Rocky Mountain is the No. 10 team in this week’s Class 5A football poll. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Cherry Creek remains the top overall team in the Class 5A CHSAANow.com rankings after a 7-6 win over Pomona Friday night.
The Bruins received all but one of the first-place votes. It was the Panthers who got that other No. 1 vote.
Following its second-straight loss, Valor Christian fell one slot to land fourth in the polls, with Columbine taking over the third spot.
Both Cherry Creek and Valor Christian will travel out of state for games this week.
Newcomers to the 5A poll include Cherokee Trail, fresh off an impressive win over Denver East, and Rocky Mountain.
Like in 5A, the rest of last week’s top teams remained at No. 1 in the polls, with some newcomers being filtered in.
Pine Creek remains the top team in 4A after its bye week. Greeley West made the biggest jump in the 4A pool, going from ninth to sixth, thanks to a 28-20 win over D’Evelyn.
After starting the year 2-0, Palmer Ridge broke into the 4A poll at ninth, followed by fellow-Colorado Springs newcomer, Rampart, at No. 10. The Rams blanked Coronado on Saturday and have yet to surrender a point this season.
Defending champion Pueblo East is still on top in the 3A poll. The top seven teams in 3A held their positions and only one team, Mead, broke in as a newcomer. They join this week’s poll at 10.
Kent Denver remains atop the 2A polls, but the biggest shake-up of the week happened right behind them. Faith Christian fell from second to seventh after a stunning loss to Florence. The Huskies joined the poll this week at eighth on the strength of their 15-12 win over the Eagles.
Trinidad also joins the 2A polls at No. 10 this week. The Miners look good early this season, outscoring their opponents 93-14 through two games.
Crowley County joined the 1A polls at No. 10 this week.
Springfield and Holly each made their way into the 8-man polls. They come in and ninth and 10th, respectively. Merino also jumped from No. 10 to No. 6 this week.
In 8-man, Cheyenne Wells breaks into the top 10, coming in at ninth. Pawnee also jumped from fifth to third this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Longmont and Pueblo East played on Friday night. (Photo: @GoTrojanNation on Twitter)
It doesn’t get much bigger for Zero Week: One defending champion, one runner-up — both from different classifications.
On Friday, Longmont, the Class 4A runner-up last season, held off Pueblo East, the reigning 3A champ, with a 48-27 victory. The Trojans got five touchdowns from Conlon Berger, according to BoCoPreps’ Brad Cochi.
The game was actually knotted at 21 at halftime, but Longmont seized a two-touchdown lead just two drives into the second half. Pueblo East fumbled on the next possession, and Longmont’s Berger scored on the very next play.
Longmont, ranked No. 2 in 4A’s preseason poll, cruised thereafter to knock off top-ranked Pueblo East.
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1A/2A: (4) Resurrection Christian 15, (5) Platte Valley 13
Resurrection Christian scored two touchdowns in a span of 1:28, and it would be all the Cougars needed to upset 2A foe Platte Valley, 15-13.
Platte Valley battled back, and even scored a touchdown to make it 15-13 with 2:37 remaining, but couldn’t convert the two-point attempt to tie the game.
[divider]
3A: (9) Delta 38, The Classical Academy 35
In a game that featured seven lead changes, Delta was finally able to hold off The Classical Academy.
TCA led 28-24 with 8:29 to go in the third quarter, but Delta was able to rally to take a 31-28 lead heading to the fourth.
The Classical Academy drove down to the Delta 1-yard-line with a chance to take the lead, but turned the ball over. Delta scored on the ensuing possession to make it 38-28.
[divider]
8-man: (10) Sargent 40, (8) Springfield 28
Sargent built at 32-14 lead at halftime, and was able to pull the upset of Springfield.
The game looked to be a back-and-forth affair early on, but a 66-yard kickoff return for a score made it 24-8 and broke the game open.
[divider]
5A: Cherry Creek 31, Heritage 0
Cherry Creek, the defending 5A champion, shook off some Zero Week jitters to cruise to a season-opening win.
Pine Creek extended its state-best winning streak to 26 games by beating Pueblo Centennial 45-0. Paonia has the second-longest streak at 23 games.
Colorado teams were 4-0 on Friday against out-of-state opponents. Included: Valor Christian beating Bonneville (Idaho) 51-12; Bayfield topping Kirtland Central (N.M.) 43-0; Rifle over Grand County (Utah) 47-12; and Sedgwick County routing Creek Valley (Neb.) 94-8.
Durango pulled off a big upset in 3A, knocking off No. 10 Lutheran 33-7.
In 6-man, No. 8 North Park upset No. 5 Peetz, 60-26. Helmuth Wenneker had two rushing touchdowns, while Garrin Cox rushed for 170 yards and a score.
Tanner Patterson had six total touchdowns as 6-man No. 10 Otis beat Weldon Valley 50-7 — three passing and three rushing.
Brush head coach Reid Kahl chats with his assistants during football practice. (Photo courtesy of Scott Hodgson/Brush High School)
[dropcap]R[/dropcap]eid Kahl is no stranger to defending state championships. Kahl was able to secure Class 4A titles in 2006 and 2008 while he was the head coach at Wheat Ridge.
Now he has the task of defending a 2A championship. Only, unlike those at Wheat Ridge, this is not a state championship that he won. This offseason, Kahl was hired by Brush to take over for Randy Dreitz. Dreitz left the team in March after leading the Beetdiggers to the 2A state championship.
“After the season was over last year, everybody pretty much knew that Randy was going to retire,” Kahl said. “I didn’t think much about it until later in the spring when the job opened up. I had a lot of people from the community reach out to me and show a lot of interest in me doing it.”
The start of Brush’s title defense is a more interesting story for Kahl himself rather than the team. The Beetdiggers kick their season off by traveling to Fort Morgan on Sept. 4. Kahl was a standout football player for the Mustangs, who happen to be the Beetdiggers’ rivals.
“I’m going to be completely honest with you, and I’m not just saying this, it’s been a much bigger deal for everyone else than it has been for me,” Kahl said. “It’s been since 2001, which was my last season in Fort Morgan.”
Karl left the Farmers after the 2013 season and took last year off before taking the job at Brush. It was a summer of turnover at the school as a new principal and athletic director were named at the same meeting.
To echo the sentiment of Kahl, it was really the community support that brought his name into the coaching search since there wasn’t an athletic director to include him in it.
“None of us that hired Reid were here,” said athletic director Scott Hodgson, who is also in his first year at the school after coming over from Holly. “Once we found out that was the choice, we were really happy. He’s had great success everywhere he’s been.”
Karl comes in this season with the task of defending a state championship that he was not a part of. The Beetdiggers also lost a big senior class, including 2A player of the year Kyle Rosenbrock.
Fair or not, this young Brush team comes into the season, not only with a new coach, but also with a target on its back.
“It’s a different situation and it’s not an easy situation,” Kahl said. “They graduated a ton of seniors last year and I have a really inexperienced team. We all know that there’s a big target on our back and I talked to the kids about it when I first met with them.”
But that won’t matter to the teams on the opposite sideline. They’ll only see “Brush” on the jerseys and they’ll know that was the last team to walk away as state champions.
Karl knows the expectations are high and that he is walking into a program that will expect him to win. His track record at Wheat Ridge indicates that he can find success. His plan is to just run the systems that he’s comfortable running and hope that it translates into wins for the Beetdiggers.
“I’ve installed a lot of the same offense that I run wherever I’m (coaching),” Kahl said. “We spent a lot time on it over the summer and the kids have done a nice job picking it up.”
He gets his chance to see just how well they’ve picked it up when Brush travels to Fort Morgan on Sept. 4. Kahl has plenty of good memories from when he was with the Mustangs but knows once the ball kicked-off, it’s time to focus on his job as the coach of the Beetdiggers.
“After 26 years of coaching, it’s not like I was there yesterday,” Kahl said. “I think it seems to be a big to people on the outside and not so much for me.”
2A: Cole Bryant (Sr.) La Junta, Connor Dooley (Sr.) Kent Denver, Anthony Ibarra (Sr.) Platte Valley, Parker Joens (Sr.) Platte Valley, Brett Loyd, (Sr.) Moffat County, Mitchell Martin, (Sr.) Strasburg, Will McKissick (Sr.) Kent Denver, Ty Percival (Sr.) Gunnison, Victor Perez (Sr.) Montezuma-Cortez, Zane Phelps (Sr.) Bayfield, Carl Schmidt (Sr.) Kent Denver, Clay Shaver (Sr.) Brush, Joao Thives (Sr.) Denver North, Brady Wilson (Sr.) Gunnison, Luke Wilson (Sr.) Kent Denver, Zeke Zuelke (Sr.) Bennett
1A: Beau Beckman (Sr.) Wray, Hank Bode (Sr.) Platte Canyon, Bryce Buhr (Sr.) Crowley County, Devin Christian (Sr.) Limon, Luke Cross (Sr.) Resurrection Christian, Sabyn Diamond (Sr.) Buena Vista, Austin Dinis (Sr.) Wiggins, Cooper Eggleston (Sr.) Buena Vista, Jayden Hilferty (Sr.) Limon, TJ Shelton (Sr.) Meeker, Taylor Walters (Sr.) Paonia, Cooper Ward (Sr.) Resurrection Christian, Trey Zupancic (Sr.) Rye
8-man: Alex Davis (Sr.) Vail Christian, Spencer Gatlin (Sr.) Dove Creek, Jason George (Sr.) Simla, Rafe Hutches (Sr.) Springfield, Tre Jensen (Sr.) Granada, Anthony Payne (Jr.) Hoehne, Mitch Sides (Sr.) Dayspring Schristian Academy, Bruce Taylor (Sr.) Caliche, Matt Thieman (Sr.) Simla, Joey Younkerman (Sr.) Sargent
6-man: Jaxon Crawford (Jr.) Kit Carson, Dylan Dixon (Sr.) Eads, Luke Duggan (Sr.) Pawnee, Caine Farmer (Sr.) Kit Carson, Chase Flynn (Jr.) Stratton/Liberty, Tristan Headrick (Sr.) Cheraw, Ben Lambrecht (Sr.) Fleming, Reagan Lane (Sr.) Eads, Trent Leoffler (Sr.) Arickaree/Woodlin, Jordan Nelson (Sr.) Peetz, Tanner Patterson (Jr.) Otis, Marco Solis (Sr.) Kit Carson, Joesph Stahley (Sr.) Fleming, Alex Vandenbark (Jr.) Fleming, Cody Wilson (Jr.) Peetz
Regular season begins: Sept. 3
Postseason begins: Nov. 7
State championship: Nov. 21 (6-man), Nov. 28 (8-man, 1A and 2A)
Dylan McCaffrey (12) and Valor Christian open 2015 as the No. 1 team in Class 5A. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Defending champions rule the preseason football rankings, save for two classifications.
Pine Creek (Class 4A), Pueblo East (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A) and Caliche (8-man) all won championships last season — and each one sat atop their respective classfication when the preseason CHSAANow.com Football Polls were released on Monday.
Only Valor Christian (5A) and Fleming (6-man) are preseason No. 1 teams without being a defending champion. Valor was the runner-up in 5A last season, while Fleming was a semifinalists in 6-man.
The 5A voters were pretty determined that the top three teams this season would be Valor, Cherry Creek and Pomona. Each team received at least one first-place vote, and the trio separated themselves from the rest of the field by more than 50 points each.
Valor got nine of the 15 first-place votes and totaled 140 points. Cherry Creek, last season’s 5A champion, is No. 2 with four first-place votes and 134 total points. Pomona got one first-place vote and is No. 3 at 123 total points.
At No. 4 is Regis Jesuit and new coach Dan Filleman. Perennial contender Columbine rounds out the top five.
Fairview, led by senior star Carlo Kemp, checks in at No. 6; returning semifinalist Grandview is No. 7; and Fountain-Fort Carson is No. 8.
Ralston Valley, another semifinalist, opens at No. 9, and Doherty rounds out the ranking at No. 10.
Longmont, the 4A runner-up, is No. 2; Dakota Ridge is third; and Falcon (No. 4) and Denver South (No. 5) round out the top five.
Pueblo East is No. 1 in 3A’s preseason poll. (Mark Adams)
In 3A, defending champion Pueblo East returns a stacked roster, but will have a new coach in interim head Lee Meisner. Even still, the Eagles got 13 of the 14 first-place votes in 3A, and lead the ranking.
Fort Morgan got the other first-place vote and is No. 2 to begin the year. Evergreen is third, Holy Family is fourth and Palisade is No. 5.
Brush, another team looking to defend its title, led the 2A poll with seven of the 10 first-place votes. The Beetdiggers, too, have a new coach: Reid Kahl. Kent Denver, last year’s runner-up, opens at No. 2.
In the 1A ranking, Paonia, the defending champion, received eight of the 12 first-place votes. Buena Vista is No. 2.
The 8-man poll was interesting. Defending champion Caliche leads the way at No. 1 in the preseason, but four different teams received first-place votes — including Dayspring Christian at No. 3, which got three top votes. Caliche and No. 2 Norwood each got two first-place votes, and Granada got one.
Fleming got four first-place votes to lead the 6-man ranking, while No. 2 Eads and No. 3 Arickaree/Woodlin each received one. Arickaree/Woodlin won last season’s title.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday.
Greeley West 19, Montrose 15, Ponderosa 5, Pueblo West 4, Rampart 4, Wheat Ridge 4, Standley Lake 3.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Pueblo East (13)
0-0
130
2
Fort Morgan (1)
0-0
94
3
Evergreen
0-0
74
4
Holy Family
0-0
73
5
Palisade
0-0
65
6
Roosevelt
0-0
61
7
Discovery Canyon
0-0
47
8
Rifle
0-0
43
9
Delta
0-0
39
10
Lutheran
0-0
26
Others receiving votes:
Berthoud 20, Canon City 18, D’Evelyn 18, The Classical Academy 15, Conifer 9, Pueblo Central 8, Pueblo County 8, Erie 7, Lewis-Palmer 6, Glenwood Springs 5, Niwot 2, Mead 1, Thomas Jefferson 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Brush (7)
0-0
92
2
Kent Denver (2)
0-0
89
3
Strasburg
0-0
63
4
Faith Christian
0-0
59
5
Platte Valley
0-0
54
6
Eaton
0-0
44
7
Gunnison
0-0
42
8
Bayfield (1)
0-0
32
9
Florence
0-0
27
10
Lamar
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
La Junta 13, Bennett 4, Moffat County 4, Trinidad 4, Sterling 2, Valley 2, Alamosa 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Paonia (8)
0-0
125
2
Buena Vista (4)
0-0
120
3
Meeker
0-0
81
4
Resurrection Christian (1)
0-0
78
5
Platte Canyon
0-0
60
6
Rye
0-0
56
7
Monte Vista
0-0
36
8
Cedaredge
0-0
30
9
Wiggins
0-0
29
10
Burlington
0-0
28
Others receiving votes:
Crowley County 17, Limon 17, Colorado Springs Christian 11, Centauri 9, Ellicott 6, Center 4, Hotchkiss 4, Wray 4, Denver Christian 1.
8-man
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Caliche (2)
0-0
60
2
Norwood (2)
0-0
59
3
Dayspring Christian (3)
0-0
54
4
Granada (1)
0-0
52
5
Hoehne
0-0
50
6
Akron
0-0
38
7
Sedgwick County
0-0
35
8
Springfield
0-0
23
9
Simla
0-0
15
10
Sargent
0-0
13
Others receiving votes:
Vail Christian 10, Sangre de Cristo 8, Wiley 7, Merino 6, Haxtun 4, Holly 4, Fowler 2.
Resurrection Christian volleyball is the No. 1 team in the preseason 2A volleyball poll. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
Last fall, for the first time in state history, every single volleyball champion successfully defended its title. Three of them are favored to win a third consecutive championship heading into the 2015 season.
Defending champions Lewis-Palmer (Class 4A), Eaton (3A) and Resurrection Christian (2A) are among top-ranked teams in the CHSAANow.com Volleyball Polls, which were released Monday. Also heading their respective classifications are Cherokee Trail (5A) and Idalia (1A).
The last team to win more than two straight titles was Cheyenne Mountain, which won five from 2008-12.
Lewis-Palmer is actually coming off a mythical national championship in addition to its two 4A titles. The Rangers got eight of the 11 first-place votes in 4A’s preseason poll. Ponderosa, the team they beat for the 2014 title, is No. 2.
Eaton, the defending 3A champion, holds the top spot in that poll after getting eight of the 10 first-place votes in that class. Colorado Springs Christian opens at No. 2.
In 2A, Resurrection Christian — yes, another defending champion — got six of the seven first-place votes to top the preseason poll. The Cougars have actually won 58-straight matches, which ranks fifth-best all-time. Yuma is No. 2.
Cherokee Trail opens as the favorite in 5A. The Cougars got six of the 11 first-place votes. Grandview, last season’s champion, is No. 2 and got one first-place vote.
Cherry Creek is No. 3, and Regis Jesuit is No. 4. Chatfield, the 2014 runner-up, is No. 5. The Charges received two first-place votes.
Two teams — Fossil Ridge and Brighton — received first-place votes, but did not make the 5A ranking.
The 1A poll is led by Idalia, which got all six first-place votes. Flagler is No. 2.
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.
Fossil Ridge 18, Arapahoe 14, Brighton 10, Denver East 9, Pine Creek 9, Fort Collins 8, Ralston Valley 8, Rampart 7, Columbine 6, Loveland 6, Rocky Mountain 6, Lakewood 5, Rock Canyon 3, Rangeview 2, Douglas County 1.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Lewis-Palmer (8)
0-0
106
2
Ponderosa (1)
0-0
89
3
Cheyenne Mountain (2)
0-0
76
4
Pueblo West
0-0
50
5
Valor Christian
0-0
48
6
Mullen
0-0
30
7
Montrose
0-0
28
8
Battle Mountain
0-0
26
9
Air Academy
0-0
19
10
Niwot
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
Thomas Jefferson 13, Holy Family 12, Longmont 12, Roosevelt 12, Thompson Valley 12, Berthoud 11, The Classical Academy 9, Mead 8, Windsor 8, Woodland Park 5, Eagle Valley 3, Mesa Ridge 3, Canon City 2, Silver Creek 2, Durango 1, Green Mountain 1, Sierra 1, Steamboat Springs 1.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Eaton (8)
0-0
98
2
Colorado Springs Christian (1)
0-0
70
3
Manitou Springs (1)
0-0
67
4
Valley
0-0
66
5
University
0-0
59
6
Platte Valley
0-0
56
7
Bayfield
0-0
32
8
Lutheran
0-0
25
9
Sterling
0-0
23
10
Pagosa Springs
0-0
19
Others receiving votes:
Faith Christian 14, Coal Ridge 10, Middle Park 3, St. Mary’s 3, Buena Vista 2, Eagle Ridge 1, Olathe 1, Peak to Peak 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Resurrection Christian (6)
0-0
62
2
Yuma
0-0
55
3
Caliche
0-0
42
4
Akron
0-0
39
5
Paonia
0-0
37
6
Lyons (1)
0-0
30
7
Dayspring Christian
0-0
22
8
Colorado Springs School
0-0
19
9
Ridgway
0-0
18
10
Sargent
0-0
14
Others receiving votes:
Rye 12, Swink 11, Simla 8, Byers 7, Vail Christian 5, Cedaredge 2, Ignacio 1, South Park 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Idalia (6)
0-0
60
2
Flagler
0-0
49
3
Otis
0-0
43
4
Weldon Valley
0-0
35
5
Prairie
0-0
30
6
Genoa-Hugo/Karval
0-0
21
7
Kit Carson
0-0
19
8
Nucla
0-0
16
9
Fleming
0-0
13
10
Community Christian
0-0
10
Others receiving votes:
La Veta 8, Cheraw 6, North Park 6, McClave 5, Springfield 4, Eads 3, Hi-Plains 2.
The 2015 baseball players of the year. From left: Jordan Ernst, Dove Creek (1A); Trent Hughes, Rye (2A); Ryan Madden, Fairview (5A); Cole Shetterly, Green Mountain (4A); Lane Greiman, Eaton (3A). (Photos: Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com; Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com; Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com; Pam Wagner/CHSAANow.com)
The 2015 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches. Players had to be first-team all-league in order to be on the all-state ballot.
Players and coaches of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
The 2015 all-state boys track and field teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created based upon results at the state meet.
Athletes of the year were selected based upon the number of team points they produced at the state meet. This means that they received the full amount of team points from individual events they participated in, as well as one-fourth of the total points earned by the team in relays they participated in.
Finally, in order to be considered for athlete of the year, they must first have made the all-state team by winning in a championship.
Scroll down to see the teams, or use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
