For the fourth consecutive week, the top team in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings has failed to hold on to its spot.
Mountain View is the new No. 1 team in the poll, and is the third different team in 4A to be ranked No. 1 this season.
They dropped a heartbreaker to Northridge on Wednesday before taking two games from Greeley Central in three days.
Fresh off taking control of the South Central League last Wednesday, the Pueblo West Cyclones climb to No. 2 and appear poised to make a run at state championship.
Pueblo West is No. 2 in 4A this week. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Valor Christian made a sizable jump this week, landing at No. 4, five spots up from its ranking a week ago.
Longmont breaks into the top-10 at No. 6, one spot higher than Windsor who is also new to the poll.
Pine Creek remains the top team in 5A and have still only lost once on the year. Grandview and ThunderRidge trade places at No. 2 and No. 3.
Fort Collins (No. 6) and Regis Jesuit (No. 7) each climb three spots from last week’s rankings.
Legacy and Dakota Ridge are the two new teams in 5A, coming in at No. 8 and No. 10 respectively.
Eaton remains the unanimous No. 1 team in 3A and have yet to yield their ranking at any time this season.
University made the climb from No. 5 to No. 2 after an impressive week where they went 5-0, including two wins over league rival Brush.
St. Mary’s jumped to No. 5 thanks in part of splitting a double-header with No. 3 Lamar on Friday.
Sheridan is the lone newcomer to 3A, landing at No. 9.
Paonia took six of 10 first-place votes to remain the No. 1 team in 2A. Swink made the biggest jump in the class, coming in three spots better than last week. The Lions land at No. 4 this week.
There were no new teams in the 2A poll this week.
There was no change at the top of the 1A poll as Granada remains the No. 1 team. The top five teams from last week held on to their position.
Genoa-Hugo is the only new team in the 1A poll, coming in at No. 8 this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Pine Creek baseball is the new No. 1 team in Class 5A — one of three new teams atop the polls this week. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
Three out of the five No. 1 positions in the CHSAANow.com baseball rankings have a different look from a week ago.
Pine Creek takes over as the top team in Class 5A, Silver Creek returns to the top spot in 4A and Granada comes in as the new No. 1 team in 1A.
The Eagles take over as No. 1 in 5A after beating Palmer 10-0 last week, avenging a loss to the Terrors that occurred only days earlier. It is the only loss of the season for Pine Creek.
ThunderRidge is nipping right at the heels of the Eagles as they sit only nine points back in voting. The Grizzlies took down Douglas County last Wednesday in a big Continental League win.
Lakewood (No. 7) and Cherokee Trail (No. 8) are the new additions to the 5A rankings this week.
Silver Creek takes back the top spot in 4A only a week after losing a grasp on the position. The Raptors went 2-0 last week, topping Northridge and Longmont to improve their record to 9-2 overall.
The bottom half of the rankings saw an influx of new teams as Northridge comes in at No. 7, Pueblo South lands at No. 8 and Palmer Ridge rounds out the rankings at No. 10.
The still-undefeated Eaton Reds remain the unanimous No. 1 team in 3A this week.
St. Mary’s is the only new team to that poll coming off a double-header sweep of La Junta on Friday. The Pirates come in at No. 8 this week.
Paonia edged out Sedgwick County by three points to remain the No. 1 team in 2A this week. Akron and Dayspring Christian are the new additions in 2A, coming in at No. 9 and No. 10 respectively.
A 10-6 win over then No. 1 Holly on Friday was good enough to boost Granada to the top spot in the 1A poll.
Manzanola was able to break into the rankings at No. 6 while Stratton/Liberty is the other new addition, coming in at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Chatfield sits atop the 5A baseball rankings this week. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Chatfield was the big benefactor of two Regis Jesuit losses last week.
The Chargers come into this week as the new No. 1 team in the Class 5A CHSAANow.com baseball poll. Monday they topped Arapahoe, and had a huge Thursday showdown with the then No. 1 Raiders.
Regis Jesuit was coming off a loss to Fairview and was looking to bounce back, but a seven-run sixth inning for the Chargers was good enough to get the win. As a result, despite losing to Bear Creek on Saturday, Chatfield sits atop the 5A rankings.
ThunderRidge made the most impressive jump of the week to land at No. 2. They were the No. 9 team in last week’s poll.
Fort Collins has played well enough that it broke into the rankings this week at No. 9 respectively.
The 4A rankings also saw a new No. 1 team emerge as D’Evelyn reclaims the top spot that Silver Creek had taken a week ago.
There were two new teams in the 4A poll as Mountain View comes in at No. 5 and Pueblo Centennial rounds out the rankings at No. 10.
The Eaton Reds remain undefeated on the year and also remain the No. 1 team in the 3A poll. The top four teams from a week ago held on to their spot this week.
The Academy was the only new team to break into the 3A rankings, landing at No. 10.
Paonia swept all four games they played last week to hold on to their No. 1 ranking in 2A.
Front Range Christian, who remains undefeated on the year at 8-0, breaks into the 2A polls at No. 9. The Falcons were the only newcomer this week.
Holly is still the No. 1 team in 1A, getting five of nine first-place votes.
Fleming jumped two spots to land at No. 2 and Gilpin County is the only new team in the 1A poll, landing at No. 8.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Three new No. 1 teams were crowned this week in the CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.
Silver Creek now stands atop the Class 4A poll, Paonia takes over as the top 2A team and Holly comes at No. 1 in the 1A rankings.
With new teams breaking into every poll this week, the rankings have a much different look to them than they did when the last new set was released two weeks ago.
Silver Creek made the most impressive jump out of any other team, regardless of classification. Two weeks ago, the Raptors held the No. 7 position in 4A and after rattling off three wins in Arizona, the voters saw enough to boost their position.
Canon City, Pueblo East and Valor Christian also had solid outings since spring break and played their way in the rankings. Canon City lands at No. 3, Pueblo East comes in at No. 4 and Valor Christian takes over the No. 7 spot that Silver Creek held in the previous rankings.
Regis Jesuit remains No. 1 in the 5A poll this week. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Regis Jesuit remains the top team in 5A.
Ralston Valley gained ground in this week’s poll, jumping from No. 9 to No. 6.
Douglas County, ThunderRidge and Heritage join the 5A rankings at No. 8, No. 9 and No. 10 respectively.
Eaton may still be the top team in 3A, but it’s No. 2 Bayfield who suddenly getting attention from voters. The Wolverines completed a successful road trip to Colorado Springs where they held on to beat St. Mary’s before holding off Lamar and Manitou Springs in a double-header.
Kent Denver was the lone addition to the 3A poll at No. 9.
Paonia’s 8-0 start to the season was good enough for the Eagles to jump three spots and take over the No. 1 spot in 2A. They swept former No. 1 Resurrection Christian in a double-header on Saturday.
The Cougars fell to No. 5 as a result.
Rocky Ford (No. 6) and Limon (No. 10) joined the 2A rankings this week.
Holly made the two-spot jump after a 2-1 start to their season to become the new No. 1 team in 1A.
Granada, who was ranked No. 7 in the previous rankings, also made a significant jump this week as the Bobcats come in at No. 2.
Rocky Mountain Lutheran and Briggsdale are the two new teams to the 1A rankings, coming in at No. 7 and No. 8 respectively.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
Rocky Mountain (4), Columbine (8), Mountain Vista (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Silver Creek (5)
6-1
93
7
4-1
2
D’Evelyn (5)
4-1
75
1
3-1
3
Canon City
8-1
60
–
6-0
4
Pueblo East
6-1
52
–
4-1
5
Pueblo West
6-3
51
4
2-2
6
Wheat Ridge (1)
4-2
50
3
3-2
7
Valor Christian
5-2
45
–
4-1
8
Lewis-Palmer
4-2
40
2
3-2
9
Denver North
5-1
31
8
2-1
10
Longmont
3-1
24
6
2-1
Others receiving votes:
Mountain View 19, Green Mountain 15, Palmer Ridge 10, Pueblo South 10, Montrose 9, Windsor 7, Thomas Jefferson 5, Northridge 3, The Classical Academy 3, Air Academy 2, Niwot 1.
Dropped out:
Green Mountain (5), Evergreen (9), Air Academy (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Eaton (7)
4-0
87
1
4-0
2
Bayfield (2)
4-2
83
5
3-0
3
Lamar (1)
6-1
72
3
3-1
4
University
1-2
49
2
0-2
5
Gunnison
5-0
46
6
2-0
6
La Junta
6-1
44
7
4-1
7
Faith Christian
2-3
38
8
2-3
8
Brush
3-1
33
4
2-1
9
Kent Denver
2-2
18
–
0-0
10
Valley
3-2
16
9
1-1
Others receiving votes:
Colorado Springs Christian 12, St. Mary’s 11, Lutheran 7, Sterling 7, Dolores Huerta 6, Buena Vista 5, Monte Vista 5, Salida 5, The Academy 4, Coal Ridge 3, Trinidad 2, Jefferson Academy 1, Olathe 1, Sheridan 1.
It’s still early in the 2016 baseball season, but there has already been some shakeup in the Class 1A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.
Eads takes over the top spot in the state after a 1-0 start to their season. Former No. 1 Dove Creek, who has stumbled out of the gate fell to No. 2.
Cotopaxi and Manzanola played their way into the still young rankings, coming in at No. 6 and No. 9 respectively.
Nothing has changed at the top of the 5A rankings as Regis Jesuit and Cherry Creek remain the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in those rankings.
Ralston Valley joined the 5A baseball poll at No. 8 this week. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Columbine is one of two newcomers in the poll as they land at No. 8 with Ralston Valley, the other newcomer, joining at No. 9.
The top of the 4A rankings has the same story as the 5A poll. D’Evelyn and Lewis-Palmer remain the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the class, with both teams undefeated on the year.
Though, the 4A rankings did see more turnover this week than any other class as Silver Creek (No. 7), Denver North (No. 8) and Air Academy (No. 9) all broke their way into this week’s poll.
And it was 3A who saw the least turnover of the week. Eaton still holds the No. 1 spot, but nine of last week’s 10 ranked teams all stayed in the poll this week, although a few did jump up or down in ranking.
Buena Vista is the lone newcomer in the poll, coming in at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
ThunderRidge 13, Fort Collins 10, Heritage 10, Prairie View 10, Cherokee Trail 9, Smoky Hill 9, Bear Creek 6, Arapahoe 5, Broomfield 4, Brighton 3, Douglas County 2, Fountain-Fort Carson 2, Lakewood 2, Dakota Ridge 1, Fruita Monument 1, Legend 1, Mullen 1.
Dropped out:
Cherokee Trail (8), Mullen (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
D’Evelyn (7)
1-0
70
1
1-0
2
Lewis-Palmer (1)
1-0
57
2
1-0
3
Wheat Ridge
1-0
49
5
1-0
4
Pueblo West
4-1
46
3
4-1
5
Green Mountain
0-0
42
4
0-0
6
Longmont
1-0
38
7
1-0
7
Silver Creek
1-0
32
–
1-0
8
Denver North
3-0
25
–
3-0
9
Evergreen
2-1
17
9
2-1
10
Air Academy
0-0
14
–
0-0
Others receiving votes:
Elizabeth 11, Windsor 7, Centaurus 6, Montrose 6, Mountain View 6, Palmer Ridge 4, Pueblo South 4, Standley Lake 3, Littleton 2, Erie 1.
Dropped out:
Windsor (6), Canon City (8), Palisade (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Eaton (8)
0-0
89
1
0-0
2
University (2)
1-0
84
4
1-0
3
Lamar
3-0
76
5
3-0
4
Brush
1-0
66
3
1-0
5
Bayfield
1-2
55
2
1-2
6
Gunnison
3-0
46
6
3-0
7
La Junta
2-0
39
7
2-0
8
Faith Christian
0-0
32
9
0-0
9
Valley
2-1
16
8
2-1
10
Buena Vista
2-1
11
–
2-1
Others receiving votes:
Kent Denver 7, Lutheran 7, SkyView Academy 5, Jefferson Academy 4, Sheridan 4, Colorado Springs Christian 3, Grand Valley 2, Sterling 2, Denver Science & Tech Stapleton 1, Peak to Peak 1.
Dropped out:
Kent Denver (10).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Resurrection Christian (6)
0-0
77
1
0-0
2
Sedgwick County (1)
2-0
69
2
2-0
3
Hotchkiss (2)
5-0
68
3
5-0
4
Paonia
2-0
53
5
2-0
5
Rye
0-0
49
6
0-0
6
County Line (McClave/Wiley)
0-0
34
4
0-0
7
Haxtun
2-0
21
7
2-0
8
Burlington
0-0
16
8
0-0
9
Swink
0-0
16
10
0-0
10
Kiowa
1-0
14
–
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Peyton 14, Front Range Christian 11, Crowley County 10, Evangelical Christian 8, Limon 8, Dolores 7, Sanford 7, Fowler 5, Wray 3, Akron 2, Sargent 2, Yuma 1.
Dropped out:
Sanford (9).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Eads (3)
1-0
71
4
1-0
2
Dove Creek (3)
1-3
58
1
1-3
3
Holly (1)
0-0
46
2
0-0
4
Fleming
0-0
40
3
0-0
5
Community Christian
1-0
37
6
1-0
6
Cotopaxi (1)
4-1
35
–
4-1
7
Granada
0-0
29
7
0-0
8
Nucla
1-2
23
5
1-2
9
Manzanola
2-0
21
–
2-0
10
Peetz
0-1
20
8
0-1
Others receiving votes:
Rocky Mountain Lutheran 16, Cheyenne Wells 10, Stratton/Liberty 9, Gilpin County 6, Antonito 4, Springfield 4, Elbert 3, Weldon Valley 3, Cornerstone Christian 1, Genoa-Hugo/Karval 1, South Baca 1.
Lewis-Palmer senior Paul Tillotson wants to help the Rangers win a state baseball championship before he heads to Nebraska. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
MONUMENT — It’s now or never for Lewis-Palmer senior Paul Tillotson.
The senior has been a staple to the Rangers’ baseball program for three seasons and entering his fourth and final year, he’s hoping that his experience and leadership can help him get his hands on that state championship trophy, even if the makeup of the team doesn’t have the same feel.
“It’s a little bit different,” Tillotson said. “We lost some guys from last year, we got a new coach but we’re looking on the up-and-up right now.”
Having Tillotson on the roster gives the team instant credibility. They came in as the No. 2 team in the Class 4A CHSAANow.com preseason baseball rankings. That’s the kind of reputation a team has when they have a University of Nebraska commit on its roster.
That’s right. Like several other Colorado athletes, Tillotson is bound for Lincoln. That is assuming that the lure of Major League Baseball doesn’t rear its head in June.
Paul Tillotson. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
But for now, Tillotson’s only focus is on helping the Rangers become a better baseball team and continuing the string of success it has seen in recent seasons.
First-year coach Brett Lester is fortunate enough to join a squad that rosters one of the best players in the state.
“It’s a luxury that not many coaches get the chance to enjoy,” Lester said. “He’s going to be competitive every time out and he’s going to do well on the mound, even at the plate in the games that he’s not pitching, he’s going to have a huge output.”
In 2015, Tillotson was such a devastating weapon for the Rangers. From the offensive side, he batted .446 with six home runs and 32 RBIs. In 95 plate appearances, he struck out only six times.
On the mound, he went 8-1 with a 1.62 ERA. He struck out 145 hitters and walked only 22.
So which skill set are the Huskers hoping to utilize?
“I’m definitely going as a pitcher, but they wanted to know if I still want to hit,” Tillotson said. “They hinting on the subject that I’m going to hit more (than they thought I would).”
And he’s up for it.
He remains in constant communication with the Huskers and they continue to track each other’s progress.
And while it’s easy to track numbers on a boxscore, the one thing that Tillotson is working harder at this year is helping out the younger players. He and teammate Billy Cook are doing everything they can to develop young players and ensure that Lewis-Palmer will be a winning program well beyond this year.
“As returning veterans it’s kind of on us to help those young guys out,” Tillotson said. “Just the little things that go into winning games through the season. It’s our job to help kids out when we see things they need help on.”
And in the process, they’ll be helping themselves out as well. At the end of last season Tillotson and the Rangers were on hand as the state championship trophy was handed to Green Mountain. That feeling, regardless of the changes the team has gone through, made him hungry and determined to bring a state championship back to Lewis-Palmer.
The Rangers have never won a baseball crown.
“I definitely have the hunger,” he said. “I want to push myself and my team to prove that we deserve that No. 2 ranking. I’m always going to be pushing my team to make sure that we’re doing the best that we can.”
Regis Jesuit is the preseason No. 1 team in 5A baseball. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The preseason CHSAANow.com baseball rankings show something very different from most other preseason rankings that are released through the year. They don’t have an abundance of defending state champions sitting at the top of the polls.
In Class 5A, the Regis Jesuit Raiders come into the season as the overwhelming No. 1 team in the state. They received eight of 12 first-place votes to earn that ranking.
Though the regular season is slated to start this week, the Raiders won’t play until Mar. 16.
Defending champion Rock Canyon comes in at No. 3 to start the season.
D’Evelyn comes in as the top team in 4A to start the season. The Jaguars fell just short of reaching the state championship series as they fell to eventual state champion Green Mountain in the semifinals.
The Rams lost a significant number of seniors from last year’s team and as a result, will start the season ranked No. 4.
In 3A, Eaton is one of two defending state champions to start the year with a No. 1 ranking. The Red received seven of nine first-place votes.
Eaton topped Brush in the 3A state championship and the Beetdiggers also came in high in the preseason polls at No. 3.
Resurrection Christian went from 2A state runner-up in the spring to preseason No. 1. The Cougars fell to Rye in an offensive battle in last year’s 2A state title game. The Thunderbolts came away with a 12-10 win and will start the season with a No. 6 ranking.
Dove Creek is the other defending champ to earn a No. 1 preseason ranking. The Bulldogs won the 1A title with an 8-5 win over Granada.
The 1A class may prove to be to the most wide-open as Dove Creek took only half of the first-place votes, the fewest of any preseason No. 1 this year.
The regular season for baseball is scheduled to begin Mar. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, they are released each Monday.
The 2015 football players of the year. From left: Dylan Dixon of Eads; Keegan Wentz of Buena Vista; JoJo Domann of Pine Creek; Dylan McCaffrey of Valor Christian; Daniel Martin of Pueblo East; Kelton McCoy of Bayfield; Trey Walter of Sedgwick County. (Photos: Jack Eberhard/JacksActoinShots.com; Bill Cronin; Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Jeff Tucker; and Sedgwick County HS)
The 2015 all-state football teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and then a vote of coaches.
Niwot’s players celebrate Friday’s win. (Photo courtesy of Walker Bounds)
Niwot put an end to a 24-game losing streak on Friday night with a 34-7 defeat of Frederick at home.
The Cougars hadn’t won a game since Sept. 20, 2013. They lost their final six games that season, went 0-10 in 2014, and had started 0-8 this season.
Niwot is in its first season under new coach Dylan Hollingsworth, who came over from Summit. The Cougars are showing signs of improvement aside from Friday’s win. They’ve lost three games by 14 points or less this season, something that only happened twice during the previous two seasons of the streak.
Sedgwick County returned the game’s opening kickoff for a touchdown and never really looked back.
The Cougars led 16-3 at halftime, then added a scored in the second half to secure the win.
The kickoff return, though, proved to be the spark.
“You know, that turned out to be a really big part of the game,” coach Chris Michel told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We went up 8-0 right off the bat. It turned into a defensive battle after that.”
[divider]
5A: Westminster 56, Boulder 16
Westminster football may have grabbed a little bit more of that respect it has been looking for. The Wolves beat Boulder to win the Flatirons championship.
The Wolves are now 9-0.
“It’s a fantastic feeling,” Westminster coach Kerry Denison told the Scoreboard Show. “The whole school was supporting us, out and about. We took it one game at a time, and the kids came through.”
On the league title, Denison said, “It was an unbelievable celebration.”
Looking ahead toward the postseason, “I believe we’ll probably get a 3-seed with the quadrants the way they are,” Denison said. “But you know, we’ll play anybody that they put us up against. That’s the reason we play this game.”
[divider]
5A: (9) Ralston Valley 31, (8) Mullen 21
Ralston Valley jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime before Mullen started to claw its way back it. By the end of the third quarter, it was 17-14.
Then, as the fourth quarter opened, Ralston Valley quarterback Ethan Vowles threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to widen the lead, and RV added another score four minutes later.
Mullen scored with three minutes to play but wasn’t able to get any closer.
Shamond Hamilton had two touchdowns for Mullen.
[divider]
3A: Discovery Canyon 40, (7) Lewis-Palmer 7
The Thunder controlled the game from start to finish, and actually led 40-0 at one point in the third quarter.
“It was a big win for us,” head coach Shawn Mitchell told the Scoreboard Show. “The defense was doing a great, great job … and containing what they wanted to do. Very impressed with the way those guys played tonight.”
Discovery Canyon started 0-4, but has now won five consecutive games to put itself back into the playoff picture.
“The beginning of the season was rough, absolutely. But we’ve always done that. We’ve always tried to schedule teams that we thought were going to be good football teams. … We lost late to Silver Creek, and late to Holy Family. We were in both of them. We could see flashes in there.”
[divider]
Notables:
The brackets for 5A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man playoffs will come out on CHSAANow.com on Sunday morning.
Just three teams in 5A are unbeaten going into the postseason: Columbine, which wrapped up its season Thursday, Westminster — and Arapahoe, which beat Smoky Hill 42-0 on Friday night.
Pueblo County nearly pulled off the upset of the season, but 3A No. 1 Pueblo East held on for a 31-24 win.
Legacy knocked off 5A No. 10 Fairview, 36-29, in a game that came down to the final play inside the redzone.
In a top-10 3A game, No. 8 Holy Family beat No. 9 Mead 37-23. But the news of that game was a possible knee injury to star quarterback Chris Helbig, who was closing in on the state’s single-season passing record.
In a top-10 2A clash, No. 10 Brush beat No. 7 Eaton 18-13.
1A No. 3 Paonia beat No. 9 Cedaredge 48-7.
Springfield knocked off No. 6 Granada in 8-man, 48-28. And Wiley took down No. 8 Holly, 40-20.
In a crossover 6-man game, No. 10 Cotopaxi beat No. 8 Pawnee 63-12. Cotopaxi moves on to the 6-man state playoffs.
Other 6-man crossover winners: Fleming (55-8 over Stratton/Liberty) and Arickaree/Woodlin (52-6 over Cheyenne Wells). Arickaree/Woodlin is the defending champion.
No. 3 Valor Christian beat No. 2 Grandview in a big 5A game at Valor on Friday. The Eagles won the Centennial League. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 9 of the 2015 season.
