Eaglecrest is the No. 1 seed in 5A. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
AURORA — Eaglecrest, Lewis-Palmer and Eaton nabbed the top seeds when volleyball’s regional tournament brackets were released on Monday morning.
Eaglecrest is the top seed in the Class 5A field and is set to host No. 24 ThunderRidge and No. 36 Liberty in its regional.
Grandview, Regis Jesuit, Rampart, Chaparral, Pine Creek, Cherokee Trail, Douglas County, Cherry Creek, Fairview, Ralston Valley and Legend will also host regionals. See the full 5A bracket here.
The top 12 teams (and regional hosts) were all seeded strictly based upon the MaxPreps computer rankings at the regular season’s end. All league champions earned automatic bids to regionals, and the remaining teams were selected based on the same MaxPreps rankings.
Lewis-Palmer volleyball is 4A’s No. 1 seed. (Matt Daniels)
Lewis-Palmer heads the 4A field, and will host No. 24 The Classical Academy and No. 36 Weld Central. Ponderosa, Cheyenne Mountain, Montrose, Valor Christian, Mullen, Mead, Berthoud, Pueblo West, Niwot and Air Academy are also regional hosts.
The 3A regional tournament field is led by No. 1 Eaton, which will host No. 24 Middle Park and No. 36 Denver Science & Tech – Green Valley Ranch. This is the first postseason appearance for a GVR team in the school’s short history.
Other 3A regional hosts are Valley, Bayfield, University, Colorado Springs Christian, Manitou Springs, Platte Valley, Sterling, Faith Christian, Pagosa Springs, Coal Ridge and Olathe.
The 1A and 2A regional brackets were also released after those two classifications completed district play this past weekend. Those fields were not seeded by a committee, but instead the districts determined regional placement.
It’s not as though Grandview was flying under the radar. The Wolves, after all, were ranked No. 3 in this week’s Class 5A CHSAANow.com poll — and have been ranked since the preseason.
But Friday’s 24-6 win over No. 6 Cherry Creek was an announcement, of sorts: We’re to be reckoned with.
Grandview led 17-6 at the half and added a late score off a blocked punt that was recovered by Keifer Glau. Quarterback Cody Summers had a game, throwing for a score and rushing for another.
If they weren’t already, the Wolves, now 7-0, are a legitimate threat for the Class 5A title. They play Overland next week. Win that, and the season finale with Valor Christian could be for the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs.
[divider]
3A: (6) Roosevelt 34, (3) Holy Family 26
In a back-and-forth game which featured six ties or lead changes, Roosevelt pulled away in the fourth quarter to win.
Christian Majszak had four touchdowns to lead Roosevelt.
“It’s that time of year again,” coach Noland Eastin told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show. “We better start strapping our chinstraps on a little tighter, because that was a heck of a battle out there, and it could have went either way.
“It was back-and-forth,” he added. “It was just one of those epic battles. … The dust was flying around, kids were hanging in there. Their kids were battling. It was jsut a fun night of football. It was a good throw-back night.”
[divider]
3A: Palisade 18, (3) Rifle 10
It’s a big upset that also does wonders for Palisade’s playoffs hopes. The Bulldogs improved to 5-2.
The team teams were knotted at 10 at the break, and again after three quarters before Caleb Clarkson scored the winning touchdown on a 9-yard run with 1:45 to play. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Palisade had actually stopped Rifle on fourth-and-2 at their own 38 prior to the winning drive.
“The only way you’re going to compete against Rifle is you have to match their discipline and toughness, and that’s what we’re built on,” Palisade coach Joe Ramunno told the paper.
Easton Wood also had a touchdown pass to John Goff for Palisade, while Ty Leyba had a 56-yard touchdown run for Rifle.
[divider]
5A: (1) Valor Christian 17, Cherokee Trail 7
The top-ranked Eagles grinded out a win against yet another tough Centennial League foe.
Quarterback Dylan McCaffrey threw for a touchdown and rushed for another.
Brian Dawkins Jr. and Eric Lee Jr. both had interceptions at key moments.
[divider]
3A: (7) Delta 39, (10) Glenwood Springs 10
Delta scored the game’s final 29 points in the top-10 showdown.
Tristan Brown and Damon Jensen each had two touchdowns for Delta, running in place of a cramped Jonny Ponce, according to the Daily Sentinel.
[divider]
2A: Sterling 21, (9) Eaton 14
The Tigers pulled off the upset after scoring the game’s final 14 points.
“We kind of came in at the half and had to make some quick adjustments to some of the things they took advantage of,” Sterling coach Rob Busmente told the Scoreboard Show. “We regrouped well at halftime and came out and made some of those adjustments, and we were able to go out and perform.”
Sterling plays at No. 1 Brush next week.
“This is the Patriot League,” Busmenete said. “There’s never a week off. There’s always a tough game waiting for you on Friday.”
[divider]
2A: La Junta 21, (5) Florence 20
La Junta stopped No. 5 Florence’s two-point conversion attempt with 20 seconds to play to preserve the win in 2A.
“It was a great stop for us,” coach Clint Buderus told the Scoreboard Show. “The kids came through in the clutch and found a way to win.”
La Junta has won three games in a row after starting 1-3.
“We’re young. We’ve got 10 or 11 sophomores playing for us,” Buderus said. “We just had to get them some experience … and just had to get them rolling, get some confidence. This is a big win for us, it’s just a, ‘We can do it.’”
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 17 are below.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 9 are below.
Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 2 are below.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Pine Creek jumped up in the 5A wrestling rankings provided by On The Mat this week. The Eagles were No. 12 in the preseason, which goes to 15 teams. They are No. 6 this week.
The four No. 1 teams — Arvada West (5A), Broomfield (4A), Brush (3A), Paonia (2A) — remained the same from the preseason.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
[divider] Go to:5A | 4A | 3A | 2A
Arvada West, which placed eighth at last season’s Class 5A state wrestling tournament, begins the season atop the On The Mat rankings.
Defending champions Broomfield (4A) and Paonia (2A) also open the season as preseason No. 1s. Brush, a fifth-place finisher last season, is atop the 3A ranking.
Pomona, the defending 5A champion, opens the season at No. 4.
Alamosa won the 3A title last year, and is No. 5 in that preseason ranking.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.