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The mountain air has taken on the crispness of fall and the calendar has turned to October. That means with Week 7 of the football season comes the start of league play for all classifications.
Several radio stations throughout the state will be broadcasting these all-important league matchups.
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1A: (9) CSCS at Buena Vista
Time: 7 p.m. kick
Station: Eagle Country 104
On the call: Len Gates (Play by play), Bob Marken (Color)
Sports director Caleb Burggraaf on the matchup: Buena Vista looked like a championship team against St. Mary’s on Friday, despite giving up three scores once the running clock was started near halftime. The Demons now welcome Colorado Springs Christian to their home field, as the look for a 2-0 start to their league schedule. This game will come down to the defense for the Demons slowing down the running game of the Lions. If they can slow down that part of the game, the Demons offense should be able to build into a rhythm and pick up where they left off against St. Mary’s.
On the call: Caleb Burggraaf (Play by play), Dan R. (Sideline)
Burggraaf on the matchup: In the Spartans first taste of the Intermountain League, they get a familiar opponent. For the past two year, the Pagosa Springs Pirates have been on the Salida schedule, and Salida has had success. This year, Pagosa is being led by a strong senior at quarterback who has started for four years for the Pirates. His test will be going against a Salida defense which has only allowed more than 7 points a game once this season, and has two shutouts to their record. Keep an eye on the Spartans running game on the other side of the ball, where Vince DeLeo and Eli Smith form a two headed monster for teams to handle in the backfield.
On the call: Ryan Kaufman (Play by play), Ryan Pelton (Color)
Kaufman on the matchup: Air Academy is on pace for the largest single season win total in more than a decade after a 4-1 mark through their non-conference schedule. Their hot start can attributed to a style of play that would make the other school on campus (the Air Force Academy) proud. They have averaged 182.6 yards per game on the ground this season thanks to the duo of Kyle Pope and Zach Martin and have given up less than 7 points per game on average over the last four games, including back to back shutouts.
Coronado meanwhile is looking for consistency after a 2-3 run through the non-conference. Turnovers have plagued the Cougars in their losses, something that coach Monte Gutowski has spent extra time this week trying to fix. When they do hang on to the football, they have dynamic playmakers in Ladarius Mays and Willy Bobrick who Coronado will look to get out in space in order to get big gains on the stout Kadet defense.
On the call: Clark Johnson (Play by play), Mike Danson (Color)
Tanner Schwindt on the matchup: The No. 8-ranked Reds look to defend home field on homecoming night against a scrappy academy team that wants to knock off a top tier team.
Listen to the game at KFKA 1310 or online at 1310kfka.com.
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6-man: (7) Idalia at (6) Arickaree/Woodlin
Game time: 1 p.m. Saturday
Station: KAT Country 98.3 FM
On the call: Marc Romero
Romero on the matchup: 1-loss Arickaree/Woodlin and top ranked Stratton/Liberty are the only teams with unblemished East Central league records, while Idalia is trying to keep pace and currently 1-1 in conference. It is almost eerie how closely these teams match up (at least on paper) with both offenses putting up 41 points per game, and each of the last 2 meetings being decided by 8 points (one win for each side).
Listen on KAT Country 98.3 FM or katcountry983.com by clicking sports.
Kit Carson controlled the game from start to finish in moving to 2-0 this season.
“We ran the ball really well,” coach Curt Connelley told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “Our special teams really got us on the board quickly.”
Joe Bryan returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and his brother, Chris Bryan, returned a punt for a score.
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8-man: Fowler 28, (4) Akron 20
Fowler knocked off the previously-unbeaten Rams with a late score. The Grizzlies recovered a kickoff after a fortunate bounce to set up the touchdown.
“It was a lot of smashmouth football. Akron had a couple of big plays on us. They did a great job defensively,” coach Mark Van Sickle told the Scoreboard Show. “We were three- to four-yards and a cloud of dust. It was great to get back to what I think Fowler football is.”
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Notables
Ponderosa got a huge win by upsetting No. 3 Windsor in 4A, 17-13. Nick Hoff and Ethan Waite each rushed for a touchdown.
Hinkley is off to its first 2-0 start since 2014 following a 7-0 win over Gateway. The Thunderbirds have opened the season with consecutive shutouts.
Pagosa Springs knocked off 1A No. 3 Centauri 31-12.
Smoky Hill is now 3-0 for the first time since 2007. The Buffs beat Northglenn 21-6.
Quite the stat line for Bryson Long of No. 6 Peetz in 6-man: He rushed for 270 yards and had five touchdowns in a 67-22 win over No. 9 Fleming.
It’s always a big rivalry game, and even though they’re now in different classes, this matchup was no different as 1A No. 1 Strasburg beat 2A No. 8 Bennett 32-8.
In a game that featured six lead changes, 4A No. 4 Chatfield held off Brighton 39-30.
In 8-man, No. 4 Prairie beat No. 10 Briggsdale 56-40. “We had a little bit more offensively efficiency. Our offense clicked a lot more tonight,” coach Justin Kerns told the Scoreboard Show of the difference from his team’s first game to its second. Photos from the game are here.
5A Castle View won a wild back-and-forth game on the final play of the game against Wasatch (Utah), 36-35. The Sabercats are now 2-1 under Todd Casebier in his first year — doubling their win total from last season.
Evergreen blocked a last-second field goal to upset Mead.
Denver North QB Erik Flores threw for 370 yards and five touchdowns in his team’s 56-40 win over Englewood. Four of those TDs went to Keon Brickens.
In 5A, Highlands Ranch beat Regis Jesuit in overtime, 20-17.
Eagle Valley snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 57-12 victory against Alameda.
2A No. 7 Basalt cruised to a 47-6 win over Battle Mountain. “The offensive line really played well tonight,” coach Carl Frerichs told the Scoreboard Show.
8-man No. 1 Sedgwick County has now won 25 games in a row after beating Gilpin County 60-0.
Almost 250 mile separate West Grand High School and Caliche. For the West Grand Mustangs, it was 250 miles well traveled.
The No. 2 team in the 8-man polls hit the road Friday and came away with a 38-20 win over No. 5 Caliche in a game that could prove to be West Grand’s best win of the year.
“We had great senior leadership and a great week of practice,” coach Chris Brown told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “We played well and were without one of our better linebackers and receivers, but they rose to the occasion.”
Brown noted that the Mustangs (2-0 overall) had been bit by the injury bug, but had overcome some depleted players to come away with a win over a very tough Caliche team.
The offense was powered by quarterback Luis Dominguez. The senior did enough for his coach to sing his praises to anyone within earshot.
“He played fantastic,” Brown said. “They did everything they could to take him out of the game and it didn’t work.”
The Mustangs return home next week for a showdown against South Park. The Burros will come into the game at 1-1 after grabbing a 30-15 win over Del Norte.
Radio highlights from the game:
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1A: (4) Centauri 38, (6) Paonia 0
(Paul Angelico/CHSAANow.com)
No. 4 Centauri took to the road and pitched a shutout over Paonia.
Chris Quintana got the scoring effort started with a rushing touchdown in the first quarter. But the strength behind the Falcons’ win was the swarming defense.
“They did a great job,” coach Kyle Forster told the Scoreboard Show. “A few weeks ago I said the defense was going to be our key this year.”
Centauri is in for a battle next week when it heads to Pagosa Springs.
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3A: (1) Erie 35, (10) Pueblo South 14
(Gabriel Christus/Denver Broncos)
Noah Roper was briefly knocked out of the game from an injury, but responded by coming back and running for over 100 yards in the first half.
A stretch of losses dating back to Oct. 13, 2016 came to an end for the Palmer Terrors. And in turn, it was the first win in 12 tries for coach Tom Reber.
The Terrors were down 12-0 at the half and rallied in the final two quarters to come away with an emotional win at Gerry Barry Stadium.
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5A: (10) Mullen 35, Doherty 28 (3 OT)
It took three overtimes, but No. 10 Mullen defended its home field in a thrilling win over Doherty.
The Spartans had a chance to tie the game in the second overtime, but a fumble at the goal line ended any chance for Doherty to walk away with its first win of the year.
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6-man: (8) Arickaree/Woodlin 26, (7) Fleming 20
In a low-scoring matchup between two top-10 6-man teams, it was Arickaree/Woodlin who started the season off with a win.
The Broncos host Kit Carson next week.
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Notables
2A No. 2 La Junta battled from behind to beat Pagosa Springs 24-14.
5A No. 6 Grandview edged Highlands Ranch 28-21 to improve to 2-0 on the year.
Clint Buderus got his first win as the coach at Pueblo West as the Cyclones beat Pueblo County in the Pigskin Classic 20-0.
Pine Creek endured eight lightning delays and came away with a 45-23 win over Rio Rancho (N.M.).
In 4A, No. 4 Windsor beat No. 8 Vista Ridge 21-0.
4A No. 10 Skyline handled 3A No. 5 Mead 41-21.
In 1A, No. 6 Resurrection Christian beat No. 5 Faith Christian 28-7.
Sedgwick County pushed its winning streak to a state-best 24-games by beating No. 4 Hoehne in 8-man.
Another top-10 matchup in 8-man: No. 8 Akron beat No. 3 Holly 8-6.
And another one in 8-man: No. 9 Sargent beat No. 6 Fowler 46-28.
This week’s radio lineup included coverage of Loveland’s win over Broomfield, Rifle getting a big win over Eagle Valley and Eaton’s 37-25 win over Sterling. Audio courtesy of The Team 1340 and KFKA 1310.
The first full week of football games is in full swing for Friday night. Contests across the state will have implications not just for this week, but a playoff picture that will evolve over the course of the season.
There are several games that can be heard through various radio broadcasts in Colorado.
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Lamar at (1A 2) Limon
Game time: 7 p.m. kick.
Station: KLMR 920
On the call: Ethan Denton
Denton on the matchup: “The young Savages may have their hands full tonight on the road against the Badgers, who return QB Cannan Bennett and RB Hauk Hubbard who hope lead Limon to a deep playoff run. Lamar sophomore QB Zane Rankin will make his first start against a Badger defense which posted six shutouts in 2017.”
On the call: Greg Wentzel (Play by Play), Reo Van Gilder (Color)
Van Gilder on the matchup: “Montrose ran for 159 yards on 41 carries against Grand Junction Central last week, and found some success through the air. Sophomore quarterback Keegan Goodwin showed nice touch and good awareness in his first varsity start. Grand Junction’s AJ Mariz found some success in his first start, as well. Grand Junction’s defense kept stopping Palmer on fourth down, giving Mariz and running back Carson Loveridge short fields all day. Two running teams and physical defenses in this one, should be a smash-mouth affair.”
On the call: Clark Johnson (Play by Play), Mike Danson (Color)
Preps director Tanner Schwindt on the matchup: “For Eaton and Sterling it’ll be the third matchup in the last two years for the two teams but both look remarkably different. It will be more of a feeling out process for Eaton and a bounce back week for Sterling.”
On the call: Pat McGee (Play by Play), Chas Phillips (Color)
KBLJ on the matchup: “Look for the Tiger offense to basically be the same. Not much of a change as of what the offense looks like. Defense as always will be the key to victory. If they play like they did against Raton they should be fine.”
Eaglecrest started its season off with a big win over a top-10 foe, beating Highlands Ranch 49-35 in a Class 5A clash.
The Raptors, who led 28-14 at halftime, opened the third quarter with a 17-play, seven-minute scoring drive. That put them up 35-14.
“We executed really well on that drive,” first-year Eaglecrest coach Dustin Delaney told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “That really just demoralizes people when you do that. That’s the kind of football we want to play.”
Eaglecrest would stretch its lead to 49-21 midway through the fourth quarter before Highlands Ranch scored two late touchdowns to cut it to a 14-point game again.
“We didn’t keep our intensity for the whole time, and kind of let the game get closer than it should’ve been, quite honestly,” Delaney said. “That’s youth. There’s a lot of new starters from the team they had last year, so we’ve got to get them broken in. This was a good game to do it, and get ready for our real tough games down the road.”
Highlands Ranch actually drew first blood with a touchdown early in the first quarter. Eaglecrest responded with a touchdown of its own on the next drive, and then senior Elijah Anderson-Taylor forced a fumble on a sack that set up another touchdown.
The Raptors led the rest of the way.
Eaglecrest never punted, but did turn the ball over six times.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on, and hopefully we can get them fixed for next week,” Delaney said.
Peetz actually led 28-25 at halftime, but Otis outscored Peetz 27-8 in the third quarter to seize control of the game.
“We pretty much shot ourselves in the foot that whole first half,” Otis coach Paul Griese told the Scoreboard Show. “You know, missed assignments; we’ve got to work on some tackling. But you know what? We were playing the returning state champs, and we were tight. We were extremely tight.”
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3A: (3) Pueblo East 47, (6) Roosevelt 8
Pueblo East yet again looks ready to contend for a state championship.
The Eagles rolled through the top-10 matchup, scoring the game’s first 40 points.
Quarterback Luc Andrada was 12-of-14 with 263 yards and five touchdowns passing, and also rushed for a score, according to Jeff Bersch of the Pueblo Chieftain. Pueblo East won three-straight state championships prior to last season.
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4A: (6) Fruita Monument 10, (9) Pueblo West 6
In a tight defensive battle, Fruita Monument held Pueblo West off the scoreboard following a touchdown on the Cyclones’ initial drive.
The Wildcats went ahead for good on Jacob Burns’ 1-yard rushing touchdown with four minutes to play in the second quarter, per Anthony Sandstrom of the Pueblo West View.
“Our defense flew around, was really aggressive at them, and kind of cut them off,” first-year Fruita Monument coach Cameron Russ told the Scoreboard Show. “They did the same thing to us, so it turned into a ground game — ground-and-pound.”
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3A: Holy Family 19, (4) Pueblo South 7
Holy Family knocked off the defending 4A champions, who have moved down to 3A for this cycle.
Kyle Helbig had two interceptions on defense, including a big one late in the third quarter, according to Jon Yunt of Holy Family. He also had a receiving touchdown.
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Notables
Broomfield, No. 3 in 5A, beat rival Legacy (a 5A team) 55-14. It’s Broomfield’s first Mayor’s Cup victory since 2011. The game is annually the season-opener for both teams.
2A No. 7 Resurrection Christian beat Sterling 24-3. “The defense was just outstanding,” first-year Cougars coach Jeff Van Winkle told the Scoreboard Show. “The defense really stepped up.”
Bayfield, the reigning 2A champion who is ranked No. 1 in the preseason, crossed the border to beat Farmington (N.M.) 54-13. It was their first meeting since 1947.
Durango’s Dawson Marcum had a 99-yard touchdown run in his eighth-ranked team’s 34-6 win over Pagosa Springs.
In the first game under new coach Rod Sherman, Arapahoe rolled over Adams City 52-6.
Battle Mountain used a goal-line stand to win against Middle Park, 14-7.
Aspen upset 1A No. 5 Meeker 38-26. The Skiers were 8-2 a year ago.
Valor Christian beat Faith Lutheran (Nev.) 35-0, giving new coach Ed McCaffrey his first win as a head coach. Luke McCaffrey accounted for three total touchdowns.
The 2018 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They 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 head coaches.
Player and coach of the year was also selected by a vote of the coaches.
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Class 5A
Mountain Vista’s Sam Ireland. (Tim Bourke/MaxPreps)
Player of the year: Sam Ireland, Mountain Vista
Coach of the year: Ron Quintana, Mountain Vista
First Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Brayden Brooks
Mountain Range
Senior
Garrett Declue
Arapahoe
LHP/CF
Senior
Riley Egloff
Heritage
RHP/3B
Senior
Sam Ireland
Mountain Vista
RHP/3B/1B
Junior
Niklavs Levensteins
Ralston Valley
3B/2B
Senior
Jack Liffrig
Mountain Vista
LHP
Senior
Justin Olson
Pine Creek
1B/LHP
Senior
Tanner O’Tremba
Cherry Creek
Zach Paschke
Mountain Vista
INF
Senior
Second Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Justin Boyd
Legend
SS/CF
Junior
Matthew Boyd
Regis Jesuit
Senior
Riley Cornelio
Pine Creek
SS/RHP
Junior
Brandon Dryer
Arapahoe
LF/RHP/2B
Senior
Hayden Heinze
Rocky Mountain
OF
Senior
AJ Jergensen
Ralston Valley
OF
Junior
Arian Jimenez-Quezada
Heritage
SS/3B/RHP
Senior
Kasey Koppelmaa
Chatfield
LHP/OF
Senior
Andrew Morris
Monarch
2B/P
Senior
Josh Thompson
Highlands Ranch
P
Senior
Honorable mention:
Luke Bailey, Chaparral, OF, Senior
Jake Barber, Cherokee Trail, Senior
Simon Baumgardt, Lakewood, P/SS, Junior
Tyler Boggs, Fruita Monument, C, Senior
Alex Champagne, Heritage, SS/2B, Freshman
Colten Chase, Cherokee Trail, Senior
Dorsey Chatham, Boulder,
Pete Chronowski, Heritage, LHP/1B, Junior
Benjamin Derosiers, Castle View, LHP/1B/CF, Senior
Ozzie Dominguez, Aurora Central, P/1B, Senior
John Emerson, Denver East, Junior
Tanner Garner, Broomfield, Senior
Zach Goodman, Arapahoe, C/OF/UTIL, Senior
Jake Greiving, Legend, C/OF/3B, Junior
Zach Harstad, Loveland, 1B/LHP/OF, Junior
Calvin Hunt, Ralston Valley, RHP, Junior
Jenner Kehe, Lakewood, P/OF/SS, Sophomore
Cam Kennedy, Smoky Hill, CF/3B/2B, Junior
Reese Lansville, ThunderRidge, RHP/INF, Senior
Cale Lansville, ThunderRidge, RHP/INF, Freshman
Grant Magill, Mountain Vista, C, Junior
Jayden Martinez, Grandview, OF/DH, Junior
Nick Merone, Rock Canyon,
Trey Morrill, Fruita Monument, P/OF, Senior
Cade Nelson, Rocky Mountain, INF/P, Junior
Drew Norsen, Fort Collins, OF/LHP, Sophomore
Jay Onken, Pine Creek, OF/RHP, Senior
Ryan Overboe, Legacy, LHP/1B/RF, Senior
Quentin Parr, Cherry Creek,
Mike Polson, Mountain Range, Senior
Henry Rock, Fairview, Junior
Tyler Schultz, Cherry Creek,
Frankie Shearn, Columbine, OF, Senior
Ross Smith, Legacy, RHP/RF, Senior
Drew Stahl, Mountain Vista, INF, Junior
Ryan Stohr, Dakota Ridge, RHP/1B, Junior
Zach Sulyma, Eaglecrest, 3B/C, Senior
David Velasquez, Brighton, SS/P/3B, Senior
Wyatt Wendell, Rock Canyon,
Reggie Williams, Douglas County, Senior
Kevin Zapanta, Overland, 2B/1B/RHP, Senior
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Class 4A
Valor Christian’s Josh Danyliw. (Paul DiSalvo/MaxPreps)
The 2018 all-state girls soccer teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They 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 head coaches.
Player and coach of the year was also selected by a vote of the coaches.
