge of tying the game, Ruel after gaining 2 yards on a fourth-down-and-2 fumbled at it was recovered by the Eagles at their own 30-yard line with 7:16 to play. That was the Bears’ seventh turnover.
The first half wasn’t pretty, but effective for the Eagles.
Andrada ran in a 5-yard touchdown and then tossed two scores of 55 yards to Kaden Bowman and 41 yards to Medrano as East took a 21-14 into the locker room at intermission.
Medrano also had 43 yards rushing in the first half.
Evans, meanwhile, couldn’t get in any rhythm in the first 24 minutes as he completed 12 passes for only 96 yards and he threw three interceptions.
Evans did fire a 13-yard touchdown to Kaden Dudley and Ruel added a 10-yard run to tie the score with 3:45 remaining in the second quarter, but Medrano gave East the seven-point lead on his scoring reception with 53.2 seconds left in the half.
“You can’t replace a kid like Kain, he is the heart and soul of the team and he and Luc connected big-time on offense was huge,” East coach Andy Watts said. “I told our kids we need to keep grinding and don’t be satisfied.”
HIGHLANDS RANCH — In a dogfight, it’s not essential to take advantage of every opportunity. It’s important to take care of the right opportunity.
That’s what Class 5A No. 2 Valor Christian did Friday night in its 14-6 win over Pomona. The Eagles took advantage of the right opportunities, bending the strong-as-steel Pomona defense just enough to score two touchdowns and remain undefeated on the year.
“That was a dogfight,” Valor coach Ed McCaffrey said. “I thought our defense was playing well. We might’ve been a little conservative throughout the game, but we were trying to control the clock and control field position. But that team was tough. Coach Madden has them playing hard. They’re physical, they’re fast and they have playmakers.”
And the No. 3 Panthers (2-1 overall) showed their playmakers off early. Quarterback Colten Muller found wide receiver David Ross in the corner of the end zone to go up 6-0 on Valor.
The Eagles (3-0) responded when Pomona made its first mistake of the night and Chase Lopez slipped into the secondary uncovered. Luke McCaffrey’s pass hit Lopez in stride and Valor went up 7-6.
“My eyes lit up a little bit,” Luke said. “I threw it hoping someone wasn’t there to undercut it. Chase does a great job getting into cuts and getting into routes. It’s cool to see him on both sides of the ball just grinding each play.”
Lopez got was part of the impressive defensive showing for the Eagles. He started the second half by intercepted Muller on Pomona’s first drive.
But Valor couldn’t take advantage. That was the second time in the game the Eagles started a drive inside the Pomona 20 and came away with no points.
“They had a good game plan coming in,” Luke said. “Coach (Jay) Madden always does. When it comes down to it, we just have to execute on offense.”
The Eagles took a much more comfortable lead after they took advantage of the second mistake of the night by the Panthers. A Valor punt hit a Pomona and the Eagles came up with the turnover. McCaffrey then found Kaiden Keefe to make it a 14-6 game.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“You hate to waste a defensive effort like that,” Madden said. “Our offense is struggling. We’re turning the ball over. It’s okay to get stopped by a good defense, but you can’t just give them the ball.”
With the clock running out in the game, the Panthers had two chances to drive down and tie the game. They had 4th and 1 at the Valor three-yard line, but Theorius Robison couldn’t turn the corner to get the first down.
With less than 30 seconds left, they had a last-ditch effort to tie the game. A lateral went into the hands of Muller and he sprinted down the sideline, seemingly ready to give the fans a thrilling ending.
But Eli Miller had other plans for Valor. From the hashes on the opposite end of the field, he ran Muller down and tackled him inside the 10-yard line with no time left of the clock.
“I gotta get him,” Miller said. “That’s all I thought was I had to get him. That’s for my team. They did all the work and I have to finish it.”
And he did. The players rallied around him as they cleared the field and the even-keeled head coach of the Eagles showed finally showed emotion with the win in hand. Despite any situation during the game, he maintains that he’s in control and never worries.
“I don’t get nervous,” McCaffrey said. “I call plays based on the situation. I was confident in our players and they found a way to make plays when they had to.”
And that was the difference. They didn’t have to make every play. They just had to make the right ones.
