No. 3 Valor Christian beat No. 2 Cherry Creek in a big 5A game on Friday. Complete recap. (Photos: Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com; JackEberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 8 in the 2015 season.
Columbine football is the new No. 1 in Class 5A football. (Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)
Following a 42-35 win over Pomona Friday night, combined with Cherry Creek’s 28-20 loss to Grandview, Columbine takes over the top spot in this week’s Class 5A CHSAANow.com football rankings.
Cherry Creek falls to No. 2 as a result of their loss to the Wolves. This week, they square off against No. 3 Valor Christian in a rematch of last year’s 5A state championship game. The Bruins walked away with a 25-24 win. Cherry Creek also won last year’s regular season meeting 33-17, a game in which the Bruins didn’t allow a single point in the second half.
No new teams were added to the 5A poll this week, but with its upset win over Cherry Creek, Grandview jumped from No. 9 to No. 4.
Like they have all season long, the Pine Creek Eagles firmly held on to the No. 1 spot in 4A. Like the 5A poll, no new teams were added in 4A.
Durango was able to beat Palmer Ridge 48-35, helping them jump up to No. 5 in the rankings. The Demons travel to Colorado Springs this week for a league game against the No. 1 Eagles.
This will be the fourth time this season that Pine Creek will be facing a team also ranked in 4A’s top five. They won the three previous games by a combined score of 107-38.
Pueblo East remains a strong favorite in 3A and is still ranked as the top team in that class. Both Roosevelt and Rifle garnered first place votes thanks to weekend wins over other top 10 teams. Roosevelt topped Holy Family in a shootout, 64-63 and Rifle edged Palisade 13-7.
No new teams broke into the 3A poll this week.
Kent Denver remains No. 1 in 2A. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
A great week for Kent Denver continues in this week’s 2A poll. After Scott Yates recorded his 300th win, the Sun Devils held on to the No. 1 spot in 2A.
There were two new additions to this week’s 2A rankings as Moffat County comes in at No. 9 and Bennett breaks in at No. 10.
Buena Vista is still holding on to the top spot of the 1A rankings, but Resurrection Christian is nipping on their heels, trailing by only two points.
Meeker, who dropped out of the 1A poll last week, returns at No. 8.
Sedgwick County is still the top team in the 8-man rankings. There was little movement in that poll, but undefeated Vail Christian did make it’s way into the top 10, landing at No. 9.
Although Fleming is still the No. 1 team in 6-man, there was movement near the top of that poll. Kit Carson topped Eads 22-8 Friday night causing those two teams to swap places.
Kit Carson now sits at No. 2 while Eads fell only one spot to No. 3.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Legend volleyball is back in the top-10 in 5A. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
As the season comes into the home stretch the top teams of the CHSAANow.com volleyball rankings are all holding their positions.
Cherokee Trail, Lewis-Palmer, Eaton, Resurrection Christian and Idalia held on to the No. 1 positions in their respective classes.
The big movement in 5A was the return of Legend to the top 10. The Titans briefly held on to the No. 1 spot in 5A this season and fell out of the poll last week, despite getting a big win over then-No. 4 Rock Canyon.
Legend swept Douglas County on Tuesday, which played a part in their return to the top 10.
The top eight teams in the 4A rankings remained intact this week. The Classical Academy was the lone newcomer as they took over the No. 8 spot.
This week will see plenty of excitement in 4A as No. 1 Lewis-Palmer travels to No. 2 Cheyenne Mountain in a huge league contest. This has also become a big volleyball rivalry in the Pikes Peak Athletic Conference over the last few seasons.
After sweeping No. 2 University last week, Platte Valley is climbing back up the top 10 in 2A. They jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 as result of the win. The loss did not affect University, however, as the Bulldogs remained in the No. 2 spot.
Faith Christian joins the 3A rankings at No. 9. The Eagles fell out of the poll two weeks ago.
Panoia made the biggest jump in 2A this week, going from No. 9 to No. 6. Union Colony and Ignacio are this week’s newcomers, coming in at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively.
The 1A rankings also saw the addition of two new teams as Norwood lands at No. 9 and Walsh comes in right behind them at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Grandview upset top-ranked Cherry Creek on Friday, ending the Bruins’ 13-game winning streak with a 28-20 win.
The Wolves, ranked No. 9 in Class 5A, led 28-0 in the fourth quarter thanks in large part to a varied night from Hayden Blubaugh, who had a rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, and passing touchdown on a trick play.
“Hayden Blubaugh ran the ball very well, our defense set us up with some short fields, and really held Creek at bay for the first three quarters,” Grandview coach John Shultz told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show on Friday night. “It was just one of those games where everything we planned for worked. The kids executed very well and the defense played great.”
But Cherry Creek started to rally late in the game. Grandview was attempting a short field goal with about six minutes to play when the Bruins blocked the kick and it was returned 96 yards for a score by Marquise Davis.
“As a head coach, I probably made a really poor decision,” Shultz said of the field goal attempt. “We had the ball on the 3, and I chose to kick a field goal.”
After a series of penalties, Cherry Creek kicked off from Grandview’s 30-yard-line, and attempted an onside kick because of it. The Bruins recovered at the 1, and scored on the next play. It was 28-12 at that point.
“All of a sudden, it was 28-12 and we had to work real hard in the last five minutes,” Shultz said.
Cherry Creek then got a fumble recovery, and added another score — though that one came with 2 seconds to play. Grandview held on for the big win.
“Luckily our kids hung in there, defense hung in there and finished the game off,” Shultz said.
The Wolves dominated the game for much of the night until the final frenzied scoring from Cherry Creek.
“We are honestly just trying to get better every week and keep kids focused,” Shultz said. “The sky’s the limit for them. Obviously, they did some great stuff tonight, but we’re really growing as a football team since the summer.”
Grandview was the last team to beat Cherry Creek, doing so last October. The Bruins, of course, went on to win the 5A title.
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3A: (4) Roosevelt 64, (6) Holy Family 63
In what was arguably the game of the night, at least from an offensive perspective, Holy Family and Roosevelt combined for 127 points and 1,243 total yards. Ultimately, Roosevelt got a late two-point conversion and game-sealing interception to get the win.
Roosevelt rushed for 595 yards on 73 attempts as a team, and got four touchdowns each from Cameron Hurtado and Carlos Ortega. Hurtado had 234 rushing yards.
Holy Family quarterback Chris Helbig, as usual, had a monster game with 475 yards passing and four touchdowns. He also had two rushing touchdowns, and a receiving score on a trick play. In total, he had 549 yards of offense.
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5A: ThunderRidge 14, (3) Regis Jesuit 10
The Grizzlies scored a touchdown with 38 seconds left to pull off one of the biggest upsets in 5A so far this season.
The low-scoring game was 7-7 in the fourth quarter, and Regis went ahead on a field goal.
But ThunderRidge got the late score to pull the upset.
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1A: (10) Burlington 27, (8) Wiggins 20 (OT)
Burlington rallied from down 20-7 at the half to force overtime, then won it in the extra frame.
“It was a whale of a game, and my hat’s off to Wiggins. They played really well,” Burlington coach Glynn Higgs told the Scoreboard Show. “The second half was really intense, really physical. … Obviously, we’re terribly excited to get that win, whether it was in regulation or in overtime.”
“It wasn’t your typical 6-man game,” Kit Carson coach Jim Trahern told the Scoreboard Show. “In the first quarter, neither of us could get any offensive rhythm. Both defenses dominated.”
Kit Carson junior Jaxon Crawford had a 52-yard interception return with 6 seconds left before the half.
“That was kind of the key play of the game,” Trahern said.
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4A: (6) Durango 48, (7) Palmer Ridge 35
Durango quarterback Terrence Trujillo had four total touchdowns, including three passing, in the big top-10 win.
Sterling quarterback Michael Mitchek hit Isaac Harris for a touchdown with 30 seconds to play to give the Tigers a dramatic victory.
Eaton had taken a 17-12 lead early in the fourth quarter, and the two teams battled for much of the fourth quarter before Sterling’s late score.
Sterling is now 6-1.
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Notables:
Arapahoe, ranked No. 7 in 5A, snuck by Grand Junction 17-14. The Warriors are now 7-0 and could move up in the rankings based on Grandview’s upset. The Wolves’ lone loss this season is to Arapahoe.
3A No. 10 Mead got a good win over Berthoud, 21-18. “One of the best wins that I’ve been a part of as a coach,” Mead coach Jason Klatt told the Scoreboard Show. “It was just amazing to see our kids step up and play probably our best game against a quality opponent.”
In 1A, Peyton upset No. 6 Rye 22-21.
Another 1A upset: Meeker 38, Cedaredge 12.
Big top-10 game in 8-man, as No. 2 Akron came away with a 43-14 win over No. 8 Haxtun. Also, it was No. 10 Merino over No. 6 Dayspring Christian, 58-14.
In 6-man, No. 8 Peetz beat No. 5 Pawnee 45-21. And No. 9 Cheraw beat No. 10 Cheyenne Wells 58-39.
In the Mountain Bowl, an annual 3A battle, Evergreen beat Conifer 30-20 behind five turnovers. “It was a great win,” Evergreen coach Rob Molholm told the Scoreboard Show. “We made some big plays on offense when we needed to.”
8-man’s West Grand beat Pikes Peak Christian 40-0, giving coach Chris Brown his 304th victory. Brown is now two wins shy of tying the state record for career victories.
With few upsets happening over the weekend, the CHSAANow.com football rankings didn’t see too much movement, although a few new teams did manage to break in.
Cherry Creek remained atop the Class 5A rankings after taking care of business against Overland Friday night. Pine Creek received all 16 first place votes in 4A after cruising to another victory, this one over Air Academy.
The story remained the same for the other classes with Pueblo East (3A), Kent Denver (2A), Buena Vista (1A), Sedgwick County (8-man) and Felming (6-man) all hanging on to their places at No. 1.
Fairview football is No. 10 in Class 5A this week. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
In 5A, Fairview returned to the top-10 for the first time since falling out back on Sept. 21. A 47-46 double-overtime victory against Rocky Mountain helped get the Knights back into the polls.
No new teams entered the 4A ranking, but Dakota Ridge did leap two spots to No. 5 after a last-second field goal got them a win over this week’s No. 10-ranked Ponderosa Mustangs. Greeley West fell three spots to No. 8 after a tough loss to No. 3 Windsor.
The Classical Academy joins the 3A ranking at No. 9. This is the first time the Titans, winners of five-straight games, have been ranked in the top-10 this season.
After falling out of the rankings three weeks ago, Faith Christian rejoins the 2A poll at No. 10. The Eagles looked impressive in their 44-0 win over Bishop Machebeuf Friday night.
Wiggins and Crowley County join the 1A polls at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. It’s the second time this season that each team has made into the top-10.
Akron made the biggest jump in the 8-man rankings, going from No. 4 to No. 2. The Rams beat Dayspring Christian 30-7 Saturday to earn the boost.
No new teams joined the 6-man poll and the order of the team remained unchanged for the most part.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Cherokee Trail is the No. 1 team in 5A volleyball this week. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Cherokee Trail has regained the top spot of the Class 5A CHSAANow.com volleyball rankings. The Cougars were voted as the preseason No. 1, but early losses knocked them down in the polls.
Chatfield had held onto the No. 1 ranking since Sept. 14, but a surprising loss to Ralston Valley last week was enough to knock them off their perch. Grandview and Rocky Mountain were this week’s newcomers to the 5A rankings at No. 9 and No. 10, respectively.
Lewis-Palmer remains the top team in 4A. Holy Family jumped two spots, landing at No. 5 this week and Steamboat Springs comes in as the lone newcomer to the 4A poll.
The Eaton Reds are continuing their impressive season and still hold a firm grasp on the No. 1 spot in 3A. Despite going 0-1 last week, Colorado Springs Christian School jumped one spot this week to land at No. 3 this week.
SkyView Academy breaks into the 3A rankings at No. 9 this week. The Hawks are winners of six of their last seven matches.
Ridgway and Limon break into the 2A rankings at No. 8 and No. 10 respectively this week. Resurrection Christian holds on the top spot in 2A despite their 70-match winning streak coming to an end.
Still-undefeated Idalia remains the top team in 1A. They’re joined in the rankings this week by La Veta (No. 8) and Community Christian (No. 10).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Legend 19, Cherry Creek 12, Ralston Valley 12, Rangeview 10, Columbine 8, Fossil Ridge 8, Arapahoe 6, Legacy 6, Highlands Ranch 5, Castle View 4, Regis Jesuit 2, Fairview 1.
Dropped out
Cherry Creek (8), Legend (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Lewis-Palmer (12)
16-2
128
1
2-0
2
Cheyenne Mountain (1)
12-1
115
2
2-0
3
Ponderosa
9-6
98
4
2-0
4
Montrose
13-2
94
3
3-0
5
Holy Family
15-2
60
7
2-0
6
Longmont
14-1
52
6
2-0
7
Windsor
11-3
50
5
0-1
8
Delta
14-2
20
9
2-0
9
Steamboat Springs
14-2
17
–
2-0
10
Valor Christian
6-6
14
8
2-0
Others receiving votes:
The Classical Academy 13, Pueblo West 10, Elizabeth 9, Air Academy 7, Berthoud 7, Roosevelt 7, Thomas Jefferson 7, Battle Mountain 4, Discovery Canyon 2, Durango 1, Erie 1, Evergreen 1.
Dropped out
The Classical Academy (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Eaton (11)
17-0
110
1
2-0
2
University
10-1
98
3
1-0
3
Colorado Springs Christian
10-2
71
4
0-1
4
Manitou Springs
10-3
70
5
2-0
5
Valley
11-6
58
2
1-1
6
Platte Valley
13-4
55
6
2-0
7
Alamosa
15-2
51
7
4-1
8
Lutheran
9-4
37
8
1-0
9
SkyView Academy
12-4
15
–
2-0
10
Pagosa Springs
12-5
11
10
0-1
Others receiving votes:
Faith Christian 8, Peak to Peak 7, Coal Ridge 4, La Junta 4, St. Mary’s 4, Sterling 2.
Gunnison has a big game with Bayfield in Class 2A football this week. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Colorado Preps‘ Kevin Shaffer looks at Week 6’s big football matchups around the state.
This week, the show includes comments from Pine Creek vs. Air Academy, Arapahoe vs. Gateway, Gunnison vs. Bayfield, Dayspring Christian vs. Akron, and previews of many others in all classes.
We’ll be following Week 5 action on Friday night, including our live coverage.
No. 10 Cherokee Trail faced No. 9 Grandview in a big 5A matchup on Friday. (Matt Minton/JacksActionShots.com)
A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 6 in the 2015 season.
Ponderosa has rejoined the 4A football poll this week at No. 9. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
There was some shakeup to the Class 4A football rankings on Monday, with Ponderosa and Aurora Central joining the poll.
The Mustangs (4-1) are back in CHSAANow.com’s 4A ranking at No. 9, while Aurora Central (5-0) joined for the first time at No. 10.
Pine Creek continued to lead the 4A poll following its big win over then-No. 2 Vista Ridge, and is now a unanimous pick with all 17 first-place votes. The Eagles, two-time defending champions, have won 30 games in a row.
Longmont returned to its No. 2 spot after dropping to No. 3 last week, and Windsor is up to third. Vista Ridge fell to fourth, and Greeley West remained in the top 5.
Also this week, there is a new No. 1 team in 8-man, where Sedgwick County has ascended to the top despite having fewer first-place votes than former No. 1 Dayspring Christian. Both teams are 5-0.
The 8-man ranking added Holly (No. 7) and Dove Creek (No. 8) this week.
The other top-ranked teams around the classes include Cherry Creek (5A), Pueblo East (3A), Kent Denver (2A), Buena Vista (1A) and Fleming (6-man).
There were no new teams added to the 5A poll, though Pomona did return to the top 5 at No. 5. Regis Jesuit also jumped Valor Christian for the No. 3 spot.
In 3A, Lewis Palmer (No. 9) was the lone newcomer, but the 2A and 1A polls did not add any new teams. The 6-man ranking added Cheyenne Wells (No. 10).
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
