(Max Potter)

ENGLEWOOD – Back-to-back goals from Kevin Papa helped Cheyenne Mountain overcome a two-goal deficit in the fourth quarter to topple Evergreen, 5-4, in the Class 4A boys lacrosse state championship on Tuesday evening at Englewood High School.

Cheyenne Mountain, which won the state title in 2018, earned the second state title in program history and avenged a 10-9 loss to Golden in the 2019 finals.

Kevin Papa was the hero for the Indians, scoring the last two goals, a turnaround strike off the far post with just under four minutes left in the game, then again with 48 seconds left in the contest as he streaked across the face of goal from a Zak Paige pass.

“It was an awesome game,” Papa said. “All of my boys put me in a good position to score and we just made it happen in the second half. We were getting our shots all game, just some of them weren’t falling. We just played like we know how and tried to move the ball faster than they could move their feet.”

Not to be understated was the tremendous effort by Cheyenne Mountain. Goalkeeper Matthew Kelleher came up with eight terrific saves to hold the Cougars well below their scoring average.

“It was a tough, physical game out there today, the refs definitely let us play, but I thought they called a great game,” Kelleher said. “We just kept our composure and playing like we know how.”

The defenses excelled on both sides, as Andrew Morris stifled the Cheyenne Mountain offense in goal for the most part, tallying seven saves. Defensemen Mike Crane and Jared Stiller played a hard, physical game in the trenches. Stiller even recorded a pair of long-stick goals.

Cheyenne Mountain head coach Mike Paige felt a special connection to this group in Season D.

“Last year, we had to let some seniors go and we had a phenomenal team,” Paige said. “This year’s seniors felt like that was an opportunity missed, but they weren’t going to let this one slip by. I’ve been coaching these guys since they were 4- and 5-year-olds. To see this season come together the way it did, these guys worked hard and it all magically happened.”

Evergreen made history with its first appearance in the title game and the Cougars played their hearts out, holding Cheyenne Mountain scoreless for just under 32 minutes.

It was also the second-lowest scoring game since 2006 when Cherry Creek beat Denver East, 6-2. It was the lowest scoring contest in a 4A title game since the two classifications started having separate championships in 2013.

ENGLEWOOD — The boys lacrosse season came to a thrilling end as Mountain Vista and Cheyenne Mountain claimed state championships.

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Mountain Vista 10, Valor Christian 9

Story | Bracket

By Steve Abeyta

• Link to gallery

(Steve Abeyta)

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Cheyenne Mountain 5, Evergreen 4

Story | Bracket

By Steve Abeyta

• Link to gallery

AURORA – You have to hand it to the Discovery Canyon foursome on their performance on Monday at CommonGround G.C. in the opening round of the Class 4A state golf tournament.

Mere moments before their collective morning tee times, the Thunder group of Emily Cheng, Christina Cheng, Lauren Jaworowski and Mena Song-Lew got the usual words of encouragement from their coach Mark Liggett.

But they didn’t get to see his face, just heard his voice from back home in Colorado Springs, where he was at the bedside of his wife Susan, who is still in the hospital after complications from a surgery the week prior.

The Thunder (team score of 255), who to a player will admit they didn’t play their best golf on Monday in the ideal conditions at CommonGround, played for their coach and will carry an eight-shot lead over Holy Family (263) into Tuesday’s second round. Cheyenne Mountain (266) is in third and both Windsor (272) and Mullen (272) are lurking in fourth.

“They were all in a better mood this morning when they got the news last night that (Susan) had come out of her third surgery and found out what was making her so sick,” said Discovery Canyon assistant coach David Schwartz, whose team is in search of its first title in the sport. “They were happy to hear that and they all had a chance to talk to him on the phone and that put them all at ease that she is in a better place at least physically.”

Sophomore Emily Cheng led the way for Discovery Canyon, firing a 6-over par 78 on the 5,907-yard layout. She sits alone in third place and will be in the final pairing tomorrow with Holy Family’s Jessica Mason (3-under par, 69) and Mead’s Timbre Shehee (77).

Christina Cheng (88) and Jaworowski (89) rounded out the scoring three for Discovery Canyon.

“They did exactly what they needed to do today, finish in first place, and I think tomorrow will be a better day,” Schwartz said. “They didn’t play their best today and our top three really weren’t on their game, but we are looking forward to tomorrow and the warm weather.”

Schwartz and his team, who are hoping to have Liggett back tomorrow, know that the course they saw on Monday – damp and somewhat receptive after the overnight rains – will play a lot differently on Tuesday in what is supposed to be a 90-plus degree dry day.

“It did play a little slower as compared to the practice round yesterday and that is the most difficult thing for younger players is to readapt to changing conditions,” he said. “Tomorrow will be a totally different day and now that they have the bad rounds out of the way, they know what is in store for them tomorrow.”

As for Mason, who is attempting to keep the medalist honors at Holy Family after three straight wins by Hailey Schalk from 2017-2019, it was a nearly flawless round of golf.

The Tigers junior had it to 4-under after pouring in a 12-foot eagle putt on No. 15, and ultimately finished with a 3-under score of 69. The only blemishes on the card were a couple of three putt bogeys on the inward nine’s two difficult par-3’s.

Mason will carry an eight shot lead into tomorrow’s final round and will have a front row seat to watch her two closest chasers try and catch her.

“I was relaxed today and everything was good today, so tomorrow I just have to come back out and do the same thing,” said Mason, who went a perfect 5-for-5 in Northern Colorado Athletic Conference tournaments this season. “Even if you do have an eight-shot lead, you still have to play well.”

(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)

ENGLEWOOD – Four teams took the field at Englewood High School on Saturday to decide which two would battle for the Class 4A state championship in Season D. At the end of a long and sweltering and occasionally rainy day, Cheyenne Mountain and Evergreen emerged victorious.

Next Tuesday, those two teams will face one another in the championship game at 5 p.m. back in the same stadium where they shined in the semifinals.

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(1) Cheyenne Mountain 9, (4) Erie 8

Cheyenne Mountain boys lacrosse is back in the Class 4A state championship game.

At Englewood High School on Saturday, top-seeded Cheyenne Mountain held off a late charge from No. 4 Erie to win 9-8 in the state semifinals and punch its ticket to a third straight title game appearance. For players like senior Griffin Meyer, who remembers the sweet taste of winning a championship back in 2018, the chance to play for another has been something they have eagerly awaited.

“We just can’t wait. It’s time,” Meyer said. “I was there and it’s the most unbelievable feeling when you win a state championship and I want to experience that with all the fellas on this year’s team.”

The 2018 champion, Cheyenne Mountain lost to by one goal to Golden in 2019 and had to wait longer than usual for another shot at state, as the global pandemic cancelled the spring season in 2020.

In their return to the state semifinals against Erie on Saturday, Cheyenne Mountain pulled out to a 5-1 lead at halftime. Erie, however, cut the lead to 7-5 with six minutes left and 9-7 with 1:46 remaining in the contest. The Tigers cut the lead to one goal with 16.4 seconds left and despite a strong attacking effort off a reset, could not find the net for an equalizing goal that would have sent the two teams into overtime against one another for the second time this season.

Cheyenne Mountain defeated Erie, 11-10, in double overtime on May 6 during the regular season.

“They’re a really good team and they have some great offensive players,” Cheyenne Mountain senior defender Carver Ward said. “We did a good job of controlling the possession early on, but it also felt like a battle against the heat as much as against them. We wore down and bit and once they got the possession, it was their game right down to the last shot. But I think we did a good job on defense because as far as settled opportunities, they didn’t score much.”

When Cheyenne Mountain faces Evergreen in the title game on Tuesday, the team will be playing for the program’s second state championship.

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(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)

(2) Evergreen 14, (11) Eagle Valley 5

On Saturday, the No. 2-seeded Evergreen boys lacrosse team showed up to Englewood High School determined to play its way through to the Cougars’ first-ever appearance in a boys lacrosse state championship game.

So, they did.

Facing 11^th-seeded Eagle Valley in the state semifinals, Evergreen started slow but used an hour-plus lightning delay to regain its form. Following the delay, the Cougars outscored the Devils by a margin of 11-4 to run away with the victory, 14-5. As a result, and for the first time ever, the Cougars have the opportunity to play for a state title.

“This team is special in so many ways,” Evergreen head coach Jay Egger said. “We didn’t start off well, so I’m really proud of the discipline and the character they showed in order to adjust. We’re going to state. Oh my gosh. This is the first time our program has ever won a conference, let alone go to the championship game. We’ve just got really good dudes and it’s been a special season.”

In Tuesday’s championship game, the Cougars will face a Cheyenne Mountain team that has played in the last two title games and claimed its own first-ever state championship in 2018. Cheyenne Mountain beat Evergreen, 12-6, during the regular season.

Despite being underdogs on paper, the Cougars don’t appear to be intimidated by their upcoming opponents’ recent success.

“We’ve just got to come in and outwork a really good Cheyenne Mountain team that we played earlier in the season,” Evergreen’s Jack Fairbanks said. “This time we’ll be ready for them, ready to put up a really good fight, and hopefully win this thing.”

Tuesday’s Class 4A state championship between the tournament’s top two seeds will begin at 5 p.m.

(Brad Cochi/CHSAANow)

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — If there is a way to battle back in the seventh inning, Ponderosa is going to find it. The Mustangs trailed 5-0 after the first couple of innings before rallying back to beat Evergreen with a walk-off home run on the first day of the Class 4A baseball tournament.

They followed that win up with another walk-off blast, this one against Cheyenne Mountain to enter the second day of the tournament unbeaten.

In Saturday’s marquee game, the winner of Holy Family and Ponderosa would automatically advance to the state championship series. And Holy Family looked like it wanted that advancement early as it jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Mustangs in the first inning.

But even on a different day, the Mustangs had same grit and heart that they’ve shown in the postseason. They scored 11 of their 14 runs in the sixth and seventh innings to get a 14-11 win over the Tigers.

“It’s incredible,” coach Bob Maloney said. “We have so much senior leadership. In 30 years, I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s unmatched.”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

It’s been quite the remarkable three-game stretch for the Mustangs (18-2 overall). Tied with Evergreen in the seventh inning on Friday, Dom Lopez blasted a walk-off home run to beat the Cougars. He hit another home run later in the day against Cheyenne Mountain which proved crucial in that win as well.

When Lopez got into the batter’s box in the top of the seventh against the Tigers (18-2), the Mustangs were down two with the bases loaded and one out. He couldn’t help but think of how things transpired on Friday.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t,” Lopez said. “But really, I just had the same mentality, just put the ball in play.”

He let loose on a monster hack on a 1-2 count and for a brief moment, it looked like the ball would carry out of Hobbs Field. It landed on the warning track and Lopez ended up at second. The rest of the runners scored and for the first time in the game, Ponderosa took the lead.

Parker Dennis got hit by a pitch then Skyler Ahern ripped a ball to left-center – the same area where Lopez had hit his double two batters earlier – but with more pop.

His ball carried over the wall to make it a 14-10 game. It was Ahern’s first home run of the season and it came at the best possible time.

“With this team we fight and battle,” Ahern said. “It doesn’t matter how much we’re down. We’ll always scratch a couple of runs across and keep fighting until the game is over. We have seven innings so we need to make all seven count.”

That’s been the mindset all weekend and the Mustangs have every intention of carrying that over.

Even with the loss, Holy Family is still in the title picture as they only have one loss in the tournament. The Tigers play Cheyenne Mountain on Friday morning with Ponderosa set to play D’Evelyn. If the Mustangs beat the Jags, they’ll have to be beaten twice on Saturday.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

ENGLEWOOD — The boys lacrosse championship games are set after Mountain Vista, Valor Christian, Evergreen and Cheyenne Mountain all advanced through the semifinals.

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Coverage:

Class 5A:

• Bracket
• Mountain Vista and Valor Christian to play for state title

Class 4A:

• Bracket
• Cheyenne Mountain and Evergreen advance to title game

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Mountain Vista 13, Cherry Creek 12

By Paul DiSalvo

• Link to gallery

(Paul DiSalvo/PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com)

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Valor Christian 10, Regis Jesuit 7

By Paul DiSalvo

• Link to gallery

(Paul DiSalvo/PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com)

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Cheyenne Mountain 9, Erie 8

By David Harvey

• Link to gallery

(David Harvey/ImageProPhotography.com)

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Evergreen 14, Eagle Valley 5

By David Harvey

• Link to gallery

(David Harvey/ImageProPhotography.com)

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — In two pitches, Ponderosa first baseman Dom Lopez had the best start to the Class 4A state baseball tournament of anyone that made the trip to Pueblo.

After trailing Evergreen 5-0 after just the second inning, the Mustangs had to battle back in their opening contest. They did just that and kept the Cougars off the board for the remainder of the game.

On the first pitch that Lopez saw in the bottom of the seventh inning, he decided it was time to end it. He ripped the first pitch he saw to centerfield and trotted around the bases ready to jump into the celebration of his awaiting teammates at home plate.

The next pitch he saw was his first at-bat in the Mustangs’ second game of the day. He hit it to nearly the same spot beyond the centerfield wall to make it a 2-0 lead for Pondo and the Mustangs went on to beat Cheyenne Mountain 10-8 as teammate Derek Lukes followed suit with a walk-off bomb of his own.

“I really like going after the first pitch,” Lopez said. “I think it’s the best pitch you’ll get the whole at-bat so I always go for that first one, no matter what.”

Bottom 7. Dom Lopez called game. Mustangs win 6-5. #copreps @PonderosaAthle1 @JaronCohen1 pic.twitter.com/Ejp6K0RtX0

— Daniel Mohrmann (@DanMohrmann) June 18, 2021

The Mustangs (17-2 overall) will get a bit of a breather before they head to Rawlings Field on the campus of CSU-Pueblo. They’ll take on Holy Family who flexed its muscles offensively with a 12-2 win over Lewis-Palmer to start the day then followed it up with a 12-3 win over D’Evelyn.

The winner of Holy Family and Ponderosa will be the lone unbeaten team in the 4A tournament heading into next weekend, which is ideal in this modified double-elimination bracket.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

In the first day of a state baseball tournament in over two years, the actions between Hobbs Field and Andenucio Field at the Runyon complex couldn’t have been any different. The Tigers (17-1) showed dominance on the way to their two wins at Hobbs. In the second game of the day, Holy Family scored nine runs across three innings to take a big lead over the Jaguars. Brennan Bennett, Connor Cooney, Jared Delgado, Isaac Siefken and Jaden Delgado all scored twice through the course of the game.

D’Evelyn had taken down No. 1 Severance 11-4 earlier in the day.

The thrillers came from Andenucio. Down 5-0 to Evergreen after the first two innings, the Mustangs battled back to tie the game before Lopez ended it with a solo shot in the seventh.

Cheyenne Mountain shook off any homefield advantage that Pueblo County was getting to get a 7-3 win.

Ponderosa started its game with Cheyenne Mountain off with Lopez’s second home run of the day. Cheyenne Mountain tied the game at two then pulled even 8-8 heading into the bottom of the seventh. Lopez was walked to start the inning and then Lukes just saw his pitch and blasted it to left field.

“That’s always going through my mind,” Lukes said. “After what Dom did in the first game and the momentum we had, I kind of knew what was going to happen. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win it.”

Severance will play Lewis-Palmer in an elimination game at Rawlings Field at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Evergreen and Pueblo County will follow suit at noon. The game between Ponderosa and Holy Family will go off at 7: 30 p.m. with the winner taking control of the state tournament going into championship weekend.

The complete schedule for the Class 4A state baseball tournaments in Season D.

All games are June 18-26 at Runyon Complex and Rawlings Complex in Pueblo.

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2021 CHSAA State Baseball Championships Class 4A

In the final coaches poll of Season D, Cherry Creek and Cheyenne Mountain finished the season at No. 1.

The rankings, voted upon by coaches, are the official polls of the Association. This formula will be used as one of the criteria for postseason qualification and seeding.

Complete rankings for all classes are below.

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CHSAANow.com Boys Lacrosse Polls

Coaches looking to vote should email bcochi@chsaa.org.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

PUEBLO — It wouldn’t be a true state tennis tournament at Pueblo City Park if it wasn’t setup for a thrilling final day. That will be the case once again as Cheyenne Mountain, Mullen and Niwot will battle it out for the state title as each school has at least four of seven positions into Saturday’s Class 4A girls tennis semifinals. Mullen leads the team race with 16 points while Cheyenne Mountain has 15.

Cheyenne Mountain fell in No. 2 Singles as Windsor’s Schrader beat Brooke Ballenger and the No. 2 Doubles team of Emma Delich and Katie Delich lost to Mullen’s Tierney Scanlan and Izzy Desjardins in what was maybe the pivotal match of the day. Marin Smith fell in the first round of the No. 3 Singles bracket for Mullen and Brooklyn Hanley and Parker Durand lost to Grand Junction’s Natalie Hanks and Kylie Hanks.

Each team will rest up and do what they need to be ready for Saturday’s semifinals.

“We’re having team dinner and pool night,” Mullen’s Lauren Manwiller said. “We’re getting to bed early but our whole team is going to be here tomorrow to support everyone and we’re all going to be watching each other’s matches and cheering each other on.”

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

The No. 1 Singles bracket is proving to be a key race for the team title. Manwiller dropped just five total games in two rounds to advance to the semifinals and Cheyenne Mountain freshman Maya Michalski looked strong herself as she rolled into the semis with wins over Longmont’s Lauren Pavot and Grand Junction’s Emma Aubert.

For a freshman playing in the top position, Michalski showed no signs of showing any nerves on a stage where her team has a tendency to contend for a championship every year.

“I was worried for a few matches,” she said. “But I just powered through.”

Both teams have their own pockets of inexperience as Michalski is in just her freshman year at the school and Mullen only has four players on the roster with previous varsity experience. Part of it is because of youth and part is because last year’s state tournament wasn’t contested because of COVID-19.

“It helps because No. 1 has the most points,” Michalski said. “The fact that I’m still in it and doing well makes me happy for the team.”

There are five teams bunched close to the top with Kent Denver, Niwot and Palmer Ridge all within five points of the lead and the state tournament itself is a representation of how much parity there is across the classification.

“This is exciting and I’m pretty darn sure this is how it was going to be,” Cheyenne Mountain coach Dave Adams said. “From looking at the participants and the MaxPreps scores, I thought there were five or six teams that could win it. It’s really close.

Semifinals begin at Pueblo City Park at 9 a.m. on Saturday with championships tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m.