Quarterback Cody Summers and Grandview are now the top-ranked team in Class 5A football. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Grandview, now 8-0, is the new No. 1 team in CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A football rankings this week.
The Wolves took over the top spot previously occupied by Valor Christian, which lost an in-state game for the first time in 28 outings on Friday when then-No. 9 Cherry Creek upset the Eagles 33-17.
Led by senior Andrew Wingard, Ralston Valley is No. 2 in the 5A poll. More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Ralston Valley also had a good claim to the top ranking. The Mustangs are 8-0, too, and won a monster game over then-No. 3 Pomona on Friday. They settled into the No. 2 spot this week, just 10 overall points behind Grandview.
Grandview received 10 first-place votes; Ralston Valley got five.
Meanwhile, Fairview moved up two places to No. 3 after escaping an upset bid from Fossil Ridge.
Pomona dropped one spot to fourth, Cherry Creek rocketed up from No. 9 to No. 5, and Valor fell all the way to sixth. Regis Jesuit is seventh, dropping one place despite a good win over then-No. 7 Mountain Vista.
Rocky Mountain remained at No. 8, Mountain Vista fell to No. 9 and Doherty rejoined the 5A poll at No. 10.
Speaking to the uncertainty in the 5A ranking at the moment, spots Nos. 4-7 are separated by a mere five points. Things could get much more clouded â Valor Christian and Grandview play in their regular season finale on Friday.
In the other six classificatoins, none of the top-ranked teams were displaced. It means Pine Creek (4A), Discovery Canyon (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A), Dayspring Christian (8-man) and Arickaree/Woodlin (6-man) stayed on top.
There were no newcomers in the 4A ranking this week, though 3A added Palisade (No. 10), and St. Mary’s (No. 9). Eaton (No. 10) joined the 2A poll. 1A added Crowley County (No. 10), and North Park joined 6-man’s ranking at No. 9.
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.
Fountain-Fort Carson is ranked No. 10 in 5A this week. (Dennis Pleuss)
Buoyed by its four-overtime win against Doherty on Friday night, Fountain-Fort Carson cracked CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A football rankings on Monday.
The Trojans, now 6-1, entered the poll at No. 10. They have won their last five games.
Elsewhere in 5A, Valor Christian stayed atop the ranking after receiving ten of the 16 first-place votes. Grandview, which got four first-place votes after its big win against Cherry Creek, returned to the No. 2 spot this week.
Pomona is third, and Ralston Valley is fourth. Those two cross-town rivals play one another on Friday night.
Fairview rounds out 5A’s top five, Regis Jesuit is sixth, Mountain Vista moved up to No. 7 and Rock Mountain is No. 8. Cherry Creek fell three places to No. 9.
The other No. 1 teams also remained put, including Pine Creek (4A), Discovery Canyon (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A), Dayspring Christian (8-man) and Arickaree/Woodlin (6-man).
Newcomers (or returners to the rankings) this week include Dakota Ridge (No. 9 in 4A); Berthoud (No. 9, 3A); Fort Morgan (No. 10, 3A); Sterling (No. 9, 2A); and Cheyenne Wells (No. 10, 6-man).
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.
Mountain Vista is ranked No. 10 in this week’s 5A poll. (Paul DiSalvo/MaxPreps)
Mountain Vista, off to its best start in seven seasons, has joined CHSAANow.com’s Class 5A football rankings this week.
The Golden Eagles are now 6-0 following a 34-7 win over Rock Canyon on Friday. The six wins are the most since Mountain Vista went 7-4 in 2009, and the unbeaten start is the best since the Golden Eagles began 7-0 in 2007. Mountain Vista also started 6-0 in 2006, when it went 10-2.
Mountain Vista is ranked No. 10 in this week’s 5A poll.
Valor Christian continued to lead the 5A ranking after beating Eaglecrest last week, as the Eagles got 12 of the 17 first-place votes and amassed 165 total points. Pomona remained in the No. 2 spot following its fifth-straight win, while Grandview jumped Ralston Valley for No. 3.
Broomfield is ranked No. 10 in this week’s 4A poll. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Cherry Creek reamined in the No. 6 spot, and Regis Jesuit stayed at No. 7. Doherty bumped up two places to No. 8, while Rocky Mountain is again No. 9 this week.
The six other No. 1 teams in the rankings also stayed put: Pine Creek (4A), Discovery Canyon (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A), Dayspring Christian (8-man) and Arickaree/Woodlin (6-man).
Broomfield joined the 4A poll at No. 10, while 3A added Glenwood Springs, also at No. 10.
New to the 2A ranking is Montezuma-Cortez (No. 10), and 6-man added Mountain Valley (No. 10).
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.
Valor escaped with a 23-21 win thanks to a game-sealing interception from Brian Dawkins Jr. in the final minute.
It was the second-straight league game in which Valor (5-1) got all it could handle. Last week, Centennial foe Overland hung until midway through the fourth quarter before the Eagles’ ran off 21-unanswered points to win 35-10.
Valor Christian’s Dylan McCaffrey, pictured earlier this season. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
This week, Eaglecrest led 14-7 after the first quarter as Elijah Ross found Peter Anderson twice on long touchdown passes. Valor then scored 16 straight points to take a 23-14 halftime lead.
But Eaglecrest (3-3) wouldn’t go away. The Raptors’ Glenn Washington scored on a 25-yard run with 7:52 to play in the third quarter to make it 23-21.
After that, each team’s offense stalled as turnovers and penalties ruled the night.
Eaglecrest did get the ball back with just over two minutes to play in the game, but was backed up as Valor downed a punt at the 4-yard-line.
The Raptors weren’t able to move the ball, but the Eagles were flagged for roughing the passer on fourth down, giving Eaglecrest a first down at their own 16. Two plays later, Dawkins picked off the pass to seal the win.
Dylan McCaffrey finished with 184 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and Eric Lee Jr. had 106 yards rushing — including an 84-yard score. Jarred Kendziorski made a 28-yard field goal which proved to be the difference.
Valor Christian’s in-state winning streak now stands at 27 games. The Eagles play Cherokee Trail next week.
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1A: (1) Paonia 22, (3) Meeker 16
Paonia trailed 16-14 with less than two minutes to play, but was able to drive down and get what was ultimately the winning score when Taylor Walters found tight end Joel Simianer for a 4-yard touchdown with 34 seconds to play.
“It was just kids making plays, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top,” Paonia coach Brent McCrae told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show. “We actually had a big fourth-down conversion (on the final drive), where we just trusted our O-line; they pushed the pile. And then we had a pretty big pass play … on a third-down and long. Two biggies there.”
Meeker did drive down and had the ball in the red zone, but Paonia held on for the win.
“We were fortunate enough to have a linebacker to make the tackle just as time expired,” McCrae said. “I think they were on the (5-yard-line) at that point.”
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2A: (1) Brush 32, (4) Platte Valley 28
Brush got its first real big test of the year, and passed.
“It was a heck of a battle,” Brush coach Randy Dreitz told the Scoreboard Show. “They’re a very good football team.”
The Beetdiggers had a great third quarter, where they expanded a 13-7 halftime lead to 28-14, and then Michael Gutierrez’s 20-yard rushing score with eight minutes to play made it 34-21.
Platte Valley did cut things to a six-point game with two minutes remaining, but Brush held on and defended its No. 1-ranking.
“The difference was that we held them more than they held us. If you get one play here or there where you can hold them and take it down and score, I think that was the key,” Dreitz said. “Our kids played really well tonight, but their kids played hard. It was a definite battle.”
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1A: Wray 14, (5) Burlington 12
The Eagles pulled off the upset.
“We’ve play each other so many times over the years. We know what we’re doing against each other,” Wray coach Levi Kramer told the Scoreboard Show. “It really comes down to who’s going to make the plays at the end of the games, and turnovers. We had one tonight, and they had a couple. It comes down to that.”
Wray started 1-3 but is now 3-3 after two straight wins.
“(The kids) could have very easily just said, ‘This is the year we’re going to be down,’ or whatever, but they refused to do that,” Kramer said.
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2A: (9) Gunnison 39, (10) Bayfield 14
The Cowboys led 24-0 at halftime, and 31-6 midway through the fourth quarter. They cruised from there.
“Offensively, we just got off the bus tonight … and our boys were just ready to play,” Gunnison coach Bob Howard told the Scoreboard Show. “We had a pretty good mix tonight of run and pass.”
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8-man: (1) Dayspring Christian 32, (2) Akron 20
For the second week in a row, Dayspring came out on top of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.
The Eagles were up 20-6 at halftime, but Akron battled back to tie the game at 20 after three quarters. Dayspring then rattled off the game’s final 12 points to stay unbeaten.
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4A: (8) Greeley West 14, (4) Windsor 0
The Spartans are now 6-0, and have a feather in their cap after this win. They led 14-0 early in the second, and the score held up.
Running back Alex DeLaCroix had both of Greeley West’s touchdowns, the first on a 14-yard run, the second on a 7-yard catch.
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Notables
D’Evelyn quarterback Owen Burke had another record performance on Friday night. He threw for 530 yards and four touchdowns as D’Evelyn lost to No. 10 Conifer, 38-35, in 3A. Burke threw for 535 last week. The 535 yards were No. 5 all time last week, while the 530 are No. 6 this week. In his last two games, Baker has thrown for 1,065 yards and nine touchdowns. He has 1,762 yards this season.
Antonito beat Cotopaxi 83-56. The 139 combined points are now the ninth-most in state history.
Luke Nethercot threw for six touchdowns in Canon City’s 45-27 win over Lewis-Palmer on Friday. Technically, that’s tied for eighth-best all-time, though 28 others have done it, as well. He’s a sophomore.
TeQuan Baker rushed for 344 yards and three touchdowns in 5A No. 10 Doherty’s 34-14 win over Legend. He now has 1,328 yards this season, which is second in the state. Baker’s gone over 100 yards in all six games, and over 200 yards in five of six. His 18 touchdowns lead the state.
No. 4 Holy Family handled No. 8 Berthoud 43-7 in a battle of ranked 3A teams. Holy Family actually trailed 7-6 after the first quarter. “I think the hype of the game got to our kids a little bit,” coach Mike Gabriel told the Scoreboard Show. “But then we kind of settled in and pulled away.” Ultimately, the Tigers scored the game’s final 43 points.
Is this the biggest turnaround in 2014? Mountain Valley is now 6-0 in 6-man football. The Indians were 1-7 last year, and didn’t field a team in 2012 because of low numbers. Wow.
Mountain Vista is 6-0 in 5A following a 34-7 win over Rock Canyon on Friday night. The Golden Eagles — who had a pink-out on Friday — should be sniffing the top-10 come Monday.
Discovery Canyon has taken over the top spot in the 3A football rankings. (Pam Wagner)
Discovery Canyon has perhaps the best combinations of wins to date in Class 3A football this season. As a result, the Thunder now own the No. 1 spot in CHSAANow.com’s ranking.
Voting in 3A remained split again this week, continuing a season-long trend, but the Thunder received seven of the 13 first-place votes, and had 122 total points. Lutheran, No. 1 since the preseason, dropped to No. 2 with six first-place votes and 114 points.
Elsewhere in the classificatoin, Rifle moved up to No. 3, while Holy Family is now No. 4. The 3A poll added Conifer (No. 10) this week.
Ralston Valley moved up to No. 3 in the 5A poll this week. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Cherry Creek is up to No. 6 after shutting out then-No. 9 Cherokee Trail. Regis Jesuit is No. 7, Overland No. 8 and Rocky Mountain is No. 9. Doherty rejoins the poll this week at No. 10.
In 4A, Pine Creek extended its stay at No. 1. The Eagles beat then-No. 5 Vista Ridge last week. That ranking didn’t add any teams this week, though Fort Collins moved up to No. 2 from No. 4.
Brush (2A), Paonia (1A), Dayspring Christian (8-man) and Arickaree/Woodlin (6-man) each stayed atop their respective polls this week.
Newcomers included Gunnision (No. 9) and Bayfield (No. 10) in 2A; Rye (No. 10) in 1A; Sangre de Cristo (No. 10) in 8-man; and Pawnee (No. 7) in 6-man.
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.
