Broomfield’s goal in the first half was the difference as the Eagles beat Cherry Creek 1-0 in the Class 5A girls soccer semifinals.
Month: June 2021
-
5A baseball: Fairview and Valor Christian will play for a shot at Mountain Vista in title game
(Max Potter) LAKEWOOD – Fairview knocked off Mountain Vista, 4-2, behind a stellar outing from Finley Daecher in the first game of the day at All-Star Park in Lakewood. An offensive outburst from Valor Christian gave the Eagles all they needed to take care of Fort Collins, 10-1, in Game 2.
Fairview and Valor Christian will square off at 10 a.m. on Friday for the right to play Mountain Vista in the 5A championship game, which is slated for 1 p.m.
Finley Daecher was the story for the Knights, as the left-handed pitcher kept the Golden Eagles off balance all morning from the sidearm slot. The senior went 6 2/3 innings and only allowed two runs while striking out three.
“Our defense is amazing and they just backed me up all game. I was able to work both sides of the zone and that was our game plan, to keep them on their toes,” Daecher said. “It was great to go through a lot of innings so we can keep some arms fresh for tomorrow and I’m glad I could come through for my guys.”
Vista had some terrific chances to strike, loading the bases in the fifth and putting the tying run on base again in the seventh, but could not scratch anything across. Coach Castillo turned to his bullpen with two outs in the seventh and gave the ball to freshman Anton Keith, who came in and got a ground out to shortstop to nail down his first career save.
“The goal was to play in the last game of the season and win it,” Fairview head coach David Castillo said. “Obviously, to do that we are going to need everybody. Looking at matchups to find the best way to win, we saw that (Finley) was our guy and in order to get to tomorrow we needed something, and he did it today.”
Fairview was clutch when it got into a jam, stranding 11 Golden Eagles on base.
“They hit some balls hard, but we made key plays when we needed to,” Castillo continued. “The defense has been there for us all year and we have been practicing all week on our football field to get used to playing on turf. The guys stayed calm and minimized damage when they needed to, especially in that first inning and that was huge for our success today.”
The second game of the day started with a bang, as starting pitcher Brant Kragel tripled to the gap in left center. Blake Wilson was key to the Valor Christian offense, roping a double off the wall in left center in the first then scoring the next batter. An inning later, he hit a fly ball just left of the 390 sign in center field that plated three runs and put him on third base.
“Blake (Wilson) is one of the most underrated players in the state,” Valor coach Keith Wahl said. “He is a middle infielder whose got pop, has a great work ethic and throws 90 mph across the diamond. We are so blessed to have him.”
Every hitter for the Valor Christian side reached base and that is exactly what coach Wahl preaches.
“We talk about quality at bats all the time,” Wahl said. “Hit the ball with maximum velocity, have a plan at the plate and execute that plan. These guys never chase outside the zone and do a great job at the dish. These guys are dialed in right now.”
Kragel was tremendous both on the bump and at the plate, throwing a complete game and only allowing six hits. He reached base safely in four of five at-bats and started the game with a triple on the first pitch
“I tried to come out and be aggressive and put myself in a spot to help the team get the win,” Kragel said. “Starting the day with a triple, I felt like it was going to be a pretty good day. We are going to have a great chance tomorrow and I am excited for the chance to compete.”
-
4A girls golf: Jessica Mason, Discovery Canyon claim championships
AURORA – The Class 4A state tournament was anything but a made for television event. There wasn’t one ounce of drama after Day 1 for either Holy Family’s Jessica Mason or the Discovery Canyon Thunder.
Both had sizable leads after Monday’s first round, and both expanded on them on a blazing Tuesday afternoon at CommonGround Golf Course.
Mason kept the medalist honors at Holy Family, following her teammate Hailey Schalk’s three-year hold on the event from 2017-19. She won by 10 shots and of the three subpar rounds that were shot over the two days, she had two of them, going 69-71, for a two-day total of 140. She was 10 shots better than Mullen’s Sofia Choi, whose eagle on No. 18 to close out her second round helped her match Mason’s 71.
Discovery Canyon’s foursome of Emily and Christina Cheng, Mena Song-Lew and Lauren Jaworowski were even better on Day 2 and blew out the field by 34 shots over a Windsor team that rallied from a tough first day to earn some hardware.
Emily Cheng (74), Lauren Cheng (78) and Song-Lew (78) all placed in the top 15 and Joworowski was 23rd for the Thunder, who claimed their first state title in the sport and the first girls title for the school that opened in 2007.
“This means everything,” said an emotional Thunder coach Mark Liggett, whose wife Susan begged her husband to join his team on Tuesday after missing Day 1 to be by her side in the hospital in Colorado Springs as she recovered from multiple surgeries.
“They are all really serious about their games and they came out here and they got down to business.”
It was a brilliant run for Discovery Canyon, which graduates just Christina Cheng, and will return its full compliments including several up and coming freshmen. The Thunder rolled through regionals and with their No. 1 ranking through iWanamaker, had their sights firmly set on proving to those north of I-70 that good golf was being played down south.
“We don’t deal with the Northern teams that much (especially this year), so we didn’t really know what they were thinking,” Liggett said.
Tuesday may very well have been the perfect elixir for Liggett’s soul.
“Just being up here and being with them, I didn’t want to miss it,” said Liggett, who has been married to his lovely for 35 years.. “She was feeling a little better and she told me last night to go, you can’t do anything else for me at the hospital.
“I love being able to cheer them on and watch them play their game and watch them break through.”
As for Mason, she was in control from the start. She just kept making pars and her nearest playing competitors — Mead’s Timbre Shehee and Emily Cheng — were making random bogeys to fall further behind.
“I wasn’t super nervous on No. 1 because I knew I had an eight shot lead and I just kept telling myself ‘I’m not going to blow it today and if I do, I’m going to be very upset,” Mason said. “When the lead continued to grow, I just had to keep doing what I was doing, but don’t be arrogant about it. Be who you are and play your game.”
Mason was fearless throughout the day and the highlight of her day came at the 451-yard par-5 No. 11. She hit 8-iron in from 196 yards and just missed the elusive albatross by inches as the ball rolled over the cup and settled 2 feet behind it for a tap in eagle that took her to 6-under for the tournament.
“This means a lot, because freshman year (after finishing fifth) I was just kind of behind (Hailey) and now that I’m not, it’s nice to say that I’ve always been here,” Mason said. “It’s just coming to grips with my game and getting better.
“Feels good to keep the legacy going and hopefully next year too.”
-
4A boys lacrosse: Cheyenne Mountain comes from behind to win championship
(Max Potter) ENGLEWOOD – Back-to-back goals from Kevin Papa helped Cheyenne Mountain overcome a two-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to topple Evergreen, 5-4, in the Class 4A boys lacrosse state championship on Tuesday evening at Englewood High School.
Cheyenne Mountain, which won the state title in 2018, earned the second state title in program history and avenged a 10-9 loss to Golden in the 2019 finals.
Kevin Papa was the hero for the Indians, scoring the last two goals, a turnaround strike off the far post with just under four minutes left in the game, then again with 48 seconds left in the contest as he streaked across the face of goal from a Zak Paige pass.
“It was an awesome game,” Papa said. “All of my boys put me in a good position to score and we just made it happen in the second half. We were getting our shots all game, just some of them weren’t falling. We just played like we know how and tried to move the ball faster than they could move their feet.”
Not to be understated was the tremendous effort by Cheyenne Mountain. Goalkeeper Matthew Kelleher came up with eight terrific saves to hold the Cougars well below their scoring average.
“It was a tough, physical game out there today, the refs definitely let us play, but I thought they called a great game,” Kelleher said. “We just kept our composure and playing like we know how.”
The defenses excelled on both sides, as Andrew Morris stifled the Cheyenne Mountain offense in goal for the most part, tallying seven saves. Defensemen Mike Crane and Jared Stiller played a hard, physical game in the trenches. Stiller even recorded a pair of long-stick goals.
Cheyenne Mountain head coach Mike Paige felt a special connection to this group in Season D.
“Last year, we had to let some seniors go and we had a phenomenal team,” Paige said. “This year’s seniors felt like that was an opportunity missed, but they weren’t going to let this one slip by. I’ve been coaching these guys since they were 4- and 5-year-olds. To see this season come together the way it did, these guys worked hard and it all magically happened.”
Evergreen made history with its first appearance in the title game and the Cougars played their hearts out, holding Cheyenne Mountain scoreless for just under 32 minutes.
It was also the second-lowest scoring game since 2006 when Cherry Creek beat Denver East, 6-2. It was the lowest scoring contest in a 4A title game since the two classifications started having separate championships in 2013.
-
5A boys lacrosse: Pless scores in overtime to send Mountain Vista home with trophy
(Max Potter) ENGLEWOOD – Dillon Pless found the back of the net 40 seconds into the overtime period to lift Mountain Vista over Valor Christian, 10-9, in the Class 5A boys lacrosse state championship.
It was the first state title game appearance in the Mountain Vista program’s history, and the Golden Eagles capitalized on it to win their first state championship.
Pless led the charge on offense for the Golden Eagles, netting three goals, but the teams fought for 48 minutes, as neither team had a lead larger than three. The score was even at nine after Gunnar Fellows struck for his third game and brought Valor Christian to even.
As the whistle sounded, Valor took possession but a turnover gave Mountain Vista a chance to seal it. Taking the ball in from the left side, Pless shot on the near post and connected to send Vista home victorious.
“We have been here all tournament, so this was nothing new to us,” Pless said. “I knew I had the matchup, so I just took him to the net and was able to finish. I cannot describe the feeling when I saw it go in, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so happy I could come through for my teammates.”
The Golden Eagles have been in similar situations before. Mountain Vista posted three overtime winners just to get reach the championship game.
“This is huge for us as a program,” Mountain Vista head coach Matthew Plitnick said. “We have eight seniors that we are losing, but all eight played an incredible role for our team, it is going to be tough to see them go. We have some great freshman coming in and our sophomore class is the best in the state, so we are in pretty good shape going forward.”
Plitnick said the key to the winner was staying calm.
“We knew if we got it around to the back side, we would have a great look and he just buried it, I couldn’t be prouder,” Plitnick said.
Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter because of the terrific goalie play on both sides. Valor Christian keeper Mitch Gutsgall made save after save in goal for the Eagles and Nate Kopec kept pace, standing as a brick wall in net for Vista.
“We have 22 guys on this team that can all play great lacrosse and my teammates mean everything to me,” Kopec said. “It was a battle all game and my defense and I stepped up when we needed to, but this was a team effort.”
Not lost in the game was the effort put forth by both Griffin Mallory and Jake Likes, along with Gunnar Fellows, these three scored eight of the VCHS goals.
Valor Christian played in its first championship game at the 5A classification. The Eagles have a pair of Class 4A state championships already.
-
Photos: Mountain Vista and Cheyenne Mountain claim boys lacrosse championships
ENGLEWOOD — The boys lacrosse season came to a thrilling end as Mountain Vista and Cheyenne Mountain claimed state championships.
[divider]
Mountain Vista 10, Valor Christian 9
By Steve Abeyta
(Steve Abeyta) [divider]
Cheyenne Mountain 5, Evergreen 4
By Steve Abeyta
-
4A and 5A boys swimming and diving state meet heat sheets
This season’s boys swimming state meets are June 24-25. Find heat sheets for both the Class 5A and 4A meet below.
[divider]
Class 5A
Download: PDF
[pdf-embedder url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/chsaa-5a-swim-dive-meet-program-2021-columns.pdf”]
[divider]
Class 4A
Download: PDF
[pdf-embedder url=”https://old.chsaanow.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/chsaa-4a-swim-dive-meet-program-2021-columns.pdf”]
-
1A baseball: Brigden Parker tosses a gem as Holly beats Flatirons Academy for state title
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) GREELEY — Less than 20 days ago, Holly baseball coach Dayne Eaton made a crucial decision that would greatly shape the ending of his team’s season.
Flatirons Academy was on its way to Holly for a doubleheader and Eaton had to decide whether or not a regular season win was more important than gambling on a pitching matchup for a potential state championship showdown. By the time the decision was made, Eaton had decided that Brigden Parker, the team’s ace, wouldn’t pitch in that regular season doubleheader.
He wanted to save him for state.
The gamble paid off in a big way as Parker threw a complete game shutout and Holly beat the Bison 1-0 to win the program’s second Class 1A state baseball crown and first since 2016.
“Our strength is our depth in pitching,” Eaton said. “So I left (the regular season games) up to those other guys and we were going to save Brigden. The Limon coach (Rocky Rockwell) told me we were on a collision course with them for the state title. Limon beat them by one and beat us by one and both games could have gone either way.”
It was a much bigger gamble considering that Eaton was determined not to throw Parker until the state title game and left the semifinal showdown up to his son, Dakota.
The Wildcats (16-4 overall) helped him out in a big way. Home runs from Parker and Jose Magallanes led the way to a 9-1 win, setting up that showdown between Holly and Flatirons Academy.
That collision course came to a head and right in the middle of it was a pitchers duel. Both Parker and Bison (12-3) starter Trenton Rowan were fantastic throughout the day.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) In seven innings, Rowan allowed just four hits and walked one hitter. He struck out 13 batters that he faced. He made just one mistake. He left a pitch over the plate enough that Magallanes blasted it over the left field fence to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning.
“He told me it was an inside changeup and he wondered how I got it,” Magallanes said. “He was really confused with how I got it.”
It didn’t matter. A 1-0 lead with the way Rowan and Parker were throwing might as well have been a 10-0 lead. When he saw the ball disappear over the fence, Parker accepted the challenge of finishing the game with a one-run lead.
“I knew it was up to me to shut it down,” Parker said. “Once he hit that, I knew. We got this one.”
His pitch count was creeping up there and his goal was to finish the game. Evan Moll reached base on a throwing error by Parker, but he responded by striking out the next two hitters with a combined 10 pitches.
He needed just one pitch to induce a groundout from Blake Swearingen that gave the Wildcats the state title. He finished the day with 13 strikeouts and worked ahead of hitters very often. Of the 26 batters he faced, he threw 19 first pitch strikes. Overall, he can’t remember a better performance he’s ever had on the mound.
“That has to be No. 1,” he said.
And it all goes back to that June 5 decision from Eaton. He could’ve thrown Parker that day and given his team a mental edge should they play each other for state. But he decided he would save Parker’s best performance for the last game of the year.
(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com) -
4A girls golf: Discovery Canyon leads after Day 1 at state
AURORA – You have to hand it to the Discovery Canyon foursome on their performance on Monday at CommonGround G.C. in the opening round of the Class 4A state golf tournament.
Mere moments before their collective morning tee times, the Thunder group of Emily Cheng, Christina Cheng, Lauren Jaworowski and Mena Song-Lew got the usual words of encouragement from their coach Mark Liggett.
But they didn’t get to see his face, just heard his voice from back home in Colorado Springs, where he was at the bedside of his wife Susan, who is still in the hospital after complications from a surgery the week prior.
The Thunder (team score of 255), who to a player will admit they didn’t play their best golf on Monday in the ideal conditions at CommonGround, played for their coach and will carry an eight-shot lead over Holy Family (263) into Tuesday’s second round. Cheyenne Mountain (266) is in third and both Windsor (272) and Mullen (272) are lurking in fourth.
“They were all in a better mood this morning when they got the news last night that (Susan) had come out of her third surgery and found out what was making her so sick,” said Discovery Canyon assistant coach David Schwartz, whose team is in search of its first title in the sport. “They were happy to hear that and they all had a chance to talk to him on the phone and that put them all at ease that she is in a better place at least physically.”
Sophomore Emily Cheng led the way for Discovery Canyon, firing a 6-over par 78 on the 5,907-yard layout. She sits alone in third place and will be in the final pairing tomorrow with Holy Family’s Jessica Mason (3-under par, 69) and Mead’s Timbre Shehee (77).
Christina Cheng (88) and Jaworowski (89) rounded out the scoring three for Discovery Canyon.
“They did exactly what they needed to do today, finish in first place, and I think tomorrow will be a better day,” Schwartz said. “They didn’t play their best today and our top three really weren’t on their game, but we are looking forward to tomorrow and the warm weather.”
Schwartz and his team, who are hoping to have Liggett back tomorrow, know that the course they saw on Monday – damp and somewhat receptive after the overnight rains – will play a lot differently on Tuesday in what is supposed to be a 90-plus degree dry day.
“It did play a little slower as compared to the practice round yesterday and that is the most difficult thing for younger players is to readapt to changing conditions,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a totally different day and now that they have the bad rounds out of the way, they know what is in store for them tomorrow.”
As for Mason, who is attempting to keep the medalist honors at Holy Family after three straight wins by Hailey Schalk from 2017-2019, it was a nearly flawless round of golf.
The Tigers junior had it to 4-under after pouring in a 12-foot eagle putt on No. 15, and ultimately finished with a 3-under score of 69. The only blemishes on the card were a couple of three putt bogeys on the inward nine’s two difficult par-3’s.
Mason will carry an eight shot lead into tomorrow’s final round and will have a front row seat to watch her two closest chasers try and catch her.
“I was relaxed today and everything was good today, so tomorrow I just have to come back out and do the same thing,” said Mason, who went a perfect 5-for-5 in Northern Colorado Athletic Conference tournaments this season. “Even if you do have an eight-shot lead, you still have to play well.”