Lakewood is No. 9 in this week’s 5A football ranking. More photos. (Tom Hoganson)
Lakewood, coming off a big win over Montrose, has joined the Class 5A football poll this week.
The Tigers beat Montrose, then ranked No. 2 in 4A, on Saturday. Monday, they entered CHSAANow.com’s ranking at No. 9.
Elsewhere in 5A, Valor Christian remained the unanimous No. 1 team, but things changed behind the Eagles. Cherokee Trail (No. 2), Pomona (No. 3) and Grandview (No. 4) all moved up one spot this week after Cherry Creek, last week’s No. 2, fell to Pomona.
Creek is No. 5 this week, and is followed by Fairview, Ralston Valley, Regis Jesuit, newcomer Lakewood and Overland.
Denver South is ranked No. 3 in this week’s 4A poll. More photos. (Pam Wagner)
The 4A ranking also added one team in No. 10 Longmont, which was ranked in the preseason. Pine Creek maintained its spot at No. 1. Pueblo South moved up to No. 2 after Montrose’s loss, and Denver South bumped up to No. 3. Montrose is fourth this week, and Vista Ridge is fifth.
In 3A, Erie joined at No. 10. Lutheran continued its stay at No. 1, and Delta remained just behind at No. 2. Discovery Canyon bumped up to No. 3 after its big win over Holy Family last week.
The 2A poll added No. 8 Bayfield, while 1A added No. 7 Cedaredge and No. 9 Platte Canyon. Granada (No. 7) joined the 8-man ranking, while 6-man added No. 8 Cheyenne Wells and No. 9 Flagler.
The No. 1 teams in each of those classifications remained the same. Those are Brush, Paonia, Dayspring Christian and Stratton/Liberty, respectively.
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 select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding, except in 5A where they are used as part of the seeding criteria.
There were a number of major movers as CHSAANow released the first football rankings of the regular season on Monday.
New Wheat Ridge football coach Dan Reardon. (Tracy Renck)
Pueblo East (Class 3A), Discovery Canyon (3A), and Wheat Ridge (4A) all made big jumps after being unranked in the preseason.
Pueblo East had the biggest climb, and wound up at No. 3 in the 3A poll after winning its first two games. The Eagles beat Longmont, No. 4Â in the preseason 4A poll, in Zero Week, then topped Coronado, the defending 3A champion which has since moved up to 4A, in Week 1.
Discovery Canyon is No. 6 in 3A this week. Last Thursday, the Thunder beat Silver Creek, the 3A runner-up a season ago which has also moved up to 4A.
And Wheat Ridge, also off to a 2-0 start under new coach Dan Reardon in 4A, has won its games by a combined 91-0. The Farmers are No. 5 in this week’s 4A poll.
In total, those moves were just a microcosm of the new rankings, which saw massive change. All seven polls got at least one new team, with 4A and 6-man getting four new members, and 3A adding three.
There’s also a new No. 1 team in 2A, where Brush takes over for Platte Valley.
The least amount of change occurred in 5A, where Valor Christian continues its stranglehold on the No. 1 spot following its physical win over Pomona. The Eagles received all 13 first-place votes.
Teams Nos. 2-4 stayed the same behind them: Cherry Creek (which beat Regis Jesuit), Cherokee Trail and Pomona. Grandview joined the top five this week, bumping up three places from its preseason No. 8 spot.
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
Chatfield remained at No. 6, Fairview moved up three spots to No. 7, Regis Jesuit fell to No. 8 and Ralston Valley remained at No. 9.
The lone newcomer in 5A is Overland, which joined at No. 10.
In addition to Wheat Ridge in 4A, new teams include No. 8 Vista Ridge, No. 9 Falcon and No. 10 Fort Collins. Pine Creek remained atop that poll following its escape of Falcon’s upset bid.
Besides Pueblo East and Discovery Canyon, D’Evelyn also joined the 3A ranking. Lutheran stayed atop that poll after its overtime win in Texas last week.
2A added No. 9 Eaton, while 1A added No. 7 Meeker. Paonia is still No. 1 in 1A.
The 8-man ranking added No. 8 Akron and No. 9 Springfield. Dayspring Christian continues to lead that pack.
Finally, 6-man added No. 6 Prairie, No. 7 Pawnee, No. 8 Walsh and No. 10 Cotopaxi. Stratton/Liberty remained in the top spot.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be released each Monday.
Voted upon by coaches and select media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding, except in 5A where they are used as part of the seeding criteria.
Stratton/Liberty returns as the defending 6-man football champion. (Tom Bredehoft)
Any football coach will tell you that without season long on health or depth, a team’s fate can go downhill fast.
That’s why Stratton/Liberty coach Toby Kechter greets preseason practice with mounds of optimism.
Kechter, who’s in his third year as head coach for the consolidated team and defending 6-man state champions, expected 15 players for fall practice.
More importantly, “We’re really deep in the big guys,” he said.
Whether it’s 6-man, 8-man or 11-man football, it all starts up front.
Anchoring that line is 6-1, 235-pound sophomore Chase Flynn, who’s lost 40 pounds since his state-placing freshman wrestling season.
Kyle English, left, is back for Stratton/Liberty. (Tom Bredehoft)
He’ll pave the way for senior running back Kyle English, who rushed for 1,500 yards and more than 40 touchdowns in leading the Eagles to the state title, their first since winning the 8-man crown in 2003.
The 44-40 victory over Hi-Plains was even sweeter considering it was the Patriots who knocked Stratton/Liberty out of the 2012 playoffs on a Hail Mary pass.
The Eagles return three starters on both sides of the ball, including English, a solid all-around athlete who is also the defending 1A state long jump and triple jump champion.
“We were balanced (last season),” Kechter said. “We had three kids who could’ve taken over (at any time).”
That’s a good sign, considering two starters, Trent Worden and Kade Drescher, missed the playoffs with injuries. Both will be back a little hungrier.
As for the 6-man classification, “There should be a lot more parity,” Kechter said.
Arickaree/Woodlin will give the Eagles all they can handle in the East Central Conference, as will Otis and rebounding Idalia, the latter having won eight state titles in the previous 16 seasons.
Stratton/Liberty, ranked No. 1 in the preseason, has two tough nonconference opponents in Eads and Cheyenne Wells, both expected to vie for playoff berths out of the Southeast Conference.
With Walsh, Cheyenne Wells and Manzanola dropping to 6-man, Eads and Kit Carson will get plenty of challenge in the Southeast Conference. Walsh won five consecutive conference titles in its five previous seasons in 8-man.
Miami-Yoder and South Park also drop a class from 8-man, joining the Central Conference.
“The eight teams that make the playoffs should be quality teams,” Kechter said.
Hi-Plains will get a challenge from Otis and 2011 and 2012 state titlist Fleming in the East Central Conference.
Prairie and Peetz are looking to make return playoff appearances from the North Conference. The Southwest Conference will attempt to make inroads in the playoffs but faces an uphill battle.
Valor Christian is the preseason No. 1 in 5A. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Defending champions head six of football’s seven preseason CHSAANow.com rankings, which were unveiled Monday morning.
The lone exception is Lutheran in Class 3A — which saw both its champion (Coronado) and runner-up (Silver Creek) move up to 4A this cycle.
In fact, that ranking was also the most split of any other, with both Lutheran and preseason No. 2 Delta both getting three first-place votes. Lutheran got the No. 1 nod with 65 total points. Delta had 53 points.
Lutheran was eliminated in the first round of the 3A playoffs last season, while Delta made the semifinals. Lutheran is entering its first season under new coach Blair Hubbard, formerly of Faith Christian.
Other preseason No. 1 teams are Platte Valley (2A), Paonia (1A), Dayspring Christian (8-man) and Stratton/Liberty (6-man).
The rankings are voted upon by coaches and select media members, and are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, rankings will be released each Monday.
ThunderRidge 31, Overland 16, Monarch 7, Legend 5, Douglas County 3, Grand Junction 3, Mullen 2, Doherty 1, Fountain-Fort Carson 1.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
PTS
1
Pine Creek (11)
110
2
Montrose
81
3
Pueblo South
75
4
Longmont
67
5
Denver South
53
6
Broomfield
43
7
Standley Lake
36
8
Dakota Ridge
28
9
Pueblo Centennial
26
10
Windsor
25
Others receiving votes:
Pueblo West 18, Vista Ridge 17, Loveland 13, Fort Collins 5, Coronado 3, Palmer Ridge 2, Wheat Ridge 2, Falcon 1.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
PTS
1
Lutheran (3)
65
2
Delta (3)
53
3
Holy Family
52
4
Rifle (1)
40
5
Roosevelt
33
6
Evergreen
25
7
The Classical Academy
19
8
Palisade
16
9
Lewis-Palmer (1)
15
10
Vista PEAK
11
Others receiving votes:
Fort Morgan 9, Northridge 9, Pueblo East 7, Mead 4, Conifer 3, Discovery Canyon 3, Erie 3, Frederick 3, Woodland Park 2, Eagle Valley 1, Pueblo Central 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
PTS
1
Platte Valley (5)
66
2
Faith Christian (1)
64
3
Brush (1)
54
4
Manitou Springs
41
5
Kent Denver
38
6
Florence
31
7
Strasburg
24
8
Bennett
23
9
Lamar
16
10
Olathe
9
Others receiving votes:
Gunnison 7, La Junta 4, Sterling 4, Eaton 2, Middle Park 1, Moffat County 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
PTS
1
Paonia (4)
63
2
Centauri (2)
58
3
Limon (1)
53
4
Buena Vista
49
5
Resurrection Christian
40
6
Burlington
36
7
Monte Vista
30
8
Yuma
13
9
Wray
10
10
Cedaredge
8
Others receiving votes:
Platte Canyon 6, Colorado Springs Christian 5, Meeker 4, Holyoke 3, Hotchkiss 3, Rye 2, Front Range Christian 1, Wiggins 1.
