(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

Sterling, No. 2 in the preseason, has moved up to the No. 1 spot in this week’s Class 3A boys basketball rankings.

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.

Complete rankings are below.

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CHSAANow.com Boys Basketball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

First-place votes are in parentheses.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

The preseason boys basketball rankings are out. The No. 1 teams are: Grandview (5A), Lewis-Palmer (4A), Colorado Academy (3A), Yuma (2A) and Sangre de Cristo (1A).

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.

Complete rankings are below.

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CHSAANow.com Boys Basketball Polls

Voted upon by coaches and media members around the state. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.

First-place votes are in parentheses.

Coaches and media members looking to vote should email rcasey@chsaa.org.

A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 10 of the 2018 season.

• Live scoreboard
• Complete CHSAANow.com rankings
• Full schedule and scoreboard of this week’s games
• RPI standings
• Follow all the action live beginning at 7 p.m. Friday
• Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show (9:30 p.m. Friday)

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(Lance Wendt/LanceWendt.com)

Columbine has ascended to the No. 1 spot in this week’s Class 5A football rankings.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.

These will serve as the final rankings of the regular season for 5A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Football Polls

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.

(Steve Oathout)

Four new teams joined this week’s football rankings: Frederick (3A), Aspen (2A), Florence (1A) and Cheyenne Wells (6-man).

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Football Polls

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.

(Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)

Cherry Creek’s defense forced two key second-half turnovers, providing the spark to help the Class 5A top-ranked Bruins stay unbeaten with a win over Eaglecrest on Friday.

The Bruins, down 13-0 at half, rallied to defeat No. 4 Eaglecrest 14-13. They are now 8-0, while Eaglecrest drops to 7-1.

“It was just heart,” Cherry Creek senior Alec Pell told Altitude TV after the game. “(Nothing changed) scheme-wise, we knew what we were doing, it was just digging deep. Coming up with those fumbles was big, and just being a family and sticking together.”

Eaglecrest had seized the lead in the first half by controlling the clock with long drives — and by finishing those drives.

Isaiah Emecheta had a 7-yard score midway through the second quarter, and then quarterback Dylan James raced 43 yards for another score after picking up his own fumble. But the extra-point after the second touchdown wasn’t attempted after a snap and hold was mishandled.

The Raptors’ defense also looked mighty impressive, ending the half with a sack when Cherry Creek had the ball at the Raptors’ 20-yard-line.

But things changed as the second half opened.

Cherry Creek’s Cormier Euell forced a fumble with 7:38 remaining in the third quarter, and Dade Bissell recovered. That led to the Bruins’ first score: a 9-yard pass from Alex Padilla to Vance Brazile.

The Bruins’ defense also forced a fumble on the next possession, and once again Bissell recovered. After converting a fourth-down from the Eaglecrest 29, Cherry Creek’s Jayle Stacks rumbled in for a score to make it 14-13.

Eaglecrest drove down and had a shot to take the lead with 1:19 to play, but a 34-yard field goal attempt missed just to the right, and Cherry Creek held on.

“It just show what we are this year,” Pell said. “We’re just a different beast. We’re all together, we’re so close. And that closeness and that heart is what got us that win.”

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3A: Frederick 41, (7) Holy Family 23

Frederick made a statement with a big upset of Holy Family, and has now won six games in consecutive seasons. The Warriors are 6-1 in 2018.

“We showed up,” Frederick coach Travis Peeples told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “Our kids are physical now. And, boy, are they excited. We’re on the bus, and we’re having a great ride home.”

Frederick broke open a game in which they led 20-17 at halftime to pick up their biggest win of the season so far.

“Our kids had a great week of practice,” Peeples said. “They just wanted to show what they could do against a quality opponent, and that was one of the questions everyone had: Could we beat a quality opponent? And this one was circled on Monday.”

In the win, Peeples said his team “dominated the line of scrimmage tonight.”

“I think we wore them down,” Peeples said. “We started running the ball inside the tackles. Our offensive line, all seven of the guys up front were tremendous. We had some gaping holes, and we ran the ball really well tonight.”

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3A: (2) Discovery Canyon 39, (5) Thomas Jefferson 22

Marshall Pike rushed for three touchdowns to help Discovery Canyon stay unbeaten at 7-0, and hand previously unbeaten Thomas Jefferson (6-1) its first loss of the season.

Zack Anderson also tossed two passing touchdowns for the Thunder, one to Zach Surface and another to Kevin Pasion.

Discovery Canyon’s Griffin Anderson went 2-for-2 on field goals, including a 51-yarder just before halftime.

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1A: (1) Limon 48, (5) Burlington 0

The top-ranked Badgers continued to roll, this time picking up a top-5 win.

“It was just a great all-around effort by everybody,” Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer told the Scoreboard Show. “Defensively, we got some turnovers, some interceptions, and we had some short fields to work with. It was one of those games where we just had some fortunate things go our way.

“I thought we did a great job defensively putting kids in places to make plays, and those kids made those plays.”

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Notables

• Greeley West, No. 5 in 4A, beat Brighton 48-17, and is now 6-1. “We’ve got a lot of weapons on offense,” coach Jason Renouf told the Scoreboard Show. “I’m really proud of how they’re performing.”
• Aspen had one of the biggest upsets of the night, taking down No. 3 Rifle 20-19 in 2A. “It’s a huge win,” coach Travis Benson told the Scoreboard Show. “I am super proud of the defense. The eight guys in the box, they played hard, they fought, they played the run. And our secondary came up with some picks when we needed to.”
• In 2A, No. 5 Resurrection Christian beat No. 8 Eaton 26-7. “The kids responded the way we wanted them to, and that was good to see,” coach Jeff Van Winkle told the Loveland Reporter-Herald. “That’s a tough Eaton team.”
• Another top-10 game in 2A: No. 5 Basalt beat No. 10 Delta 13-0.
• In 1A, No. 10 Holyoke knocked off No. 8 Wray 30-14.
• Perhaps one of the lowest-scoring 8-man games in a long time: No. 4 Caliche beat No. 8 Akron 6-0.
• There were top-10 matchups all over the board in 6-man: No. 1 Stratton/Liberty beat No. 6 Arickaree/Woodlin 60-20; No. 2 Kit Carson beat No. 9 Granada 60-24 and No. 3 Otis beat No. 7 Idalia 68-56.

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More coverage

• No. 3 Montrose is now 7-0 after beating Denver South.
• Chatfield got a victory against Golden. Photos from the game are here.
• An updated top-10 football scoreboard after Friday’s games, and Saturday’s top-10 slate.
• All scores from Friday, and Saturday’s full schedule.
• Re-live the night through our live coverage.

A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 8 of the 2018 season.

• Live scoreboard
• Complete CHSAANow.com rankings
• Full schedule and scoreboard of this week’s games
• RPI standings
• Follow all the action live beginning at 7 p.m. Friday
• Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show (9:30 p.m. Friday)

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(Dustin Price/DustinPricePhotography.com)

This week’s football rankings saw just two new teams hop into the polls across all classifications: Grand Junction Central (4A) and Briggsdale (6-man).

The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Football Polls

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.

(Ismael Gomez)

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.

Listen to the game on Eagle Country 104.1 and online at www.eaglecountry104.com.

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2A: (7) Salida at Pagosa Springs

Time: 7 p.m. kick

Station: The Peak 92.3

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.

Listen to the game on The Peak 92.3 and online at www.eaglecountry104.com.

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4A: Air Academy at Coronado

Time 6 p.m. kick

Station: XTRA Sports 1300

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.

Listen to the game on XTRA Sports 1300 or at xtrasports1300.com.

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2A: The Academy at (8) Eaton

Time: 7 p.m. kick

Station: 1310 KFKA

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.

A complete schedule and scoreboard for football’s top-10 teams during Week 7 of the 2018 season.

• Live scoreboard
• Complete CHSAANow.com rankings
• Full schedule and scoreboard of this week’s games
• RPI standings
• Follow all the action live beginning at 7 p.m. Friday
• Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show (9:30 p.m. Friday)

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