Tyler Calhoun (9) poses with his Palmer Ridge teammates at Denver Broncos fall sports media day. (Gabriel Christus/Denver Broncos)
Palmer Ridge quarterback/wide receiver Tyler Calhoun enjoys movie night with his dad. It’s just not a typical movie night as most people know it.
There is no tub of popcorn to snack from or members of the Avengers saving the world in spectacular fashion on the big screen.
Instead there is paper so notes can be taken and a remote control so that the action on the screen can be paused.
One of the favorite pastimes for the Bears senior is sitting down with his father, Troy, and watching football game film. It’s father-son bonding happening around a central component of each other’s life.
Football is certainly life for Troy Calhoun, the head coach at the Air Force Academy. The same can be said for University of Colorado head coach Mel Tucker and Colorado State head coach Mike Bobo.
All three have gotten to this point of their careers by their love of the game. And all three have sons playing on Colorado high school teams. Each coach bonds with their kid over the game in different ways, but it boils to down to love of the game. And of course, love for each other.
Standing on the sideline after Palmer Ridge’s 24-19 win over Pueblo South on Sept. 27, Tyler Calhoun couldn’t keep a smile off his face when describing how he and Troy bond over the game. The Air Force Academy played at home the same night, beating San Jose State, so Troy couldn’t be at the CSU-Pueblo Thunderbowl.
But when each Calhoun got home, stories would be shared and analysis would be had.
“We’ll watch each other’s film together so I’m pretty pumped,” Tyler said. “It happens every week. I watch film with him and he watches film with me.”
As a high school player, it has to be exciting having a Division I coach constantly putting eyes on his game film. It adds a little bit of a special feel when that coach is also involved in your daily life.
How’d school go today? Where should we go on vacation? Who are you taking to prom?
Those questions probably get spread out over the course of a calendar year. For the fall, the focus is set on what happens on whichever high school football field these boys are playing on.
(Photo courtesy of Drew Bobo)
The film experience isn’t unique to the Calhouns. After each game that Drew Bobo plays at Resurrection Christian, he and CSU coach Mike Bobo always rehash what happened and they’ll watch the game unfold together.
“We watch some of my games together as much as we can and then he tells me what I did well and what I need to work on,” Drew said. “And then we watch other games too and he tells me who to watch and what to do.”
When asked how much do they deal with dad and how much they deal with a college football coach, the answer is the same from all three. They always deal with dad. It just happens to be a dad who loves every bit of the game they’re playing.
And when it comes to these players going out for football, they’re never given any special treatment because of who they are and what their parents do for a living. Monarch’s Christian Tucker learned that right away.
The son of Mel Tucker came into a program that saw the sons of former CU coach Mike MacIntyre also suit up and play. From the second he stepped on the field this year, he never felt like anything was handed to him and he was instantly a part of the team.
“The boys here are really loving and caring and they brought me in early and he never made me feel left out or isolated cause I was Coach Tucker’s son,” Christian said. “They just treat me like anyone else.”
Being the son of a high-level coach can almost come with instant pressure to get involved in the game. But that may not always be the case. Like most kids, they feel like their parents are supportive of those decisions.
Even if the decision isn’t necessarily the one that the parent wanted them to make.
“He never wanted me to play football,” Christian said. “He thought it was too dangerous but I convinced him to let me. Once he did he was hands off and let me go at it.”
And his experience mirrors that of Calhoun and Bobo to this point. They may not get to see all of each other’s games, but they’ll talk about the outcomes and how they can improve as players.
But they all do it while speaking to their fathers instead of a college football.
All three father-son relationships when it comes to the game appear to be every bit as normal as any player on any roster in the state.
“I feel like I’m talking to my dad most for the time because he’s telling me more what to do,” Drew said. “We have our same relationship with talking to him about other type of stuff.”
Three fathers. Three sons. One game.
With Calhoun a senior in the Class 3A and Tucker and Bobo both sophomores at schools in different classes, it is unlikely they will cross paths during high school competition.
But for one kid in Fort Collins, one in the Boulder area and one in Colorado Springs, there is a unique circumstance that ties them together.
Others will undoubtedly see it before they do. They see themselves as just kids. Kids who get to sit down with dad each weekend and film of the game that has created a concrete bond between father and son.
DENVER – All over Pinehurst Country Club on Tuesday afternoon, everyone was talking about the kid that no one saw coming.
No one seemed capable of readily producing his name without pulling out a phone or glancing to check the clubhouse scoreboard. “The Arapahoe kid that’s on fire,” they’d call the unknown golfer.
That kid’s name: Will Kates.
A sophomore and not even the No. 1 player on his own team, Kates wasn’t counted among a handful of veteran players who entered the Class 5A boys golf state tournament as the clear favorites to win. But Kates quietly positioned himself within one stroke of the Day 1 leader on Monday and on Tuesday’s final day, he absolutely blew everyone away with a 4-under 66 that won him the individual state championship by six strokes.
They didn’t know him before. They do now.
“Winning state was always in the back of my mind as a goal, but it wasn’t an immediate goal,” said Kates, who didn’t even qualify for last year’s state tournament. “You always want to go in playing like you’re trying to win but this wasn’t something I had planned for myself at the beginning of the season. I just got on a roll.
“I honestly don’t know what to do now. I guess now I just have to come back here next year and try to win it again.”
One of 10 players from eight different schools within three or fewer strokes of Day 1 leader Gavin Hagstrom from Fossil Ridge, Kates opened Tuesday’s finale by birdying two of the first six holes to jump into the lead. His only bogey came on the par-3 12th hole and he responded with three straight birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to distance himself insurmountably from the field.
(Brad Cochi/For CHSAANow.com)
All of Class 5A’s best players struggled all tournament long to solve the challenging putting surfaces at Pinehurst. Following the breakout performance of his budding prep career, Kates said winning the state title was the product of his success with the putter.
“I just made some putts, honestly,” Kates said. “All season, if I had been making putts I could have shot a lot lower. It’s a fun game when you’re making putts. This course is hard from tee to green but once you get on the greens, it can get really tricky. We all kind of knew the person who putts the best was going to take the trophy home.”
Highlands Ranch senior Tarek Salem, who tied for sixth at state last season, was tied with Kates for second place to begin Tuesday’s round and held his runner-up position until the end. Salem played a consistent round with 16 pars and just two bogeys for a 2-over 72.
Even he had to tip his cap to Kates.
“I’m happy with the result, honestly,” Salem said. “Everyone’s goal is to win but I was in my zone and playing my game once I got over the nerves after the first couple of holes. When someone shoots a 66, there’s just nothing you can do about it. Will did a great job. Props to him. It was just a great time all around.”
Lakewood’s Ryan Liao, who placed fourth in 2018, was 4-over for the tournament and tied for third with Hagstrom and Fairview’s Will Chadwick. Boulder’s Grant Alqatami – 2-over on Tuesday – was sixth at 5-over and Fairview’s Brett Reamon – 5-over on Tuesday – finished seventh at 6-over.
With three players in the top eight, the Fairview boys claimed the team championship. Arapahoe was second, three strokes behind Fairview and one ahead of third-place Fossil Ridge following a late charge on Day 2.
It was the Fairview Knights’ first team title since 2007 and one that all four seniors who played at state this season have been building towards for several years.
“They’re all seniors, they’re all buddies and they’ve played together forever,” Fairview head coach John Zerwin said. “So it’s really great to see them all stick together and pull it off because we’ve been looking forward to this for a long time and they deserve it.”
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Starting a tournament four strokes behind on the final day is not a high percentage road to success.
It got worse when Westin Pals struggled to start his day at the Class 3A boys golf state tournament, bogeying his opening hole and falling five strokes behind Prospect Ridge Academy’s Walker Franklin.
The wind was gusting fairly heavily as Pals and Franklin began their days, one in each of the final two threesomes to take the course. Both Pals and Franklin struggled a bit with the wind, but Pals was quicker to settle into his groove.
By the end of the ninth hole, Pals was 1-under and Franklin 2-over. Franklin still held the lead, but by only a single stroke. And the winds had calmed down measurably since the gusts of the morning.
Pals’ threesome was playing one ahead of Franklin’s threesome, giving Franklin the advantage — if that is what is was — of knowing what Pals had shot on each hole ahead of him.
The battle see-sawed through multiple lead changes over the final nine holes. Pals sank a long put to birdie 12. Franklin answered with a birdie on 13. Back and forth. Never more than a stroke of difference between the two.
A bogey for Pals on 16 proved costly, however, allowing Franklin to take a one-stroke lead with his birdie on the same hole. Both Pals and Franklin parred 17. Pals parred 18 after a magnificent approach shot tried to settle then caught the slope and rolled several meters away from the pin.
All Franklin had to do to secure the win was par hole 18. Franklin had been parring holes all day long, but the par eluded him on this hole. Franklin three-putted for a bogey, sending the contest into a playoff.
The playoff didn’t last long. Franklin’s tee shot hit the rough, and he could not make up the lost ground. Pals calmly parred the hole and the contest — one which spanned the last ten or so holes with seemingly every spectator in sight checking their phones for updates on scoring with each hole.
Golf was probably a little less stressful before the advent of live scoring.
Pals’ approach to the day reflected the demeanor of one not given to adding pressure to stressful situations.
“I saw the forecast, and it was pretty windy, so I knew I wouldn’t have to go crazy low,” he said. “I didn’t get off to the greatest start. I was two-over through four or five, and I just said, ‘This is my last golf tournament, let’s go out there and see what we can do.’”
But there was still the 18th hole to conquer.
(Alan Versaw/CHSAANow.com)
“I thought he [Walker Franklin] was going to make it,” Pals said. “Walker’s been my buddy for years now. I know the feeling of missing a three-footer to win the tournament, but at the end of the day we were tied and went to the playoff.”
Pals was still keeping things calm for the playoff. Surrounded by purple shirts rooting him on, Pals reflected, “Well, I’m color-blind, so everything looks the same.”
Even so, he was making a conscious effort to tune out the crowd.
“When we were on the first tee of the playoff, I kept telling myself, ‘Don’t look behind me; don’t look behind me!’” he said.
And the strategy worked well enough for a win Pals is unlikely ever to forget.
A lot of folks at Lutheran won’t forget it any time soon, either. As it turns out, Lutheran got a twofer on the day. Not only did Pals win individual honors, but a team with three players, a team that made it to state as a team only because those three players qualified as individuals, won a state title. And they won it rather convincingly.
As Pals and Franklin were doing their thing over the last several holes, Pals’ teammates Jackson Lowe and Owen Deas were enjoying solid days, as well. Lowe shot six-over for the day and 11-over for the tournament to place 12th. Owen Deas shot 14-over for the day and 23 over for the tournament to place 36th.
On a day when the wind was messing with player’s games all morning long, that was enough for the win. One by one, the teams in the title hunt fell by the wayside or struggled to close the gap, leaving Lutheran alone at the top.
Aside from Lutheran, Holy Family had easily the best day and finished five back of the Lions. But the Tigers never could get close enough to catch Lutheran. Aspen, the co-leader at the end of the first day, finished 13 strokes behind Lutheran.
MONTROSE — Micah Stangebye is the ultimate hustler when it comes to invite others into his home and beating them at his game.
This week, The Bridges served as his home. And golf was his game. And his two rounds in the Class 4A boys golf state tournament will be the talk of the club’s members for years to come.
Stangebye put together a round of 5-under-par 66 to go with Monday’s 67. It was a good enough week that he won his second straight state championship while he and his Montrose teammates celebrated a third consecutive title.
“Obviously it was an advantage being able to play this course every day this summer,” Stangebye said. “You know where you can miss it and where you can’t. You know how the putts break and overall I probably hit the ball better than I have any tournament this year starting on the first hole and all the way to the 18th green.”
Kaden Ford. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
On Monday he made just one birdie on the entire front nine. He didn’t wait that long to get going on Tuesday. After Discovery Canyon’s Kaden Ford made a birdie on No. 2 to cut Stangebye’s lead to two strokes, the defending champion got going. He made a birdie on No. 3 and then kept getting look after look.
Something coach Dave Woodruff talked about after Monday’s round was that he wanted his team to really take its time and appreciate everything that would happen on Tuesday. That message was received for Stangebye as he rushed a short birdie putt on No. 6 and missed it left. On the par-3 seventh, he missed the green to the right but made a fantastic up and down to keep his tournament bogey-free.
“The winner is always going to be the guy with the smallest misses,” Stangebye said. “It came down to me having only one bogey in 36 holes.”
That came on the par-3 12th when he flew the green and had little room to work with when trying to get on.
But he rebounded with a birdie on 13.
Meanwhile, his teammates were doing what they needed to do to ensure that the team came away with its desired three-peat.
“Everyone says it’s hard to win at home,” Woodruff said. “You have the crowd and all your fans here. Ryan Lords, our other senior stepping up and making all-state, finishing top-10 was huge.”
Lords finished the tournament 5-over while Jordan Jennings finished 9-over.
The leaderboard was stacked with players that will be returning next year. Ford, a junior, finished in a tie for second with Northfield sophomore Hunter Swanson. Lewis-Palmer sophomore Gregory Lewis finished fourth.
Palisade senior Ethan Aubert finished fifth at 3-over and Cheyenne Mountain senior Gabe Marmon finished 4-over to come in sixth.
The next couple of years are shaping up to be very competitive for the 4A field.
“Knowing how close I was to winning, it motivates me and lets me know I can win. I can do this this,” Ford said.
Pueblo West, behind a strong performance from freshman Noah Wagner, finished second as a team. All four Cyclones golfers will return next season.
The conclusion of the state golf tournaments marks the beginning of fall championship season. And the tales that will come out of Montrose will live on for years. Bridges general manager Eric Feely made sure that his tournament – and unofficially the start of championship season – started with the biggest party of the fall.
WESTMINSTER — Golden senior Makenzie Middleton’s second home run Tuesday afternoon had a symbolic sound to it.
Makenzie’s 2-run blast banged off the scoreboard beyond the fence in right-center field to give the Demons a 16-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. Golden has definitely made plenty of noise during the regular season on its way to a second straight Class 4A Jeffco League title.
“The approach the girls have taken this year is remarkable,” Golden coach Chad Herbers said after the 17-0 victory in four innings against Standley Lake. “It is truly one game at a time. They truly didn’t know what had just happened with this win (clinching the league title) until I told them. They have been very focused.”
The Demons (21-1, 8-1 in league) — No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com 4A rankings for the past three weeks — had a chance to celebrate with the 4A Jeffco League title plague after their third straight shutout victory.
(Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
Golden senior Emma Graham tossed her third straight shutout. Graham gave up three hits and worked out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth inning to keep the Gators (10-11, 1-8) off the scoreboard.
“We have offense and defense right now,” Golden senior Makayla Middleton said. “If you can have both you’re good.”
The Middleton identical twins have been ready to go from the first pitch this fall. Makenzie’s pair of home runs Tuesday put her dinger total at 14 on the season. She has a team-high 52 RBIs and is batting .651.
Makayla’s grand slam home run in the Demons’ 8-run second inning put her home run total at 11. She is batting just a tick below .700 on the season — .699 — and leads the team with 58 hits.
It hasn’t been just the twins with crazy offensive numbers. Junior Marla Godspeed is batting .554 with 40 RBIs. Senior Haley Prey is hitting .412 with 19 RBIs. Senior Molly Hord has scored 33 run from the two-hole.
“This is our year I think,” Makayla said. “We were expecting this. Now it is time to go to the postseason. I’m ready to go out there and keep working hard.”
Golden hosts a 4A regional tournament Saturday, Oct, 19, but still has one more league game. The Demons has their home finale against D’Evelyn at 4:30 pm Wednesday, Oct. 9.
The Demons squeezed out a 2-0 win on the Jaguars’ home field last week in their first meeting. Herbers likes to have a great challenge against D’Evelyn to help prepare for regionals, but didn’t mind sewing up the league title before facing the Jaguars.
“It is really nice,” Herbers said. “It takes a little pressure off. Now we can step forward and start looking how we approach the next part of our season.”
Golden was the No. 4 seed last year for regionals. Back-to-back wins over Widefield and Pueblo West punched the Demons’ ticket to the state tournament. While the path will be similar, Golden isn’t planning on easing into the postseason.
“We’ve put so much effort into this. To come this far is something we’ve looked forward to,” Makenzie said. “We can’t stop working hard now. Our mentality is, ‘Don’t stop now.’ We can’t take a break.”
