It’s not just about the Canon Game and the Bell Game anymore.
With the start of a new two-year cycle, football teams were reclassified and leagues were realigned to provide a new landscape for Colorado high school football.
One of the most significant impacts came in southern Colorado. The city of Pueblo to be exact.
The steel city is no stranger to intense rivalries, especially on the football field. On at least two occasions, Dutch Clark Stadium would fill to the brim as rivals battled for pride and hardware. Not state championship hardware, but rather a bell and a canon.
But that was it.
Now, playoff implications enter the mix and with Central, Centennial, South, East and County all in the same league — the Class 3A South Central League — Pueblo rivalries have more fuel and have become slightly more personal.
“It’s a lot more personal,” Central coach Kris Cotterman said. “All these kids know each other and played football against each other. The thing about Pueblo is you go to high school in the same area you grew in from fourth grade on. It’s definitely more personal and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The coaches from every school feel the same way. Regardless of how long they’ve been in their positions, they all understand the weight that each game carries when it’s Pueblo school against Pueblo school.
With all of them — the lone exception of being Class 4A’s — back in the same conference, there is new a new fire burning on the weekends. It’s a feeling that, while new for many, is a relic to those growing up and understanding how important all five teams are to each other.
“No matter the classification, the Bell Game and the Canon Game will always draw big crowds,” East coach Andy Watts said. “Now the loyal fans who know the implications of it being a league game anticipate new rivalries, rivalries that I grew up watching with Centennial and East and Central and South. It’s definitely big for the city of Pueblo.”
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“I wouldn’t say they’re equally important.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
There’s always that one game that a team circles on the calendar. For Pueblo East, there is always that buildup to take on South.
Last year it was the Colts who came out on the winning end of the Canon Game. It was perhaps the second-biggest game of the year for South, which went on to claim the 4A state championship.
The Colts dropped to 3A this year and with East and South being in the same league, the stakes for the Canon Game have certainly been raised.
“Absolutely it’s done that,” South coach Ryan Goddard said. “We talk about the Canon Game and the Canon Game is important in the community and to our schools respectively but tie it to a league game; obviously we have goals and one of those goals is to compete for a league championship, now you’re putting that on the Canon game as well.”
Neither team has to wait long in the league schedule to play for the canon. East and South face off on Friday to start the league schedule.
The Colts are coming off their first win of the season, a 20-12 win over Lewis-Palmer while the Eagles had a bye week following a tough loss to Discovery Canyon. Each side has been more than anxious for Oct. 5 to arrive.
“It’s a big game for us every year,” South junior receiver Jackson Dickerson said. “It’s the start of league now, too. It’s big for us knowing we have to go into league and try to win all those games this year.”
And surely with the rest of the games against Pueblo teams counting in the league standings, aside from getting to take the canon home, this game counts just as much as each one after it, right?
“They’re all important,” East quarterback Luc Andrada said. “I would’t say they’re equally important because this is a big one for us.”
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“It’s going to draw more attention and a bigger crowd this year.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Standing room only. That’s typically the atmosphere each year when Central and Centennial meet in the oldest football rivalry west of the Mississippi: The Bell Game.
If there’s one thing that the city schools in Pueblo can do, it’s relate to each other when it comes to their big rivalry games. Regardless of the year, regardless of the records, these games will always be big for the respective schools.
But in 2018, there is much more on the line than just whether or not the bell will painted a different color.
“I know for sure it’s going to draw more attention and a bigger crowd this year,” Central offensive lineman Samu Bojorquez said. “The Bell Game has been big region-wise, but that it affects league and has playoff implications, it’s going to be bigger.”
For the last two years the bell has rang red with Centennial coming away with the win. The Bulldogs have won three of their first five games of the year. With a few weeks to go, they’ll open the league slate against Durango this week before taking on their primary goal of the year, winning the city of Pueblo.
“That’s our motto going into league: Control the city,” Centennial coach Jeff Wilkerson said. “The idea is to control the city and have (the other teams) beat up on each other a little bit. We’re all excited.”
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Extended rivalries
(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
The reality is that the league goes well beyond two rivalry games, regardless of their notoriety.
For the most part, the kids competing against each other in the South Central League have grown up with each other. Played with each other. And now they’ll face off against each other in the hunt for what they feel is a city championship as well as a league championship.
“For most of us in our senior year, and guys that I grew up with that went to East and South and everywhere else, it’s definitely going to be emotional,” Bojorquez said.
Going down this road of emotion will eventually lead to something more being on the line: pride.
At the core of athletic competition, the one thing that is always on the line is pride. The pride that comes with trying to be the best team in Pueblo resonates through the hallways of each schools. It another reminder, that although each team is different, they’re more alike than they’d ever want to admit.
“Anytime you get the Pueblo schools to play against each other there is a lot of pride at stake,” Cotterman said. “The kids all play each other from third grade on, so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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Don’t forget about…
(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The South Central League is certainly not confined to Pueblo. The six-team league also includes Durango, a team that has been a mainstay in the CHSAANow.com football poll for most of the season. The Demons are anything but an afterthought as each team looks to claim a league title.
And there is always the possibility that they play spoiler for any Pueblo team thinking that a league crown would be included with winning a city championship.
“They could,” Watts said. “They’re a talented team that’s well coached. They’re part of the reason why the league is going to be tough from top to bottom.”
Cotterman shares Watts’ view on the Demons. Out-of-sight does certainly not mean out-of-mind.
“Durango’s pretty good,” he said. “I don’t think you can be considered an outlier when you play football like they do.”
It doesn’t matter if it’s East playing Centennial, or County playing Durango, the South Central League is going to provide quality football and intense rivalries through the remainder of the 2018.
This cycle has provided a perfect storm for one of the best high school sports towns in the state and when things kick off with the Canon Game on Friday, the Pueblo schools will be primed that the implications that the next five weeks will have.
“They’re excited about the opportunity to play at Dutch Clark more often and to play against the guys they grew up playing against,” Goddard said. “We’ll see how it works out for us, but I think our kids are ready to step into this league and hopefully compete at a high level.”
COLORADO SPRINGS — It turns out that missing the green on the par-3 17th hole was a good thing for Fossil Ridge’s Dillon Stewart.
The senior’s ball sat in the first cut of the fringe, but in a spot where he was unable to mark it and clean it before he attempted his birdie putt. Mountain Range’s Connor Jones had just made bogey so Stewart, unknowingly, was tied for the lead at the Class 5A boys state golf tournament.
He made the birdie putt thanks to a spot of mud on the ball. He would go on to shoot a five-under-par-66 on Tuesday to claim the very championship that slipped through his fingers a year ago.
“I played it right, I putted it and it was on line and dying off,” Stewart said. “But because it was off the green and on the fringe there was a little mud on my ball. It might’ve lipped in, but when it hit that mud it kicked right and made it in that left edge.”
That putt moved him to 4-under on his round and 3-under for the tournament. To make a good situation even better, as Owen Cornmesser (77), Charlie Wang (78) and Colin Cazier (82) had their scores become official, Fossil Ridge had taken over the team lead as well.
With each shot counting for both Stewart and the Sabercats, co-head coaches Andy Stevens and Jamie Meneffee couldn’t decide which aspect of the day was more stressful.
“We were monitoring both closely,” Steven said. “It was nerve-racking to watch them both. I don’t know if one is better than the other. We were just proud of our boys today. We didn’t have our best stuff yesterday across the board. But today they all came to play and Dillon on the back nine turned on the afterburners.”
With the birdie in hand at 17, Stewart sat in the lead and made his way to the tee box at the 18th hole. The tees had been moved up for the final round, making the green getable for a bomber like Stewart. With the group ahead of him finishing up on the green, Stewart waited to hit for what felt like an eternity.
“Waiting on that tee box on 18 felt like four hours,” he said. “I just wanted to hit it rather than wait for the drama to build up.”
With time to study the layout of the hole and weigh his options his mind never really drifted from the idea of attacking the green and sewing up a championship for himself and a championship for his team.
“We knew if Dillon had anywhere near his best stuff today he could propel the team,” Menefee said. “The rest of the team was good enough. They didn’t have to play great, if they could play just play good, Dillon was great enough, not to carry us, but to propel us.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
From the second he put the tee in the ground on 18, there was no laying up.
“Not really,” Stewart said. “I hit 6-iron on 17 and I went 250 yards. The adrenaline was in and I felt really good with my swing so I just needed tempo. I wasn’t really worried about the water. I did kick in the toe just a touch because I knew that bunker was there and that’s not a bad place to be.”
A magnificent sand out put his birdie putt within two feet of the hole. From there, it was a formality to drain it and wait for the scores to become official.
Stewart, a commit to Oklahoma State, had the lead after the first day of the 2017 tournament, but eventually watched Eaglecrest’s Davis Bryant claim the title.
Tuesday, he redeemed himself and redeemed past Fossil Ridge teams had chances to win team titles.
“This year we approached it with a little more of a relaxed attitude,” Stevens said. “Maybe that helped us. We have two sophomores playing in their first state tournament ever. Expectations I think were lower than they’ve been in the past.”
But the results were better. And now, for the first time in school history, the Sabercats can call themselves boys golf state champions.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The weather was beautiful, the course at Flying Horse was beautiful, and Micah Stangebye’s game was beautiful.
His one-under-par 71 on Tuesday at Flying Horse Country Club was good enough to make him the individual Class 4A boys golf state champion as he finished at 4-under for the tournament.
“I came here mainly wanting to win the main team event because of us winning it last year,” said Stangebye. “I knew that if I played well I would have a chance of winning the individual and luckily I had two really good days.”
He started the day playing par golf on the first five holes and had a birdie on hole six. Stangebye got in trouble on hole seven with a bogey but came back strong with another birdie that gave him the lead that would remain for the rest of the day.
“Micah was just rock solid,” said coach Dave Woodruff. “Two days in row he was able to hold things together and put our team on his back and helped carry us as team and individually today.”
“I just told myself that I’d just try to play today just like I did yesterday,” Stangebye said. “I didn’t want to worry about the score, but I did ask my coaches if anyone was under par a couple times and my nerves definitely kicked in those last couple holes.
“I placed seventh my freshmen year and fourth my sophomore year, so I knew I could at least get top two or three this year,” said Stangebye. “Coming into it I really didn’t expect anything, but I also knew that if I played well I had a shot at the title.”
Ponderosa’s Mac Konrad was on Stangebye’s heels all day, but his 14 pars and two birdies just weren’t quite enough. He finished as runner-up at 1-over. Mead’s TJ Shehee also gave it a good run and finished the day in third place at 3-over.
(Kelsey Lowry/CHSAANow.com)
Montrose not only had the best individual player, but they also had the best tournament as an overall team. Montrose came out strong for the second day and finished 19-over and held off Steamboat Springs by six strokes to win the team championship.
“It feels really good to win that team title again,” said Stangebye. “We’re all juniors and sophomores so we’ll back next year and hopefully get a three-peat.”
“It’s such a neat feeling to get it done,” said coach Woodruff. “It was a little nerve-racking, but the experience of last year really helped us and all of these boys were here last year and will be here next year, so it’s a neat problem to have.”
It’s the third title for the Indians and second year in a row they will come home with the team championship.
ARVADA — Columbine sophomore pitcher Korbe Otis walked out of the circle after recording her finale strikeout Tuesday with a look that there is still work to be done.
“It feels really good. We are just climbing the ladder,” Otis said after Columbine’s sixth straight win. “We are sending a message that we aren’t to be taken lightly.”
Despite a 10-3 road victory against Arvada West, No. 10 in the latest CHSAANow.com Class 5A softball rankings, the Rebels still hasn’t officially locked up their first 5A Jeffco League title since 1998. However, Columbine is about as close as it could get to grabbing its first conference title in two decades.
Columbine shortstop Kelsey Tabor, right, is just late on a tag of the sliding Arvada West senior Christaana Angelopulos on Tuesday. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“It feels so amazing,” Columbine coach Jim Santaniello said needing just one more league win in the Rebels’ final two conference games to grab the hardware. “I’ll have to go back and see the last time we’ve won a league title at Columbine. It’s been a long time. I’m on Cloud Nine right now. We want to take care of business — run the table and be as hot as we can for the postseason.”
Columbine still has a road game against Ralston Valley (Thursday) and home against Valor Christian (Saturday).
There wasn’t much doubt going into Tuesday’s showdown that the winner would have a fairly clear path to the conference title with two league games remaining. The Wildcats (14-7 record, 5-1 in league) and Rebels (16-5, 6-0) both came in undefeated in league play with identical 5-0 records and a three-game lead over the rest of the field in 5A Jeffco.
A-West and Columbine have both been on the roll in their previous three conference games. The Wildcats and Rebels had combined to outscore league opponents 56-6 in six conference games.
“This was our biggest test,” Columbine junior Callie Stern said. “I think this game will give us a lot of confidence going up against Ralston and Valor. We have a lot of confidence right now.”
Columbine sophomore Korbe Otis fires toward the plate against Arvada West. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Stern came up big against A-West. The junior led off the second inning with a single off A-West sophomore pitcher Savannah Clausen. Stern and junior Ally Distler would eventually score on a 2-run single by freshman Emma Todd.
“Jumping up 2-0 I think really put us at ease,” Santaniello said. “I’m a firm believer in scoring first so the pressure goes on them.”
The fourth inning is really where the Rebels’ offense broke things open. Stern got is going again with a leadoff single. Columbine sent 11 batters to the plate in the 7-run inning. Otis delivered a bases loaded 2-run single and Stern actually get her second hit of the inning with a 2-run single too.
“Not very often,” Stern said with a smile when asked if she had ever had two hitting in a single inning. “It felt really great.”
Freshmen Charlotte Stokes and Mary Kitch also drove in runs as Columbine took a commanding 9-0 lead.
Arvada West senior Christaana Angelopulos, left, tags out Columbine freshman Emma Todd as she slides into third base. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“(Columbine) definitely came out swinging and you have to give them a ton of credit for that,” A-West coach Brenna Millikan said. “I think we lost focus for just a short time there.”
Senior Daysha Mendez had an RBI single in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead to 10-0 for Columbine. A-West did prevent the 10-run mercy rule when senior Christaana Angelopulos scoring on an error in the bottom of the fifth.
Angelopulos also drove in a run in the sixth. The Wildcats scored again on a flyout RBI by junior Belle Schwien to make the final score 10-3.
“We are a young team. After losing the seven (seniors) from last year I don’t know a lot of people expected we would be in the position we were today to have that opportunity,” Millikan said. “I’m so proud of the girls for where we are right now.”
A-West closes out its regular season with conference games on the road against Dakota Ridge (Thursday) and Lakewood (Saturday).
“Our season is not done,” Millikan said. “We are going to bounce back.”
Columbine junior Callie Stern slides into home during the Rebels’ 7-run fourth inning Tuesday at Arvada West High School. The 10-3 win put Columbine one conference win away from the program’s first Jeffco League title since the 1998 season. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
