Football’s 2019 state playoff bracket for Class 3A.
Month: November 2019
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The 3A and 4A state football playoff brackets have been unveiled
(Steve Oathout) The state football brackets for classes 3A and 4A were posted on Sunday. Find them here:
League champions automatically qualified to the playoff field, with the remainder of the bracket being filled out by the final RPI standings of the regular season. In the case of each bracket, this meant that the top 16 in those standings qualified as no league champions were outside that range.
The teams were then seeded by combining rankings from the RPI, CHSAANow coaches poll, MaxPreps rankings and Packard Rankings. The result of that data is available here.
Each playoff bracket will begin play this weekend. Quarterfinals are Nov. 21-23, semifinals are Nov. 29-30, and the championships games are set for Dec. 7. The 3A game will be played at CSU-Pueblo, and the 4A game will be at Mile High.
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Photos from 2A volleyball’s Region 10
Photos from the 2A volleyball Region 10 tournament between Clear Creek, Dolores and Soroco.
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Photos: Rampart volleyball wins 5A Region 6
Rampart volleyball won the Class 5A Region 6 tournament on Saturday.
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Montrose volleyball wins 4A Region 2 after tiebreaker
(Vanessa Vandehey/vanessa-photography.net) MONTROSE — It took a tiebreaker, but No. 2 Montrose volleyball emerged as the champion of the Class 4A Region 2 tournament on Saturday.
Montrose opened the tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Longmont.
Longmont, the No. 35 seed, then beat No. 23 Eagle Valley 3-1.
Then, in the third match, Eagle Valley beat Montrose 3-1.
That put the region into a tiebreaker, with Longmont and Eagle Valley playing a one-set match, and the winner advancing to play Montrose. Longmont beat Eagle Valley 25-15 to move on.
In that match, the teams went back and forth early on. Montrose led 17-12 before a 3-0 run by Longmont made it 17-15. Montrose pulled ahead 22-16, and then went on to win 25-20 to earn the state berth.
“We had a great day and had to make it exciting by winning against Longmont and losing to Eagle Valley,” Montrose Coach Shane Forrest said. “The girls played great in the tiebreaker against Longmont and really controlled the game the entire time.”
Said Madison Satterly, a senior: “Our team got fired up by how we all knew we wanted to win and knew it was do or die for us and we were gonna let nothing touch the ground,” Madison Satterly said. “We all played as a team and never let up. It feels amazing to be able to go to state. Montrose hasn’t been since 2016 and we worked our butts all season to get where we are now.”
Adden Isabel Stollsteimer: “Our team came together after the loss today and the moment Macy Boulden had her huge block in the last set, we knew we would fight to go to state. It feels like the top of the world to take this team that worked so hard all season to meet our goal of going to state. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to go to state with.”
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No. 10 Eaglecrest football fends off gritty performance from No. 23 Legacy in 5A opener
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) AURORA — Shawn Marsh and Corey Heinz likely told their teams the same thing, but from two different perspectives prior to Friday’s Class 5A football playoff opener.
Anything can happen.
That came to fruition quicker than most people thought. Eaglecrest scored on two of their first three offensive plays and held off a gritty second-half performance from Legacy running back Dakota Key to get a 34-31 win and advance to the second round of the state tournament.
“They have a really good coaching staff,” Marsh said of the Lightning. “They really do. And they have 13 sophomores out there. Coach (Heinz) does a really good job with a young team.”
Marsh just needed to be a little bit better with his veterans. Things got going quick for the Raptors (8-3 overall) as David Creal broke for a 56-yard touchdown run on his first carry of the game and the second overall play for Eaglecrest.
The Lightning (3-8) answered thanks to a muffed punt, setting up a drive deep in Eaglecrest territory. Key got into the end zone from four yards out and Legacy had a 7-6 lead thanks to Eaglecrest’s missed extra point on its touchdown.
But on the very next offensive play for the Raptors, Langston Williams made the first of several big plays on the night. He caught an 80-yard touchdown pass, showing off a little bit of that speed that won him the 400-meter dash at last spring’s state track meet.
He knew he had to draw on that level of a performance in a playoff football atmosphere, especially against a Legacy team that Eaglecrest had narrowly beaten earlier in the year.
“That was a tough battle,” Williams said. “We’ve been practicing hard this week. We’ve had some bumps in the road but we battled through. We didn’t come out like we expected but we fought.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) Williams added an interception to his performance in the second quarter which helped the Raptors increase their lead to 10 points at halftime, but to start the second half it was the Lightning scoring in a flash. It took less than a minute for Legacy to march down the field thanks to Key ripping off big run after big run.
Adarius Edwards eventually scored on a sneak play to cut the lead to three. Eaglecrest quarterback Max Marsh was intercepted by Michael McCarty and that turnover led to Key’s second rushing touchdown of the game.
“Anytime you make a team change what they normally do, you think you have a good chance,” Heinz said. “We made them change and they kind of got out of character for them for a minute and we’ve kind of had them on the ropes and we felt pretty good about it.”
Key’s touchdown gave the Lightning a 31-27 lead, but it didn’t hold up as Creal found the end zone with 1:14 left in the third to go up 34-31.
Legacy had a chance to get the tying points on the board but Henry Walter’s 50-yard field goal attempt was just off the mark. With one last effort, Edwards took to the air, but was picked off again by Williams to wrap up the win for Legacy.
“Football is an up and down game,” Max Marsh said. “You go through the hills and valleys and so we started high but we just couldn’t get things clicking and they could towards the end. But we finished and I’m proud of my team.”
The Raptors will face rival Grandview next week. Grandview edged Eaglecrest by three points earlier in the season.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) 
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) 
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) -
Football roundup: Smoky Hill wins first playoff game since 1991
More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com) Smoky Hill hill stormed through the regular season unbeaten for the second consecutive year. And now, the Buffaloes have their first playoff win since 1991.
Smoky, the No. 11 seed in the Class 5A football playoffs, beat No. 22 Overland 48-6 behind a huge day from star running back Obasanjo Sanni, who had five touchdowns.
“It was just a total team effort, all the way down to our kicker. Our defense played great,” said Smoky Hill coach Tom Thenell told the Scoreboard Show. “No. 44 (Sanni) was terrific early. The offensive line kind of knew that if 44 had a chance, some good things were going to happen.”
It is Smoky Hill’s first postseason win since they beat Denver West in the 1991 6A playoffs.
“It was a lot of fun for the school,” Thenell said. “These kids, a year ago we got respect in our own community and respect in our own hallways, and this year they were out to try to get the respect of people on the outside. I think after tonight, we have done that.”
Smoky has finished each of the past two seasons 10-0 under Tom Thenell, who is now in his second year at the school.
“People knew that when two years ago we first showed up over here, we were ranked 40th out of 40 in MaxPreps,” Thenell said. “And that’s no longer the case.”
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3A: (2) Mead 27, (6) Frederick 20
In perhaps the game of the night which was a battle of unbeaten teams, Mead rallied from down 17-12 at half to get the win and secure the Northern Metro League title.
“That was the No. 1 atmosphere that I’ve ever been a part of,” Mead coach Jason Klatt told the Scoreboard Show. “Just a fun night. Two communities coming together.”
Both teams entered 9-0, and 4-0 in the Northern Metro.
The game featured three lead changes in the first half, and then Mead took a 20-17 lead in the third quarter when Brady Veltien found Brayden Keys for a touchdown on fourth down.
Frederick tied the game at 20 with a field goal, but Mead drove down and scored early in the fourth to go ahead for good.
“Just a ton of resolve a group of Mavericks, and I’m proud to be a part of it,” Klatt said.
Mead, No. 2 in the coaches poll, is likely to earn the No. 1 seed in the 3A playoffs when the brackets are unveiled on Sunday after this week’s No. 1 Palmer Ridge lost Discovery Canyon on Thursday.
“We don’t care,” Klatt said of seeding. “If they get us in the tourney, we’ll take it. We don’t care about rankings or any of that stuff. There’s a lot of good teams out there, and we’re fortunate to be a part of that mix.”
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5A: (15) Arapahoe 17, (18) Castle View 7
More photos. (Matt Minton) Arapahoe avenged a loss in the regular season to advance to the second round of the 5A playoffs.
“It was much-improved from where we were earlier this season,” Arapahoe coach Rod Sherman told the Scoreboard Show. “We played them earlier, and we gave up 400-plus yards of offense, and our guys have improved. Playing in the gauntlet of the Centennial League exposes your weaknesses and gives you a chance to improve.”
Arapahoe is now 7-4, the program’s highest win total since 2015.
“I think we’ve just grown up a little bit,” said Sherman, now in his second year helming the Warriors. “Last year was our first year at Arapahoe. There was some culture change that was necessary. Our kids really bought in last year, but they needed an offseason.”
The game was a rematch of a Week 2 meeting between the teams, which Castle View won 23-13.
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4A: (3) Vista PEAK 35, Fruita Monument 21
Vista PEAK rallied from down 21-15 at the half to score 20 unanswered points and finish off its first undefeated regular season in school history.
Ja’derris Carr-Kersh led the way with four rushing touchdowns, including a 71-yarder. Monty Hamrick also had rushing score for the Bison as they clinched the Pioneer League title.
“We came out and shut them out the second half, and the offense kind of got rolling,” Vista PEAK coach John Sullivan told the Scoreboard Show. “We wore them down a little bit.”
Of the rushing attack, Sullivan added: “We have a pretty good trio in the backfield with our No. 1 Ja’derris Carr, who’s really fast, and we have a couple of bruisers back there who love to block, and when they get the ball in their hands, they also can do some damage. But it all starts with our hogs up front, that took it to heart that this game was on them — both sides of the ball, actually. Our D-Line, as well.”
Vista PEAK, now 10-0, awaits seeding on Sunday.
“Last year, we started a ton of sophomores that were very talented, and we knew that if we had a great summer, and hit the weight room like we did, that we could do some damage in our league for sure,” Sullivan said. “It was one of our goals to go 10-0 and win the league, for sure, but I think we can do a little bit more, too.”
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5A: (13) Highlands Ranch 59, (20) Doherty 7
Highlands Ranch cruised into the second round with a big offensive performance.
“Our kids played exceptionally well,” Highlands Ranch coach TJ Rubley told the Scoreboard Show. “It was truly one of those all-cylinder type games on offense for us.”
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4A: (9) Ponderosa 26, (10) Heritage 14
More photos. (PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com) Ponderosa won the Metro League title with come-from-behind win where the Mustangs went ahead late in the fourth quarter.
“Tonight was a prime example of we’re not going to quit when we get some adversity, and we’re just going to keep fighting,” coach Jaron Cohen told the Scoreboard Show.
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5A: (19) Mountain Vista 24, (14) Mullen 16
Mountain Vista trailed 6-0 early, but after taking a 7-6 lead in the first quarter, didn’t trail again.
Grant Shells had an interception return for a touchdown, Jacob Barrett threw a TD to Carter Ortega, and Mountain Vista’s defense held firm to pull off the upset.
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Notables:
- In the 6-man quarterfinals, Fleming rolled to a 66-6 win over Prairie.
- Skyline beat No. 7 Loveland 20-15 to win the 4A Longs Peak title. “It was a little too close for comfort, but they found a way and played hard,” coach Michael Silva told the Scoreboard Show.
- Thomas Jefferson knocked off 3A No. 9 Lutheran, 27-13.
- Erie upset 3A No. 10 Fort Morgan, 30-27. “We have talent, we have great coaches, and we were able to figure some stuff out there after a rocky start,” coach Chad Cooper told the Scoreboard Show.
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More coverage:
- Updated playoff brackets: 5A | 2A | 1A | 8-man | 6-man
- An updated top-10 football scoreboard for 4A and 3A.
- Pueblo West secured a league title by topping Rampart.
- In the 5A playoffs, Cherokee Trail started fast to beat Fountain-Fort Carson.
- Golden pulled off an upset of 4A No. 5 Dakota Ridge.
- Legacy had a gritty performance, but Eaglecrest avoided an upset in the 5A playoffs.
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Golden football upsets No. 5 Dakota Ridge in 4A Jeffco finale
ARVADA — Golden football threw a monkey wrench into the Class 4A Jeffco League standings on Friday night.
The Demons upset No. 5 ranked Dakota Ridge 14-0 in a regular-season finale at the North Area Athletic Complex.
“I’ve probably watched to many Rocky movies growing up, but I love the underdog,” Golden coach Jared Yannacito said after the Demons’ biggest win since maybe Golden’s run to the 4A title game in 2002. “Our kids bought into that and we told them this was a program defining moment. We’ve done a lot of good things, but we hadn’t knocked off a top dog. Tonight we did it.”
Golden quarterback Joey Mancuso (2) just gets a pass off before getting hit by Dakota Ridge junior Colin Stuhr (3) during the first half Friday night at NAAC. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) The victory created a 3-way tie for the conference title. Chatfield wins the tiebreaker — point differential between Chatfield, Dakota Ridge and Golden — after the Chargers defeated Bear Creek 28-17 at Jeffco Stadium on Friday night to take the 4A Jeffco title.
While the Demons (8-2, 4-1 in league) helped out No. 8 Chatfield (8-2, 4-1), they also helped out where Golden will fall into the 16-team 4A state playoff bracket that will be released by the Colorado High School Activities Association on Sunday.
“The goal is hopefully to get high enough to get a home playoff game,” Golden junior quarterback Joey Mancuso said. “That would be great for the first round. We’ll see what happens.”
Golden’s defense made it happen for the Demons in their regular-season finale. An interception by Golden senior Kevin Mulligan late in the third quarter set up a key touchdown that gave the Demons a two-score lead.
“I don’t think we needed one big turnover because we were getting turnovers all night. I was just doing my job and got the pick,” Mulligan said. “We kept on getting turnover-after-turnover. We knew our defense would win us this game.”
The pick by Mulligan set Golden up on its own 35-yard line. Mancuso hooked up with sophomore Joshua Torrey for the biggest offensive play from the scrimmage of the night.
Dakota Ridge senior Jamal Yatribi (8) is taken down by Golden sophomore Dalton Summers (24) and senior Travis Poole (21) on Friday at NAAC. The Demons’ defense held the Eagles to 25 yards in the first half. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics)
“Josh is a sophomore and has been hurt for four weeks,” Yannacito said. “He was our guy that they probably didn’t plan for that much.”Mancuso hit Torrey on a go-route down the sideline to the tune of 50 yards.
“My line gave me enough time to let me throw the ball and (Torrey) ran a heck of a route,” Mancuso said of the longest play from scrimmage of the game. “I just put it up trying to give him a chance. Everyone has to do their job to make a play. That’s what happened.”
Two plays later senior Braden Edwards scored from four yards out to give the Demons a 14-0 lead with 11:55 left in the fourth quarter.
Golden’s defense created two more turnovers in the fourth quarter and Dakota Ridge turned it over on downs too.
Dakota Ridge’s offense couldn’t get anything going. The Eagles were held to 25 yards of total offense through the first half. Dakota Ridge (8-2, 4-1) turned the ball over six times in the loss.
Golden put up the lone points in the opening half on the first drive of the game. The Demons had a 69-yard touchdown drive that was helped out by a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Mancuso finished the drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass to senior Carter Thompson over the middle with 9:29 left in the first quarter.
“Watching film we thought we had that play to Carter right down the seam,” Yannacito said of the first touchdown. “In these type of games you get one shot to hit those and we hit it.”
Dakota Ridge was No. 1 in the RPI, followed by Chatfield at No. 5 and Golden at No. 13 coming into Friday night’s games.
“Hats off to Dakota Ridge. That is a program that we are striving to be one day. That’s a top-10 team,” Yannacito said. “I’m so proud of these boys. This was a game we wanted so bad.”
Dakota Ridge quarterback Ben Gultig (2) attempts to step out of the tackle attempt by Golden junior Cambell Thompson (34) in the Class 4A Jeffco League finale Friday night at NAAC. (Dennis Pleuss/Jeffco Athletics) -
No. 9 Cherokee Trail football strikes fast to beat No. 24 Fountain-Fort Carson in 5A playoffs
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) AURORA — Two touchdowns in less than four minutes in the second quarter pretty much summed up the quick-strike ability of Cherokee Trail.
In a first-round game of the Class 5A state football playoffs, the No. 9 Cougars displayed the versatile offense they’ve touted all year and beat No. 24 Fountain-Fort Carson 35-17 at Legacy Stadium.
The Trojans (3-8 overall) won the opening coin toss and decided to put the ball in the hands of Jayden Lavigne and the Cougars offense.
And that was fine with the home team. In just over four minutes, the Cougars (8-3) marched down the field and punched the ball in the end zone on an eight-yard run from Julian Williams, his first of four touchdown runs on the night.
“We didn’t want to overlook this game,” Williams said. “If we do, it could be our last game of the season so we were focused and determined.”
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) FFC’s offense started a tad timid on its opening drive, but after getting new life thanks to a couple of penalties, found themselves in the red zone with a chance to even the score.
But the Cougars’ defense clamped down and the Trojans had to settle for a 33-yard field goal from Gaheris Owen.
Cherokee Trail was fine giving up field goals as long as they were scoring touchdowns. Williams scored his second touchdown of the night to increase the lead to 14-3 and four minutes later, Lavigne found Kaden Bing for a 29-yard touchdown pass.
The Trojans had one more shot to get on the board before halftime, but after reaching the red zone, the offense again stalled.
Owen attempted his second field goal of the night from 27 yards away, but pushed it just right of his target.
“Against a good team like that, you can’t get behind them,” FFC coach Jake Novotny said.
In the second half, the Cougars picked up right where they left off. Williams found the end zone two more times to bring his total to four on the night.
“The running game is always important,” Williams said. “I’m happy I was able to contribute to the running game tonight. The passing game was on too. I just got down there and ran in a few short ones.”
Late in the third quarter and into the fourth, the Trojans put together their best drive of the game and finally found some much-needed offensive rhythm.
The drive was capped with an eight-yard touchdown pass from Wyatt Price to Treshawn Taylor. Price added a 54-yard touchdown toss to Kobe Hardin before the game ended, as the Trojans did their best to battle to the end.
“It’s what we teach them every day,” Novotny said. “Never quit. Never give up. This has been a season that’s been tough a little bit and they’ve been doing that all year and I’m proud of them.
Cherokee Trail now has the task of slowing down Fairview quarterback Aidan Atkinson in next week’s matchup. Cougars coach Joe Johnson has been doing this a long time so he knows that even though playoff wins are nice and well-earned, they’ll come to an end if the work for the next one doesn’t begin right away.
“We’ll get right to work on Sunday,” he said.
It’s all he needed to say. He has no intention of letting his season end earlier than it needs to so he and the Cougars have no time around and wait. They’re ready to go right back to work.
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No. 4 Pueblo West football wraps up league title by beating Rampart
Fourth-ranked Pueblo West football secured a league title with a win over Rampart on Friday night.
The Cyclones, now 5-0 in the Pikes Peak League, beat the Rams 28-14 behind senior Matt Rudd’s three touchdowns.
“He’s a good kid,” said Cyclones head coach Clint Buderus. “He’s been kind of banged up all year and he’s finally starting to get healthy. He’s a great weapon for us (and) we probably need to get him the ball a little bit more.”
Rampart (5-5 overall, 4-1 Pikes Peak) struck first just four minutes into the game, but Pueblo West answered back five minutes later when Rudd scored his first touchdown of the night. The Cyclones preserved the drive by executing a fake punt on 4th and 11 just a couple minutes beforehand.
Rudd rushed for his second touchdown in the second quarter and a Cyclones kickoff return to the Rams’ 19-yard line set up a touchdown pass to senior Dawson Menegatti.
“Keeping the ball away from (Rampart’s) offense was a big impact on winning this game,” Rudd said. “The more time went off the clock, the better chance we have of winning.”
The Rams were able to draw within a possession after junior Cale Cormaney scored on a quarterback keeper, but a 43-yard rush from senior Chandler Mason on a quarterback keeper of his own took Pueblo West into the red zone, where Rudd punched in his third of the night to ice the game.
“Our linemen are doing great,” Rudd said. “They work hard at practice and that’s the only reason why I had such a successful night.”
“I think our kids just played well,” added Buderus. “Our offense answered the bell and tied it up and kind of never looked back.”
Pueblo West will now turn its attention to the postseason.
“Stay(ing) calm is the key to a being the victory team and going far in the playoffs,” Rudd said. “If you get nervous, then things go the wrong way.”
“We found out we can win a tight game,” said Buderus. “Everything so far has been lopsided one way or the other (so) it was good for us to play a full four quarter game and have to grind it out and win it at the end.”
