Pine Creek jumped up in the 5A wrestling rankings provided by On The Mat this week. The Eagles were No. 12 in the preseason, which goes to 15 teams. They are No. 6 this week.
The four No. 1 teams — Arvada West (5A), Broomfield (4A), Brush (3A), Paonia (2A) — remained the same from the preseason.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
[divider] Go to:5A | 4A | 3A | 2A
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.
Regis Jesuit begins 2013-14 atop the 5A girls basketball poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Regis Jesuit is the unanimous No. 1 selection in CHSAANow.com’s preseason girls basketball ranking in 5A.
The poll, released on Monday, featured 18 first-place votes. The Raiders received each one. And it makes sense: Regis Jesuit did not graduate any players from last year’s team which won the title. The squad also has six seniors committed to Division I schools, including Diani Akigbogun (Texas) and Justine Hall (Purdue).
Highlands Ranch, last season’s 5A runner-up, is No. 2 in the preseason ranking. Arapahoe is third, Grandview is fourth and Rock Canyon rounds out the top-5.
Monarch, with coach Gail Hook returning from a one-year hiatus, is sixth. Castle View is seventh, ThunderRidge is eighth, Cherry Creek is ninth and Poudre is tenth.
Holy Family is ranked No. 1 in 3A girls basketball. Broomfield is No. 1 in 4A. (Pam Wagner)
In 4A, Broomfield heads the preseason poll. The Eagles reached last year’s semifinals, where they lost to eventual champion Pueblo South by three points. Pueblo South begins the season ranked No. 2.
Holy Family is on top of the 3A ranking. The Tigers won last year’s championship.
The 2A poll is headed by Yuma, even though the Indians received three first-place votes to Akron’s four. Akron beat Yuma in last season’s title game, and is ranked second.
Caliche is the preseason No. 1 team in 1A. The Buffaloes lost in last season’s quarterfinals. Defending champion Wiley is unranked to begin the season.
Silver Creek 16, Windsor 15, Mullen 14, Valor Christian 14, Elizabeth 12, Pueblo County 9, Centaurus 8, Golden 5, Rifle 5, Evergreen 4, Greeley Central 4, Glenwood Springs 3, Thompson Valley 2, Berthoud 1, Conifer 1.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Holy Family (14)
0-0
140
2
Pagosa Springs
0-0
107
3
Denver Science & Tech
0-0
101
4
Lamar
0-0
70
5
Centauri
0-0
68
6
St. Mary’s
0-0
63
7
Eaton
0-0
42
8
Valley
0-0
35
9
Peak to Peak
0-0
30
10
Sterling
0-0
26
Others receiving votes:
Bishop Machebeuf 21, Kent Denver 15, Manitou Springs 11, Olathe 8, Coal Ridge 7, Grand Valley 7, Clear Creek 6, Platte Valley 4, Salida 3, Trinidad 3, Moffat County 2, Buena Vista 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Yuma (3)
0-0
82
2
Akron (4)
0-0
74
3
Lutheran (2)
0-0
67
4
Peyton
0-0
66
5
Sangre de Cristo
0-0
33
6
Holyoke
0-0
27
7
Paonia
0-0
26
8
Rye
0-0
18
9
The Vanguard
0-0
17
10
Meeker
0-0
16
Others receiving votes:
Ignacio 11, Del Norte 9, Hoehne 9, Simla 8, Las Animas 5, Liberty Common 5, Swink 5, Limon 4, Sanford 4, Burlington 3, Calhan 3, Heritage Christian 2, Springfield 2, Center 1, Highland 1.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Caliche (4)
0-0
57
2
Eads
0-0
56
3
Stratton
0-0
40
4
Idalia
0-0
39
5
Norwood (2)
0-0
35
6
Kit Carson
0-0
31
7
Hi-Plains
0-0
30
8
Kim
0-0
23
9
Pawnee
0-0
19
10
Walsh (1)
0-0
18
Others receiving votes:
Dove Creek 13, Wiley 9, Belleview Christian 4, Prairie 4, Cheraw 3, Otis 3, McClave 2, Jim Elliot Christian 1.
Arvada West, which placed eighth at last season’s Class 5A state wrestling tournament, begins the season atop the On The Mat rankings.
Defending champions Broomfield (4A) and Paonia (2A) also open the season as preseason No. 1s. Brush, a fifth-place finisher last season, is atop the 3A ranking.
Pomona, the defending 5A champion, opens the season at No. 4.
Alamosa won the 3A title last year, and is No. 5 in that preseason ranking.
Tim Yount of On The Mat provides weekly wrestling rankings for teams and individuals in all weight classes. To see individual rankings, you can subscribe to On The Mat’s full rankings.
To subscribe via PayPal, choose your subscription option on this page click on the corresponding PayPal button. To subscribe by mail or fax and pay by personal check, click here for a printable subscription form. Email Tim Yount at tim@onthematrankings.com with questions.
To purchase individual weeks of the rankings (as opposed to the entire season), you will need to use the printable subscription form and pay by check. The season ranking subscriptions are offered at a discounted rate.
Elizabeth is in the 4A volleyball semifinals. (Pam Wagner)
DENVER — They weren’t supposed to be in the semis. Not as a No. 9 seeds.
Yet, Class 4A’s Elizabeth and 2A’s Yuma — ninth-seeded, both — were the first two teams to punch their tickets to Saturday’s semifinals during the first day of the state volleyball tournaments at the Denver Coliseum on Friday.
“Today, we’re just here,” Elizabeth coach Russ Haman said. “Nobody expects much out of us.”
Haman’s Cardinals topped No. 4 Montrose to start the day, 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 25-10), then ruined No. 5 Thomas Jefferson’s coming-to-state party with another 3-1 win (25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-21).
“We felt we could compete with everybody,” Haman said. “We didn’t set expectations. We were just like, ‘We’re going to do the best we can and play together as a team.’ That’s what we’ve had to work on all year, is playing as a team. That’s what they’ve chosen to do.”
In preparation for big-time moments and teams his squad faced Friday, Haman scheduled matches and scrimmages with some of the elite programs in the state — including Lewis-Palmer, Cherry Creek, Cherokee Trail and Lakewood.
“You get with those big-hitting teams and we learned how to try to work a defense around that,” Haman said. “Ideally, we want to play the hard, hard teams and get better and better.”
Elizabeth could match up with Lewis-Palmer, 4A’s top seed, in the semifinals. It would be a fun personal matchup — Rangers coach Susan Odenbaugh “got me into coaching,” Haman said.
Yuma advanced to the 2A semifinals. (Pam Wagner)
Yuma also took No. 4 and 5 seeds en route to the semis. The Indians beat No. 5 Sangre de Cristo 3-1 (25-12, 25-8, 24-26, 25-13) and No. 4 Paonia 3-0 (25-18, 25-8, 25-19).
“You know, we were a little disappointed in our seed, but I think it kind of lit a fire under the girls and they wanted to prove it a little bit more,” Yuma coach Megan Martinez said. “They came out ready to play.”
This week, Martinez scheduled early practices to help her girls acclimate to playing so early in the day.
“That got them ready to go,” Martinez said.
Elsewhere, 5A’s top seed Grandview swept Castle View in its only match of the day. The Wolves will face No. 8 Rampart for a semifinal berth on Saturday morning.
Cherry Creek. (Pam Wagner)
No. 4 Mountain Vista and No. 5 Cherry Creek both beat No. 9 Fruita Monument, meaning their Saturday morning matchup will also determine a semifinal spot.
No. 2 Arapahoe and No. 7 Doherty will play for the semis on Saturday following their wins over No. 11 Cherokee Trail. Doherty rallied from a 2-0 hole to beat CT 3-2.
The final semifinal spot in 5A comes down to No. 3 Fossil Ridge and No. 6 Eaglecrest, who both topped No. 10 Pine Creek on Friday.
In 4A, No. 1 Lewis-Palmer beat No. 12 Coronado 3-1, and No. 8 Roosevelt swept Coronado. Those teams meet Saturday morning to determine the semifinalist from Pool I.
No. 2 Longmont and No. 7 Ponderosa will play for a semifinal berth out of Pool II. Both teams beat No. 11 Pueblo West.
Pool III has a Colorado Springs flavor, with No. 3 Cheyenne Mountain and No. 6 Air Academy battling for the semis after both beating No. 10 Valor Christian.
In 3A, No. 1 Eaton and No. 8 Bayfield both beat No. 12 Lamar, so they’ll play for a semifinal spot on Saturday. Out of Pool IV, No. 4 Platte Valley and No. 5 Holy Family both topped Coal Ridge and meet for a semifinal berth on Saturday.
Valley, seeded second, and No. 7 University will play for the semis on Saturday. Both teams beat No. 11 Machebeuf.
No. 3 Manitou Springs and No. 6 Gunnison are set to play for the final 3A semifinal spot after taking down No. 10 Sterling.
Dove Creek playing Kit Carson. (Pam Wagner)
In 2A, No. 12 Meeker upset No. 8 Ridgway in Pool I. Couple with No. 1 Resurrection Christian’s later win over Meeker, it could make Saturday morning’s match between Ridgway and Resurrection Christian interesting. Should Resurrection Christian win, it’ll get the semifinal spot. But if Ridgway wins, the semifinalist will be determined on a tiebreaker.
No. 2 Lutheran and No. 7 Lyons will battle for the semis after both beat No. 11 C.S. School.
Pool III sets up like Pool I with No. 10 Akron beating No. 6 Swink on Friday. It means No. 3 Fowler can win the pool with a win over Swink, but a Swink win in that game sets up the tiebreaker scenario.
In 1A, No. 1 Dove Creek and No. 8 Vail Christian will play for a semifinal spot following wins over No. 12 Kit Carson. Out of Pool IV, No. 4 Fleming and No. 5 Eads will meet for that semifinal spot after both teams beat No. 9 Stratton.
No. 3 Otis and No. 6 Flager are set to play for the semis on Saturday. Both teams beat No. 10 Rocky Mountain Lutheran.
Pool II has a potential tiebreaker scenario. No. 11 Idalia beat No. 7 Hi-Plains but lost to No. 2 Caliche on Friday. That means if Caliche beats Hi-Plains on Saturday, it gets the semifinal berth. If Hi-Plains wins, the teams will go to the tiebreak.
The big showdown down South took a turn at halftime.
Trailing second-ranked Falcon 13-8, No. 8 Pine Creek scored the game’s final 21 points en route to a 29-13 win in Class 4A football.
“We made some adjustments at halftime and really came out and played well,” Pine Creek coach Todd Miller told ColoradoPreps.com’s Built Ford Tough Scoreboard Show on Friday night. “We got them off the field, our offense controlled the second half, and that was able to keep (Falcon star Kalen Ballage) from carrying the ball. We’ve got a chance of winning when he’s not carrying it.”
Ballage did finish the game with 196 yards and two scores.
“We kind of took a punch in our mouth in the first half — playing in about 40 mile-per-hour winds — and we were able to adjust,” Miller told the Scoreboard Show. “Our kids just controlled the line of scrimmage and Scott Savage and James Fisher had space and they found creases, and we were able to get up on people. And Lavanson Coffey, our blocking fullback, just had a great game and we just kind of went back to old-fashioned football, running between the tackles and getting chunks of yardage and able to put some points on the board.”
Pine Creek is now 3-0 against 4A competition. The Eagles opened 1-2 against 5A foes Fountain-Fort Carson, Lakewood and Columbine.
“Going through Columbine, going through Lakewood and Fountain-Fort Carson prepared us for this (game against Falcon),” Miller said. “We had a couple of tough losses early, but we went through some hard practices and hard losses against tough, physical teams and they pay dividends on nights like tonight.”
The other monster game on Friday night ended with No. 2 Palisade nipping No. 1 Rifle in 3A, 28-27. The Bulldogs’ Levi Hoaglund found John Goff with 17 seconds remaining to secure the win.
“We had a group of guys that just persevered and hung with it,” Palisade coach Joe Ramunno told the Scoreboard Show.
Palisade trailed 27-14 at halftime.
“That’s just kind of the nature of kids that we have here at Palisade,” Ramunno said. “It’s been that way for many, many years — you can go back to the 50s. They’re tough guys that just kind of hang in there. And we got out-played tonight. I really felt like we were outplayed for almost three-and-a-half quarters. Very fortunate to come out with a win, and they just have that mentality: there’s a lot of fight in that dog.”
At the 5A level, it was another week of destruction. No. 2 Chatfield lost to unranked Columbine in a wild game, No. 8 Cherry Creek topped No. 4 Cherokee Trail and Overland upset No. 7 Grandview, beating the Wolves for the first time in a very long time. Since 2004, Overland was 0-9 against Grandview and was outscored 103-336 over that span.
Mullen very nearly took down No. 10 Arapahoe, but the Warriors survived in overtime, 27-21. Arapahoe was up 21-0 at halftime.
When the dust cleared, it left Fairview as 5A’s lone remaining unbeaten team. The Knights (5-0) topped Arvada West 41-21 on Friday.
Elsewhere, it was No. 8 Paonia beating No. 10 Meeker in 1A despite six turnovers.
“I hope it was six. I don’t know, I kind of lost count,” Paonia coach Brent McRae told the Scoreboard show. “We just kind of huddled them up and said, ‘Here’s the deal, boys: this happens. This happens in life. And you can pick it up and finish and keep believing and keep fighting or you can lay down.’ They fought for each other.”
Also, 2A’s eighth-ranked Florence rebounded from last week’s loss to Manitou Springs to beat No. 5 Lamar.
“They knew what they had to do, what they had to clean up, and they had a pretty good week of practice and took a lot of pride in cleaning up what we needed to clean up,” Florence coach Jeremy Nix told the Scoreboard Show.
The weekend’s turmoil has bled over into CHSAANow.com’s football polls.
Though, when a total of 17 ranked teams lose in a week — including the No. 1s in classes 5A, 4A and 3A — it’s not hard to see change coming. So, yes, there are new teams atop 5A (Valor Christian), 4A (Montrose) and 3A (Rifle).
But the change didn’t only affect the top. In 5A, where three of the top four teams lost last week, that meant Chatfield, Fairview, Cherokee Trail and Regis Jesuit all made big jumps.
Valor Christian leads the 5A poll for the second time this season. The Eagles are 4-1, but unbeaten against Colorado competition this season, and received 21 of the 24 first-place votes.
Chatfield moved up to No. 2 from No. 5, Fairview went from No. 7 to No. 3 and Cherokee Trail moved into fourth from sixth. Regis Jesuit, which last week knocked off then-No. 1 ThunderRidge, went from No. 9 to No. 5.
ThunderRidge dropped to sixth, and is followed by Grandview and Cherry Creek.
The 5A poll added two new teams this week: No. 9 Pomona and No. 10 Arapahoe.
Falcon is No. 2 this week, and Monarch dropped to No. 3. Loveland stayed at No. 4, Montbello moved up one place to round out the top-5.
Pueblo Centennial (No. 9) and Longmont (No. 10) are 4A’s newcomers this week.
Rifle takes over atop the 3A ranking following Silver Creek’s loss to Frederick. New to 3A this week are Mead (No. 7) and D’Evelyn (No. 10).
Brush continued to lead 2A’s poll, which added Bennett at No. 10.
Likewise, Buena Vista remained atop in 1A. That poll added Paonia (No. 8) and Jefferson (No. 9). Jefferson’s addition is especially noteworthy because the Saints were a combined 3-85 from 2004-12.
Brush took down former No. 1 Platte Valley on Friday. Monday, the Beetdiggers took its spot atop CHSAANow.com’s Class 2A football poll.
Brush, which won the game 28-10, was ranked second last week. It received all 10 first-place votes in the poll. Platte Valley dropped to third, behind Kent Denver.
The 2A poll added Faith Christian (No. 8) and Aspen (No. 10) this week.
In 5A, ThunderRide continued to lead the way and received 13 first-place votes to No. 2 Valor Christian’s 11. Columbine remained in third, and Ralston Valley stayed at No. 4.
Chatfield moved up from seventh to fifth, and is followed by No. 6 Cherokee Trail and No. 7 Fairview. Grandview is eighth, Regis Jesuit is ninth, and Cherry Creek rejoined the ranking at No. 10.
Monarch stayed atop 4A’s ranking, but there’s a new No. 2 team in that poll: Montrose, which moved up from third. It’s excellent timing, considering the two teams play Friday.
