MONUMENT — Jackson Neal scored three minutes into the game to give Lewis-Palmer a lead and the Rangers never looked back, beating Mitchell 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The 2015-16 all-state boys basketball players of the year. (Photos: Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com; Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com; Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The 2015-16 all-state boys basketball teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a week-long vote of coaches.
A specific player of the year vote was held in each class, as was a vote for coach of the year.
[divider]
Class 5A
Overland’s De’Ron Davis is the 5A boys basketball player of the year. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
DENVER — Intensity along with aggression were the determining factors in game one of a double-header hosted at Denver South High School Friday night, as the Class 4A boys state basketball playoffs began.
No. 3 seeded Vista PEAK Prep (18-5 overall) took on No. 6 Thompson Valley Friday night and the Bison came out with the intent to send a message to the rest of this year’s tournament competitors as they cruised to a 62-45 win over the Eagles (16-7).
From the game’s opening tip, Vista PEAK looked to be on a mission to dominate in the gritty areas of the game as defensively, their pressure on the wings caused an abundance of Eagle turnovers. On the other end of the floor, the Bison man-handled Thompson Valley on the glass as second and third chances were a frequent occurrence.
“The start of the game kind of set the pace for the whole game. We had some good opportunities in the beginning and I just think we didn’t take advantage of them,” Thompson Valley coach Josh Robinson said. “That’s just how the whole game went, we’d make a little run then stub our toe and turn it over and then they’d make a run. We were just never able to find a rhythm offensively.”
The second quarter is when the Bison started to assert absolute control of the game as their press suffocated the Thompson Valley guards each possession down. Countless number of passes we either deflected or errantly thrown out of bounds as they aggression nullified any impact from the Eagles’ backcourt.
“We knew that if we put pressure on their guards, they weren’t going to handle the ball,” sophomore Te’Rae Johnson said. “When we watched film on them, they didn’t handle pressure well so our coach told us to pressure them and that’s what we did.”
For a brief moment to start the second half, it seemed as if Thompson Valley would mount a comeback of sorts as the Eagles nailed a three to ring in the third, followed by a few admirable defensive stands. But then the Bison’s star sophomore guard, Te’Rae Johnson took command of the contest offensively.
“I just let it come to me, I had a couple of bad shots I know that,” Johnson said. “I tried to get everyone involved today and tried to keep hitting Tre (junior Tre Early) every time I was attacking.
Johnson had his way practically every time he touched the ball, whether it was knifing through the defense for smooth mid-range daggers or breaking away in transition for easy buckets.
[divider]
(2) Denver South 66, (7) Mitchell 61
(Stephen Priest/CHSAANow.com)
In a surprising turn of events, the host team for the evening seemed to have its work cut out for them in the first round.
Denver South advanced to play one more game on its home floor, but the 66-61 win over Mitchell was anything but a cruise.
The game was a rollercoaster throughout, as both teams slumped simultaneously in quarters, but picked up the energy later on. After three quarters, the Rebels held a slim 46-44 lead.
Fortunately for the Rebels (18-6 overall), they were able to retain their lead until the final horn sounded thanks to clutch shots from junior Tucker Cargile, who finished the night with 16 points, all but four of them coming from 3-pointers.
The Marauders (10-14) had a chance to tie the game down 64-61 with 45 seconds remaining, but senior guard David Perea couldn’t cash in on the 3-pointer.
With Friday night’s win, Denver South will advance in the tournament to play Vista PEAK Saturday at 4 p.m.
CSCS players get instructions from coach Mark Engesser (right) during practice. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Colorado Springs Christian School basketball coach Mark Engesser hates losing. Can’t stand it. His desire to win coupled with his players’ hard work and motivation helped the Lions come away with the Class 3A state championship last March.
And oh boy, do they want to get back to the top of that mountain.
It helps that the Lions are returning two all-state players in forward Sam Howard and guard Justin Engesser. It also helps that those two guys were also two of the primary catalysts of last year’s title team. This year, they take the court with not only the hope of winning another championship, but with the pressure of trying to repeat.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say pressure,” Howard said. “We always want to do our best and no matter what people expect of us, we want to do what we think we can do. We’re just going to focus on playing our best and staying humble and whatever happens, we’re okay with.”
Staying humble may be the key. In the first month and a half of last season, the Lions were barely tested. It looked like they were going to cruise through their regular season schedule without a blemish.
But then something unexpected happened. On Jan. 23, the Lions hosted Tri-Peaks rival St. Mary’s and things did not go as planned. The Pirates kept the game close and were able to come away with a 51-49 win, ending CSCS’s chance at a perfect season.
“Nobody wants to lose,” Justin Engesser said. “If we learn from that, I guess, mistake; it’s better that we learn it early in the season rather than in the state tournament.”
That loss to St. Mary’s set the tone for the remainder of the season. It was a great reminder that nothing is given and for the Lions to reach the level that they wanted, they would have to continue to get better through the course of the season.
Sam Howard (33) and Justin Engesser watch as Howard’s shot falls during practice. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
“When you’re winning all of your games, (Coach Engesser) has no reason to yell at us,” Howard said. “When you lose, it really gets your attention. There’s a lot of stuff you can work on. We looked at the film of that game and that’s what really carried us. We saw where we were weak.”
And they improved those weaknesses.
Like in any classification, there’s no ease to getting through a state tournament. Schools such as Jefferson Academy, Colorado Academy and Kent Denver routinely play for state titles. There are also programs like Faith Christian that have the ability to rattle off multiple state championships in a row.
“I thought we played harder than some of those teams,” Coach Engesser said. “We were diving on the floor, taking charges, playing harder. If you play hard on every single possession, good things will happen.”
And they did happen. When it was all said and done, the Lions came away as champions. Now as CSCS comes into the 2015-16 season with the expectations of winning another title, it’s also feeling a little bit of that pressure to defend that title.
But which comes more into play, the pressure or the expectation?
“I think the expectation,” Coach Engesser said. “It was a great moment for those guys and they want to experience that again. Expecting that moment… I guess it puts pressure on you too. I’ll say both. Pressure and expectation.”
Horizon was stuffed on fourth down with less than three minutes to play, and it looked like Legacy might escape with a big win in Class 5A football. But then the Hawks got a game-changing, go-ahead safety and walked away with a 22-21 win on Friday night.
The game was a wild one.
Legacy jumped out 14-0 in the second quarter, but Horizon battled back to tie it at 14 in the third quarter.
Legacy took the lead when quarterback Matt Lynch, a UCLA commit, threw a touchdown pass later in that quarter. Horizon answered with a Cade Verkler rushing score, but the extra point missed, making it a 21-20 Legacy lead in the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth quarter, Horizon had a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard-line. The Hawks were stuffed. But two plays later, Horizon got the key safety. It was 22-21, and the Hawks would hold on to win.
[divider]
2A/1A: (3) Bayfield 35, (1) Paonia 0
Bayfield ended Paonia’s 26-game winning streak in stunning fashion.
“We had to be physical up front, and we had to stop them,” coach Gary Heide told the Colorado Preps Scoreboard Show. “The plan worked to perfection.”
Paonia’s 26-game streak was the second-longest in the state.
“I’m kind of a low-key, one-game-at-a-time, and, ‘No game is no more important than the other’ guy, but this morning, I just realized the opportunity that Bayfield had, along with getting a win,” Heide said. “A game like this, you end up gaining a lot of confidence.”
“We don’t pass a whole lot, but when we do, we try to do it at optimal times. Tonight, it really worked out,” Heide said. “Kelton McCoy threw some really nice passes.”
[divider]
3A: (1) Pueblo East 47, Discovery Canyon 36
Discovery Canyon nearly pulled off a major upset, but Pueblo East was able to pull out a win.
“It was a fun night,” Pueblo East coach Lee Meisner told the Scoreboard Show. “We knew we were going to get everything they had. … We had a heck of a game.”
This game featured 10 ties or lead changes, including a number in the final quarter. It also had a 99-yard kickoff return.
Discovery Canyon led 28-27 going to the fourth. Pueblo East soon went ahead 33-28, and Discovery Canyon answered to retake the lead at 36-33.
Then, with 2:45 to go, Pueblo East took the lead for good at 40-36. The Eagles added a late touchdown to ice the game.
Said Meisner: “We just kept preaching to our kids: ‘We have to play four quarters of football. No matter what the score is, just at the end of it, do your job, and then worry about the score.’”
[divider]
5A: Doherty 24, Fruita Monument 21 (OT)
Doherty jumped out to an 18-0 lead at halftime, but then Fruita Monument started to chip away.
Limon pulled off the upset of its rival, and improved to 4-0 this season.
“Our kids really stepped up tonight,” Limon coach Mike O’Dwyer told the Scoreboard Show. “I thought they played really well. By far, the best game we’ve played all year.”
Of the shutout, O’Dwyer said, “Anytime you play Burlington, they’re so disciplined and so well-coached, you have to play assignment defense and everybody has to do their job and not worry about what everybody else is doing. You just have to take care of your job. I thought tonight, our assignment defense really played very, very well.”
[divider]
1A: (5) Cedaredge 40, (10) Center 13
It was 14-13 at halftime, but Cedaredge pulled away to notch a huge top-10 win to move to 4-0.
“They had some turnovers and we capitalized on those turnovers,” coach Brandon Milholland told the Scoreboard Show. “Another important piece that I realized late in the fourth quarter is we’re starting to get out of our own way and kind of believe in what we’ve going on.”
Cedaredge pulled away to 25-13 after the third quarter, then put the game away in the fourth.
“We got a lucky bounce,” coach Brandon Alexander told the Scoreboard Show. “We scored quick, and turned the ball over, and scored again. Two scores early in the third quarter, that was really huge for us.
“Sargent was a great team, they were very athletic and fast, so it was exactly what we had to have.”
There were a number of games decided by wide margins on Friday. By the time the night was over, there were 22 total shutouts, 11 of which were decided by 40 or more points. In all, the average margin of victory for all games was 27.8 points.
Ranked teams are 39-9 so far in Week 4, but only two of those losses have come to unranked teams.
In 5A, TJ Jones had six touchdowns, including the game winner, to help Boulder beat Prairie View in overtime, 41-35.
8-man’s West Grand beat Elbert 46-0, and gave head coach Chris Brown career win No. 302. He’s four shy of the all-time mark of 306 held by longtime Denver East and Machebeuf coach Pat Panek. The Mustangs are 4-0 this season.
Alameda moved to 4-0 for the first time in more than a decade following a 38-0 win over Denver North in 2A. The Pirates are ranked No. 10.
In 8-man, No. 8 Granada escaped an upset with a 28-26 win over Kiowa.
A bit of a surprise, also in 8-man: No. 2 Sedgwick County handled No. 10 Holly 64-7.
Cheyenne Mountain picked up its first win of the season in 4A, beating Mitchell 36-35 on a 28-yard field goal with 7.2 seconds remaining.
In 6-man, No. 4 Arickaree/Woodlin beat No. 6 Otis 53-14.
3A No. 4 Rifle shutout Eagle Valley 26-0. “That’s a pretty tough place to go play, but ultimately we’re very happy with the way our kids played,” Bears coach Damon Wells told the Scoreboard Show. “We’ve been around long enough to know that any time you win a game in our league, it’s worth cherishing.”
It was not a good week to be ranked as the 2015 football season began in earnest.
When the dust settled on Friday night, here’s what we were left with:
Three No. 1 teams lost on Friday night. 5A’s Valor Christian was clipped by No. 3 Pomona. 2A’s Brush, the defending champion, last to 3A No. 2 Fort Morgan, and 8-man’s Caliche fell to unranked Kiowa.
Ranked teams are just 35-23 so far in Week 1. That includes three ranked 4A teams which lost to unranked opponents on Friday alone.
In all, there have been 16 upsets so far in Week 1, including 13 ranked teams losing to unranked opponents.
To the games.
[divider]
3A/2A: (2) Fort Morgan 47, (1) Brush 7
Fort Morgan controlled this rivalry game from start to finish — a game that had a new twist with new Brush coach Reid Kahl, who graduated from Fort Morgan.
“I consider Reid Kahl one of my good friends. When I got to Fort Morgan, the Kahls took me in,” Fort Morgan coach Harrison Chisum told Colorado Preps’ Scoreboard Show. “I’m glad it’s over. It’s tough coaching against friends. He’s an outstanding coach and I have a lot of respect for him. … I’m just glad it’s done and we’re still friends.”
Brush had won five consecutive games in the rivalry.
“It was a little more enjoyable this year,” Chisum said. “Five years in a row, they’ve had our number. To finally come out on top, it feels good. The boys did a good job.
“I didn’t realize it was five years. I think I was trying to forget some of those years. … It’s pretty nice to be able to start off with a win.”
[divider]
8-man: Kiowa 12, (1) Caliche 6
In a rare low-scoring game, Kiowa knocked off the No. 1 team, and defending champions.
Kiowa led 12-0 after the first quarter, and it turned out to be all the points it would need.
The win avenged last season’s 49-6 loss to Caliche. Kiowa went on to finish 2-7 in 2014. This win actually snapped a six-game losing streak.
Conversely, Caliche had won nine games in a row — including a Zero Week game against Soroco.
[divider]
4A: Loveland 36, (5) Denver South 18
Quarterback Ayden Eberhardt had four total touchdowns to lead Loveland to the upset of Denver South.
“Our quarterback is just a great, nifty little runner and can do things,” Loveland coach Wayne McGinn told the newspaper. “You don’t know where he’s going. I don’t know where he’s going half the time.”
[divider]
6-man: (3) Arickaree/Woodlin 58, (5) Peetz 50
Arickaree/Woodlin, the defending 6-man champion, out-gunned Peetz in a shootout despite having a young roster.
“Our starting six or seven have a lot of experience, but they’re in some different positions this year,” Arickaree/Woodlin coach David Saffer told the Scoreboard Show. “And we’ve got a bunch of young kids and they’re just kind of learning high school football and adjusting to the speed and learning what it takes to win at this level.”
[divider]
Notables
Arvada beat Sheridan 27-14, and in doing so, snapped an 18-game losing streak which dated to 2013. The Bulldogs’ last win came on Sept. 13, 2013, in overtime against Skyview. The program had been 1-22 over its past 23 games going back to 2012.
Manitou Springs recovered five onside kicks in its game against Faith Christian. Faith Christian, however, won 46-32.
It was a top-5 matchup in 2A as No. 5 Platte Valley beat No. 3 Strasburg 30-7.
In 3A, Mitchell beat Widefield 34-28 in double overtime. It wasn’t the night’s only extra time. 1A’s Olathe beat Hotchkiss in overtime, 29-27, and in 5A, Cherokee Trail beat ThunderRidge 22-15.
In 1A, No. 1 Paonia beat No. 7 Monte Vista 21-7.
Dakota Ridge, ranked No. 3 in 4A, opened with a big 38-9 win over 5A Monarch. “We challenged our kids all week that they needed to play physical and play tough,” coach Ron Woitalewicz told the Scoreboard Show. “Our kids really rose to that expectation.”
Eaglecrest led 5A No. 9 Ralston Valley 14-13 at halftime, but the Mustangs stormed back to take a 33-27 win. Ralston Valley nearly fell victim to a comeback of its own, as it held a 33-14 lead in the fourth quarter but had to hold on.
5A No. 6 Fairview led Grand Junction 21-0, but had to hold on for a 21-12 win.
Lakewood handed 5A No. 8 Fountain-Fort Carson its second straight loss, this one a 31-21 decision.
Chaparral played 5A No. 7 Grandview tough early, but the Wolves pulled away for a 29-12 win.
Six more Colorado teams played out-of-state opponents on Friday, going 4-2. Durango, Holly, La Junta and Sedgwick County all notched wins, while Wray and Montezuma-Cortez lost on Friday. So far in 2015, Colorado teams are 8-2 against out-of-state foes.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The St. Mary’s Pirates didn’t let their football coaching vacancy last for long.
Just over three weeks after the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that Nic Olney resigned from the job, St. Mary’s athletic director Dennis Vigil announced on Twitter that he hired Archie Malloy to take over the Class 2A program.
Vigil also independently verified the hire to CHSAANow.com.
“It was a case of perfect timing,” Vigil said. “I knew Archie from when I was an (assistant principal) at Mitchell and so I called him and asked if he was interested to put his name in the ring. The committee was impressed with him and so we offered him the job and he accepted this morning. Very excited to have him in the fold.”
Malloy comes to St. Mary’s after serving as the head coach at Mitchell, a 3A team, for 13 seasons. He resigned from Mitchell in December. Since 2004, his teams were 34-76.
Malloy takes over a St. Mary’s program that went 7-3 last season and lost to Montezuma-Cortez in the first round of the 2A playoffs.
The 2014-15 boys basketball players of the year, by class. From left: Miles Caldon, Sanford (2A); Justin Bassey, Colorado Academy (3A); De’Ron Davis, Overland (5A); Justinian Jessup, Longmont (4A); Bryan Ortiz, Holly (1A).
The 2014-15 all-state boys basketball teams are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a week-long vote of coaches.
A specific player of the year vote was held in each class, as was a vote for coach of the year.
Use the menu below to navigate to the class of your choosing.
