Regis Jesuit moved up one place to No. 4 this week. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Grandview, Monarch and Cherry Creek all joined this week’s CHSAANow.com boys basketball rankings in 5A.
Combined, the three teams went 9-0 last week. Grandview, which went 4-0 at the Mission Prep Christmas Classic in California last week, joined at No. 8. Monarch is No. 9 and Cherry Creek is No. 10.
There was nearly a massive shakeup of the 5A poll this week. Fossil Ridge — which already owns impressive wins over Eaglecrest, Grandview, ThunderRidge, Highlands Ranch and Thompson Valley — received eight first-place votes, and was close to overtaking No. 1 Denver East for the top spot. But the Angels got 11 first-place votes in staying atop the ranking.
So Fossil Ridge remained at No. 2 spot. Overland stayed at No. 3, while No. 4 Regis Jesuit and No. 5 Mountain Vista switched places.
Eaglecrest is sixth and Arapahoe moved up to ninth this week.
The biggest mover in the 4A ranking was Air Academy, which went from No. 10 last week to No. 6 this week. Valor Christian stayed atop that poll, and continued to be followed by No. 2 Thompson Valley and No. 3 Thomas Jefferson. No. 4 Pueblo East and No. 5 Sand Creek each moved up one spot.
3A’s Holy Family, 2A’s Sanford and 1A’s Caliche all remained atop their respective rankings this week. That means the No. 1 teams in each classification have not changed since the preseason.
These polls will serve as the rankings over the winter break, and through the first part of January. The next poll will not come out until Jan. 13.
Thomas Jefferson remained in the No. 3 spot in the 4A poll. (Pam Wagner)
Unbeatens Arapahoe and Grand Junction have joined this week’s CHSAANow.com boys basketball rankings in 5A.
The Warriors (3-0) are No. 9, while Grand Junction (5-0) is No. 10. Highlands Ranch, last week’s No. 5, and Chaparral, last week’s No. 10, both dropped out this week.
Elsewhere, Denver East maintained its grip on the top spot, and Fossil Ridge continued its climb up the poll. The SaberCats are No. 2 this week, moving up two spots from No. 4. Fossil Ridge went 3-0 last week, including a 66-48 win over Highlands Ranch.
Overland fell one spot to No. 3, and is followed by No. 4 Mountain Vista and No. 5 Regis Jesuit. Mountain Vista moved up from eighth; Regis up from No 6.
Eaglecrest is sixth in this week’s 5A poll, Legend is seventh and Rangeview fell five spots to eighth.
In addition to Denver East, the other four No. 1 teams remained the same this week: Valor Christian (4A), Holy Family (3A), Sanford (2A) and Caliche (1A).
The 4A poll added Air Academy at No. 10 this week. That ranking also saw Thompson Valley jump from fifth to second following wins over three 5A teams. Thomas Jefferson is third.
Falcon 35, Greeley Central 11, Lewis-Palmer 8, Mountain View 7, Frederick 6, Mesa Ridge 2, Palmer Ridge 2, Glenwood Springs 1, Ponderosa 1, Pueblo South 1.
Dropped out
Denver South (8).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (8)
5-0
98
1
2-0
2
Colorado Academy (1)
4-0
81
3
2-0
3
Brush (1)
2-0
77
2
1-0
4
Jefferson Academy
4-0
69
9
4-0
5
Bishop Machebeuf
4-0
67
6
3-0
6
Faith Christian
4-3
36
4
3-1
7
Moffat County
3-1
29
7
3-1
8
The Pinnacle
3-1
22
–
1-0
9
Kent Denver
3-1
20
10
2-0
10
Colorado Springs Christian
1-2
19
5
1-2
Others receiving votes:
Denver Science & Tech 10, St. Mary’s 6, Valley 6, Aspen 4, Monte Vista 4, Cedaredge 2, Sterling 1.
Dropped out
Aspen (8).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Sanford (12)
4-0
155
1
4-0
2
Yuma (3)
3-0
125
2
2-0
3
Akron
2-0
110
4
1-0
4
Lutheran
2-1
106
3
1-0
5
Ignacio (1)
5-0
101
5
2-0
6
Resurrection Christian
4-2
75
6
3-0
7
Limon
3-1
39
9
2-0
8
Simla
3-1
31
10
2-0
9
Rye
4-1
30
–
1-1
10
Denver Christian
1-3
24
7
1-1
Others receiving votes:
Swink 23, Peyton 22, Haxtun 13, Alexander Dawson 11, Sedgwick County 6, Crowley County 3, Front Range Christian 3, Custer County 1, Paonia 1, Rangely 1, Sierra Grande 1.
Lakewood is No. 7 in this week’s 5A poll. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Lakewood, coming off a 4-0 week, has jumped into the 5A CHSAANow.com girls basketball ranking.
The Tigers (6-0) are No. 7 this week, and are joined by fellow newcomer Cherry Creek (3-1), which is No. 9 this week.
Regis Jesuit remained as the unanimous No. 1 pick in 5A. In fact, the Nos. 1-4 teams stayed the same this week. The Raiders continued to be followed by No. 2 Highlands Ranch, No. 3 ThunderRidge and No. 4 Grandview.
Fossil Ridge jumped up from ninth to fifth, and Rock Canyon from eighth to sixth. Castle View is eighth, and Monarch is tenth.
Broomfield (4A), Holy Family (3A), Yuma (2A) and Caliche (1A) all remained atop their respective rankings this week.
Fossil Ridge, meanwhile, went from sixth to fourth after going 3-0 last week. The standout win was a 58-51 win over then-No. 3 Eaglecrest.
The 5A ranking continued to be led by Denver East, which has also started 3-0 at the Great Western Shootout in Utah. Overland remained in the No. 2 spot despite going 1-2 at the same tournament.
Highlands Ranch rounds out the 5A top 5.
The other No. 1 teams also stayed the same this week: Valor Christian (4A), Holy Family (3A), Sanford (2A) and Caliche (1A).
Regis Jesuit continues to be atop the 5A girls basketball ranking. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Fossil Ridge and Ralston Valley have joined this week’s CHSAANow.com 5A girls basketball poll.
Fossil Ridge is off to a 4-0 start, including in-state wins over Chaparral and Fruita Monument, as well as a 2-0 showing in Wyoming. The SaberCats are No. 9 this week.
Ralston Valley is No. 10 in the poll. The Mustangs went 2-1 last week with a loss to Rock Canyon, but beat Cherry Creek and then-No. 3 Arapahoe. Arapahoe dropped out this week.
The No. 1 teams from last week all stayed put. So Regis Jesuit (5A), Broomfield (4A), Holy Family (3A), Yuma (2A) and Caliche (1A) all continue to lead their respective polls.
Horizon 28, Lakewood 18, Cherry Creek 15, Arapahoe 14, Rampart 9, Chaparral 6, Bear Creek 4, Pine Creek 4, Denver East 3, Grand Junction 1, Palmer 1.
Dropped out
Arapahoe (3), Cherry Creek (9).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Broomfield (10)
2-0
125
1
2-0
2
Pueblo South (3)
1-0
118
2
1-0
3
Mesa Ridge
2-0
106
4
2-0
4
Pueblo West
3-0
63
6
3-0
5
Palmer Ridge
3-0
50
8
3-0
6
Sand Creek
1-1
48
5
1-1
7
Valor Christian
3-0
45
–
3-0
8
D’Evelyn
2-2
44
3
2-2
9
Silver Creek
3-0
41
–
3-0
10
Elizabeth
1-0
36
–
1-0
Others receiving votes:
Montrose 21, Conifer 4, Longmont 4, Pueblo County 4, Delta 2, Canon City 1, Mullen 1, Thompson Valley 1, Windsor 1.
Dropped out
Montrose (7), Canon City (9), Air Academy (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (13)
2-0
130
1
2-0
2
Pagosa Springs
1-0
100
2
1-0
3
Centauri
3-0
86
5
3-0
4
Lamar
1-0
74
4
1-0
5
Eaton
3-0
64
7
3-0
6
St. Mary’s
0-0
56
6
0-0
7
Peak to Peak
1-0
35
9
1-0
8
Valley
0-0
34
8
0-0
9
Kent Denver
3-0
33
–
3-0
10
Sterling
2-1
24
10
2-1
Others receiving votes:
Bishop Machebeuf 23, Olathe 16, Faith Christian 7, Clear Creek 6, Grand Valley 5, Jefferson Academy 4, Manitou Springs 4, Estes Park 3, Coal Ridge 2, Denver Science & Tech 2, Platte Valley 2, Salida 2, Brush 1, Classical Academy 1, Trinidad 1.
Dropped out
Denver Science & Tech (3).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Yuma (7)
2-0
88
1
2-0
2
Akron (1)
1-0
76
2
1-0
3
Peyton
1-0
63
4
1-0
4
Lutheran (1)
1-0
57
3
1-0
5
Holyoke
1-0
45
6
1-0
6
Sangre de Cristo
3-0
37
5
3-0
7
Meeker
1-0
25
10
1-0
8
Paonia
1-1
20
7
1-1
9
Simla
1-0
18
–
1-0
10
Liberty Common
4-0
16
–
4-0
Others receiving votes:
The Vanguard 15, Wray 9, Highland 6, Hoehne 5, Del Norte 4, Limon 4, Rye 3, Heritage Christian 2, Kiowa 1, Springfield 1.
Dropped out
Rye (8), The Vanguard (9).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Caliche (5)
2-0
67
1
2-0
2
Eads
1-0
57
2
1-0
3
Norwood (2)
2-0
55
5
2-0
4
Idalia
2-0
43
4
2-0
5
Stratton
0-0
41
3
0-0
6
Kit Carson
0-0
34
6
0-0
7
Dove Creek
2-0
23
–
2-0
8
Hi-Plains
0-0
15
7
0-0
9
Belleview Christian
3-0
14
–
3-0
10
Holly
2-0
9
–
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Wiley 6, Briggsdale 5, Prairie 5, Walsh 4, McClave 3, Centennial 2, Jim Elliot Christian 1, South Baca 1.
Denver East begins the season ranked atop the 5A poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Denver East, Valor Christian, Holy Family, Sanford and Caliche are the preseason boys basketball favorites in their respective classifications.
Those teams were the No. 1 picks in the 5A through 1A CHSAANow.com rankings released Monday morning.
Denver East received 19 of 20 first-place votes in the 5A poll. The Angels return their top five scorers from last season’s runner-up squad, including University of Colorado commit Dominique Collier and his 20.1 points per game.
Overland is No. 2 in the 5A ranking, and is following by defending champion Eaglecrest at No. 3. Highlands Ranch is fourth, and Rangeview rounds out the top 5.
Fossil Ridge is sixth in the 5A poll, Regis Jesuit is seventh, Mountain Vista is eighth, Chaparral is ninth and Legend is tenth. Monarch narrowly missed the top-10.
A total of 23 teams appeared on preseason ballots in the 5A ranking.
Valor Christian is 4A’s preseason No. 1 team. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Another runner-up from a season ago, Valor Christian, heads the 4A preseason ranking. The Eagles return their top eight scorers from last season. That includes Chase Foster, who averaged 20.0 points per game last season.
Pueblo East is second in the 4A ranking, and is followed by No. 3 Cheyenne Mountain, No. 4 Denver South and No. 5 Thomas Jefferson. Two-time defending champion Lewis-Palmer is ranked 10th to begin the 2013-14 season.
Holy Family heads the 3A poll, though No. 2 Brush received an equal amount of first-place votes (five). The Tigers reached the Great 8 last season.
Defending 3A champion Pagosa Springs is unranked to begin the year.
In 2A, Sanford is the No. 1 pick. The Indians reached the Final 4 last season. Denver Christian, last season’s champion, is ranked third.
Caliche heads the preseason 1A poll. The Buffaloes were in last season’s semifinals. Defending champion McClave is ranked fifth.
Monarch 41, Chatfield 22, Fort Collins 19, Cherokee Trail 17, ThunderRidge 11, Montbello 10, Abraham Lincoln 9, Grandview 9, Fairview 7, Cherry Creek 6, Dakota Ridge 5, Grand Junction 5, Arapahoe 1.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Valor Christian (12)
0-0
151
2
Pueblo East
0-0
101
3
Cheyenne Mountain (2)
0-0
100
4
Denver South (1)
0-0
87
5
Thomas Jefferson
0-0
84
6
D’Evelyn
0-0
63
7
Longmont
0-0
59
8
Thompson Valley
0-0
58
9
Sand Creek (1)
0-0
48
10
Lewis-Palmer
0-0
32
Others receiving votes:
Broomfield 25, Falcon 13, Ponderosa 9, Windsor 9, Mesa Ridge 8, Elizabeth 6, Sierra 5, Durango 4, Frederick 4, Pueblo West 4, Greeley Central 3, Pueblo South 3, Green Mountain 1, Kennedy 1, Palisade 1, Widefield 1.
Peyton 18, Paonia 9, Crowley County 6, Rocky Ford 6, Meeker 5, Rye 5, Byers 4, Hayden 4, Sierra Grande 4, Haxtun 3, Heritage Christian 3, Sangre de Cristo 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Caliche (3)
0-0
48
2
Hi-Plains (1)
0-0
39
3
Norwood
0-0
34
4
Shining Mountain
0-0
30
5
McClave (2)
0-0
26
6
Holly
0-0
25
7
Fleming
0-0
23
8
Vail Christian
0-0
22
9
Otis
0-0
19
10
Granada
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
Prairie 8, Denver Jewish Day 6, Pawnee 6, Elbert 5, Primero 5, Jim Elliot Christian 4, La Veta 4, Bethune 3, Stratton 3, Deer Trail 2.
Fairview is the No. 1 seed in 5A. (Courtesy photo)
The groundwork, as is so often the case, was laid four years ago. Tom McCartney saw it in his freshmen then. Those freshmen are now seniors, and that group has Fairview seeded No. 1 overall in the Class 5A football playoffs.
“We knew that it was a special group,” McCartney, Fairview’s coach, said Sunday morning. “We also knew that for them to do the things and reach some of the goals they’ve set, you’ve got to have junior compliments. You want to know that your juniors are also part of that.
“We’ve been kind of waiting on this group of seniors for a while, and a lot of them have gotten a lot of playing time as sophomores and juniors,” he continued. “When you get in those kinds of battles against teams like Pomona and Ralston Valley, and Legacy and Arvada West and Boulder — and Grandview in the playoffs last year, and Regis the year before — all of those experiences help. So, yes, to be honest with you, we’ve seen this coming from this particular group. We knew this was a talented group.”
The Knights were the lone 5A team to finish the regular season unbeaten (9-0). They were ranked No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com football poll in recent weeks, but were No. 1 in Wild Card points during that stretch, and finished atop the final Wild Card standings released Sunday morning.
And so, when the 5A bracket was unveiled, it was Fairview in the No. 1 spot. (See the full bracket.)
“It feels awesome,” McCartney said. “It’s playoff football. We’re just going to prepare. We understand that if you win you move on, and if you don’t you’re done. We want to keep playing. The best way to keep playing is to be prepared and to improve.”
Fairview draws No. 32 Mountain Vista (3-6) in the first round. The two teams played in 2010 and 2011, both Mountain Vista wins.
“Our seniors, when they were freshmen, played them. And so we know a little bit about them,” McCartney said. “We’ve got a ton of respect for coach (Ric) Cash. His teams are always prepared. They’re always hard-nosed.”
Rounding out the top-5 seeds in 5A were No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Cherry Creek, No. 4 Regis Jesuit and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
The top 16 seeds host in the first round, meaning No. 6 Cherokee Trail, No. 7 Columbine, No. 8 Pomona, No. 9 Chatfield, No. 10 Grand Junction, No. 11 Mountain Range, No. 12 Doherty, No. 13 Prairie View, No. 14 Rangeview, No. 15 Ralston Valley and No. 16 Douglas County will get home games.
The 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man brackets were also released on Sunday.
Brush is 2A’s top seed. As the top-8 host in the first round, No. 2 Manitou Springs, No. 3 Platte Valley, No. 4 Faith Christian, No. 5 Gunnison, No. 6 Bennett, No. 7 Kent Denver and No. 8 Florence will all get home games.
Also qualifying in 2A were No. 9 Strasburg, No. 10 Lamar, No. 11 Olathe, No. 12 Fort Lupton, No. 13 Aspen, No. 14 Ridge View Academy, No. 15 Jefferson and No. 16 The Academy.
In 1A, Buena Vista got the top seed. No. 2 Limon, No. 3 Centauri, No. 4 Paonia, No. 5 Monte Vista, No. 6 Hotchkiss, No. 7 Yuma and No. 8 Platte Canyon will also host first-round games.
Additional 1A qualifiers were No. 9 Resurrection Christian, No. 10 Rye, No. 11 Burlington, No. 12 Cedaredge, No. 13 Colorado Springs Christian, No. 14 Wray, No. 15 Lyons and No. 16 Front Range Christian.
Hoehne is 8-man’s top seed. Also hosting in the first round will be No. 2 Dayspring Christian, No. 3 Norwood, No. 4 Simla, No. 5 Caliche, No. 6 Kiowa, No. 7 Sargent and No. 8 Dove Creek. Also qualifying were No. 9 Sanford, No. 10 Vail Christian, No. 11 Merino, No. 12 Walsh, No. 13 Akron, No. 14 West Grand, No. 15 Fowler and No. 16 Granada.
Liberty/Stratton grabbed 6-man’s top seed. Also qualifying were No. 2 Hi-Plains, No. 3 Eads, No. 4 Prairie, No. 5 Otis, No. 6 Peetz, No. 7 Hanover and No. 8 Flagler
Monarch made a statement to rest of 4A football on Friday night: Yep, they’re still a force in the classification.
The third-ranked Coyotes handled hard-charging and eighth-ranked Broomfield, 48-12, behind an onslaught of points in the first half.
“We feel pretty good about beating those guys,” Monarch coach Phil Bravo told ColoradoPreps.com’s Built Ford Tough Scoreboard Show. “They have such a good team and a good program with a rich tradition. When you get a chance to beat ’em, it feels real good.”
Senior running back Ethan Marks had well over 200 rushing yards, while quarterback Jay MacIntyre and Kidd Soole also got heavily involved in the offense.
“We were getting them from all different vantage points and executed real well offensively,” Bravo said.
Four weeks ago, Monarch also had a big halftime lead against Montrose, but surrendered 33 second-half points in a 39-34 loss.
This time around, at halftime, “I wrote on the board, ’33 second-half points.’ That’s what we gave up to Montrose,” Bravo said. “I said, ‘I don’t want that in the second half.’ Our kids played really, really well in the second half defensively. We got ’em three-and-out, we got the ball and went up and scored and then held ’em again. We got that clock running early in the fourth quarter, and it felt really good to play well in that second half with a big lead at halftime.”
Elsewhere, No. 5 Pueblo South beat Pueblo West 31-21.
“They’re a good football program and they’re well-coached,” Pueblo South coach Ryan Goddard told the Scoreboard Show. “They play a brand of football that’s physical and they like to get after you. Our kids, they wanted that challenge and they stepped up to it.
“They had an opportunity to get back to where we want to be — and that’s well known around Pueblo as far as the football program is concerned. Hopefully, now, we’ll get a little recognition around the state level, too.”
4A’s top-ranked team, Montrose, rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit to beat No. 6 Durango 14-10.
In 5A, No. 1 Valor Christian rolled Rock Canyon 56-6. Quarterback A.J. Cecil threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another. Five different Eagles scored on the ground, including Christian McCaffrey, who carried just three times for 76 yards. He was also on the receiving end of two of Cecil’s scoring passes.
Quarterback Anders Hill threw for five touchdowns — all in the first half — as No. 2 Fairview handled rival Boulder 69-3.
No. 4 Cherry Creek had to stave off a late rally from Eaglecrest to seal a 41-34 win.
In 3A, No. 8 Silver Creek took care of No. 5 Mead 45-13 in a highly-anticipated game. Mead had been unbeaten going into the contest, but Ben Sjobakken threw two touchdown passes to pace the Silver Creek offense.
Tenth-ranked Rifle beat No. 7 Delta, 52-27.
1A’s No. 2 team, Limon, finished the regular season a perfect 9-0 with a 42-13 win over Crowley County. Kerigan Kappel had more than 200 yards, and Gavin Liggett added 115.
“I was really pleased with the balance we had with different guys carrying the ball,” Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer told the Scoreboard Show.
Winners in 8-man’s crossover games included No. 4 Simla, No. 5 Caliche and No. 8 Sargent.
Peetz upset No. 2 Arickaree in a 6-man crossover, while No. 5 Otis beat Briggsdale.
Playoffs begin next week for 5A, 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man teams. Brackets come out Sunday.
