AURORA — Sixth-seeded Grandview girls basketball beat No. 22 Chaparral 69-28 in the Class 5A Sweet 16 on Tuesday.
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(Christina Martin/Montrose Press)
MONTROSE — With three players in double-figure scoring, Montrose girls basketball beat Ponderosa in the Class 4A Sweet 16, and is now headed to the Great 8.
Kennadie Minerich led the way with 15 points, Josie Eccher had 11, and Ally Nichols scored 10 for No. 6 Montrose, which won 51-46.
They will now host No. 14 Mullen, which upset No. 3 Pueblo West in the Sweet 16.
“What a huge win for us,” Montrose coach Steve Skiff said. “This was the best all around game we have played. Offensively we executed our plan, and played great team basketball. I could not be more proud of our energy, enthusiasm and outstanding effort that my team played with. We are excited to host another home game in front of our great home fans.”
Montrose jumped out quickly on Wednesday, opening leads of 5-0 and 10-5 in the first quarter, but Ponderosa rallied to cut the lead to 13-10 after one.
The game stayed close in the second quarter, with Montrose clinging to a 20-19 lead at halftime.
In the third quarter, Montrose pushed its lead to 28-22. Again, Ponderosa rallied back, cutting the lead to 28-26. Montrose held a narrow lead after three quarters: 35-34.
In the fourth, with Montrose up 43-38, Eccher hit a 3-pointer to make it 46-38. They held on for the win.
The last time Montrose reached the Great 8 was in 2013.
“Tonight was an all around team win,” senior Brenna Moss said. “We knew it was going to be a tough one and showed up to win. Our defense led to great offense and we just kept going.
“Tonight we went out and just played ball and had fun which led us to the win,” Moss said. “We are excited to be in the elite eight, but we will have to work hard this week before facing our opponent Friday.”
GREENWOOD VILLAGE — No. 4 Cherry Creek jumped ahead early and never looked back in a 70-14 win over No. 13 Rangeview in the Class 5A girls basketball Sweet 16.
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Jack Maher, Jeffco Public Schools multimedia specialist, gives one last look at the final night of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s state wrestling tournament Feb. 23 at Pepsi Center.
Along with Pomona winning its third Class 5A team title in four years, the Panthers grabbed three individual state crowns with freshman Daniel Cardenas (120 pounds), senior Justin Pacheco (132 pounds) and sophomore Franklin Cruz (182 pounds) finishing on top of the podium.
Jefferson worked its way into the Class 3A spotlight with freshman Angelo Lozado (113 pounds) and junior Nick Gallegos (152 pounds) both capturing their first state titles. Lozado became the first Saint to win a state wrestling title as a freshman.
Boys basketball’s 2019 state tournament bracket in Class 3A.
Girls basketball’s 2019 state tournament bracket in Class 3A.
Football’s proposed alignment for the 2020 & 2021 seasons has been slightly revised following feedback from schools. Here’s the latest proposal.
(@LHSparkerSports/Twitter)
AURORA — On Tuesday, the Class 3A boys and girls basketball state tournament brackets were released.
St. Mary’s (girls) and Lutheran (boys) are the top overall seeds in their respective brackets. Find the full brackets here:
Those tournaments begin on Friday with the first round, following immediately by the Sweet 16 on Saturday.
From there, the eight remaining teams in each bracket will move to the University of Denver’s Hamilton Gym for the Great 8 at beyond.
The Great 8 is March 7, the Final 4 is March 8, and championship games are March 9.
Wheat Ridge’s boys basketball team and coaches sat down with communications specialist Dennis Pleuss for an interview after the Farmers won the program’s first conference title in a dozen years. Wheat Ridge won the Class 4A Jeffco League title with a 11-1 conference mark and finished the season with a 19-5 overall record. The Farmers featured a balanced scoring attack and came together as a team for the historic season.
This is the sixth of the monthly series of “Getting to Know …” where we’ll have one-on-one interviews with Jeffco student-athletes.
(Kevin Prickett/prickettpix.com)
INDIANAPOLIS — Rules related to improperly equipped players and procedures for dropping the ball are among eight rules changes in high school soccer for the 2019-20 season.
The rules changes were recommended by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Soccer Rules Committee at its January 28-30 meeting and subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.
“While there are not any substantial revisions to the rules this year, I believe coaches and players will be pleased with the changes we have made,” said Theresia Wynns, NFHS director of sports and officials education.
Rule 4-3 will now specify that an improperly equipped player will not require teams to play shorthanded. The improperly equipped player will be asked to leave the field when the ball is not in play if the issue cannot be resolved immediately on the field, and the player may be replaced.
Once the offending player is properly equipped, he or she can report to an official. If the player was not replaced, he or she may re-enter the game at a dead ball. Infringement of the rule will not cause the game to be stopped unless a referee determines the situation is dangerous.
The rule was changed because the penalty for an improperly equipped player was more severe than the punishment for illegal equipment. The rule change ensures both infractions are handled equally.
With regard to the dropping of the ball in Rule 9-2-3, any number of players, including the goalkeeper, may now contest a dropped ball, and the referee cannot decide who may contest a dropped ball or determine its outcome.
Two new articles were added to Rule 9-2 to further clarify a dropped ball. Article 5 states the ball should be dropped again if it touches a player before hitting the ground or if it leaves the field after hitting the ground without touching a player. Article 6 states that if a dropped ball enters the goal without touching at least two players, the play must be restarted with a goal kick if it entered the opponent’s goal or a corner kick if it entered the team’s own goal.
Rule 9-2-1c was amended to remove the provision that if a team is in clear possession of the ball, the game will not be restarted with a drop ball. The rule now states the only time a game will not be restarted with a drop ball following temporary suspension of a player, injury or unusual circumstances is when the goalkeeper is in possession of the ball.
A change to Rule 9-3 eliminates free kick opportunities by replacing an indirect free kick with a drop ball if the ball was not in the goal area and in possession of the goalkeeper during cases of temporary suspension due to injury or an unusual situation.
An addition was made in Rule 3-4-3 to state that the clock should be stopped when the leading team makes a substitution within the last five minutes of the second period. The new rule is meant to prevent coaches in the lead from wasting time and running the clock when no plays are being made.
The final change was to Rule 5-3-1d that now allows officials to call out “play on” with an underswing of one or both arms.
“Our game is in pretty good shape,” Wynns said. “There will be a few changes this particular year, but the rules revisions that have been made will not change the game for the most part.”
A complete list of soccer rules and changes can be found on the NFHS website, www.nfhs.org under “Activities and Sports”.
According to the 2017-18 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, soccer is the fifth-most popular sport for boys with 456,362 participants in 12,393 schools across the country. Soccer is the fourth-most popular sport for girls with 390,482 participants in 12,007 schools.