Chaparral volleyball remained at No. 2 in 5A this week after it’s big win over No. 2 Grandview last week. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Fairview, which went an astounding 7-0 last week, has jumped into CHSAANow’s Class 5A volleyball rankings this week. The Knights are No. 8.
The Knights won the Cherry Creek Bruin classic over the weekend. Included was a 2-1 win over No. 4 Cherry Creek in the title game.
Rampart continued to lead the 5A poll, a spot the Rams have occupied since the preseason. The other No. 1s also stayed put: Lewis-Palmer (4A), Eaton (3A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A).
Other newcomers this week include Mead (No. 10 in 4A), Pagosa Springs (No. 10 in 3A), Cedaredge (No. 10 in 2A) and La Veta (No. 9 in 1A).
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 media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Ralston Valley 20, Highlands Ranch 17, Chatfield 14, Arapahoe 12, Castle View 12, ThunderRidge 10, Legend 8, Regis Jesuit 7, Coronado 6, Denver East 2, Rock Canyon 2.
Dropped out
Arapahoe (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Lewis-Palmer (13)
8-0
130
1
2-0
2
Cheyenne Mountain
7-1
115
2
4-1
3
Ponderosa
4-1
92
3
2-1
4
Valor Christian
4-3
62
7
1-1
5
Mullen
6-2
58
6
2-1
6
Elizabeth
5-2
54
8
2-0
7
Air Academy
5-4
51
4
0-0
8
Montrose
6-3
43
5
1-2
9
Mead
7-1
28
–
2-0
10
Pueblo West
5-3
26
9
2-0
Others receiving votes:
Longmont 17, Steamboat Springs 14, Discovery Canyon 13, Eagle Valley 3, Windsor 3, Woodland Park 3, Battle Mountain 2, Holy Family 2, Thomas Jefferson 1.
Dropped out
Longmont (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Eaton (7)
10-1
124
1
5-1
2
Valley (3)
11-1
112
2
3-0
3
Manitou Springs (3)
9-1
100
3
3-0
4
Bayfield
6-2
85
5
1-0
5
Platte Valley
10-1
83
4
2-1
6
University
6-3
57
6
4-2
7
Colorado Springs Christian
6-0
51
7
2-0
8
Sterling
4-6
22
8
3-1
9
Lutheran
3-5
16
9
1-0
10
Pagosa Springs
5-4
15
–
0-1
Others receiving votes:
Olathe 11, Coal Ridge 10, Faith Christian 8, Alamosa 4, Peak to Peak 4, St. Mary’s 4, Eagle Ridge 2, Machebeuf 2, Salida 2, The Academy 2, Buena Vista 1, Gunnison 1.
Nine minutes remained in the fourth quarter on Friday night, and Columbine led Bear Creek 28-7. The Rebels would win 43-42 an hour and five minutes later.
Wait, what?
Despite nearly letting the game slip through its fingers, Columbine battled through double overtime to outlast Bear Creek.
Columbine quarterback Jake Lowry. (Dennis Pleuss)
“I was proud of how our kids stepped up and did fight, and made plays at the end, just enough to win it,” Columbine coach Andy Lowry told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show after the game. “Our kids just never gave up and our offense just made plays at the end in overtime, and we squeaked one out.”
Bear Creek was shut out until five minutes remained in the third quarter, and actually trailed 21-0 at that point. But the Bears’ rally really didn’t start until six minutes remained in regulation, when they cut it to 28-14. After an onside kick recovery, and two more scores, it was suddenly tied up and heading to overtime.
“I give Bear Creek a lot of credit for just fighting and playing hard,” Lowry said. “Their coaches did a good job, and they made a lot of plays. We just couldn’t finish in that fourth quarter.”
After blowing the late lead, “We were down a little bit,” Lowry said, “but we just talked to (the team) about how this is a good challenge for us to be able to grow up and face some adversity and have to fight for something.”
Both teams scored in the first overtime, and then Bear Creek converted on its offensive possession in the second. So did Columbine — but the Rebels opted to go for two, and Columbine’s junior quarterback, Jake Lowry, kept the ball to convert for the win.
“My coaches were calling for it, saying, ‘Go for two! Go for two!’” Andy Lowry said. “We just hadn’t stopped them for quite a few possessions in a row. The offense was doing well, and they were over-loading one side, and we just decided to put it in Jake’s hands.
“He made a great play and got in the end zone. You just hate to miss an extra point or something like that and end something that way, so we kept it in our offense’s hands.”
[divider]
4A: (9) Fort Collins 13, (8) Windsor 12
Windsor led 6-0 at halftime and later 12-7 in the fourth, but Fort Collins quarterback Kyler Sigsbee found Dawson Johnson for the winning 5-yard score with six minutes remaining.
The Lambkins’ defense recovered a Windsor fumble on the ensuing drive, and Fort Collins was able to run the clock out.
“We we kind of using this as a barometer to find out where we rank among the 4A elite, because we definitely consider Windsor an elite 4A team,” Fort Collins coach Eric Rice told the Scoreboard Show. “I’m really glad our kids passed the test tonight.”
Later, he added, “When you hold a team like Windsor, which has a potent offense and is good at what they do, to 12 points, you’ve got to be happy about that.”
Not only did Arickaree/Woodlin position itself to take over the top spot in the poll on Monday, the squad also knocked off the defending 6-man champions.
“This is probably the biggest win since we restarted the program four years ago,” Arickaree/Woodlin coach David Saffer told the Scoreboard Show. “The seniors this year have come from the bottom and worked their way up, so it was a very good win for us.
“We also understand that we’ve got a long season ahead of us, and we’ve got to keep going week-by-week here.”
On the presumptive No. 1 ranking, Saffer said, “We’ve got a target on our backs. We’ve just got to stay focused and keep working.”
[divider]
5A: (6) Fairvew 35, Horizon 28
Horizon nearly pulled off its second-straight upset.
Nearly.
A week after knocking off then-No. 6 Chatfield, Horizon battled with Fairview all night on Friday. Ultimately, though, the Knights secured the win.
Horizon actually led 21-7 early in the second quarter, but Fairview rallied to tie things with 3:56 to play before the half. Then, quarterback Johnny Feauto found Tim Ryan for a 20-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left in the half to give the Knights the lead.
“Yeah, he’s our version of Johnny Football,” Fairview coach Tom McCartney joked on the Scoreboard Show. “He’s a tremendous player, he’s the point guard on the basketball team, he was on the baseball team that was in the Elite 8. He loves the center of attention, he loves competition. He just makes a ton of plays for us, and we’re fortunate to have Johnny Football.”
Oh, but Horizon wasn’t done. The Hawks tied it up early in the fourth on a touchdown pass of their own.
Jason Harvey then provided the heroics. His 14-yard run with 1:39 to play proved to be the difference — but only after the Knights’ defense stopped Horizon on fourth-and-2 from near midfield.
“It was a good stop there to try to get that thing secure,” McCartney said.
“The second half was just hard-fought, two teams going at it. … We just found a way.”
[divider]
1A/2A: (2) Buena Vista 21, (10) Manitou Springs 0
Buena Vista, a 1A school, held serve at home against 2A Manitou Springs.
“What got us going, I would say, is our defense and how they stayed disciplined,” Buena Vista coach Matt Flavin told the Scoreboard Show. “I told them we needed to stay disciplined, and they responded and stayed with the gameplan even though they came out and started running the ball on us.
“That kind of got a spark in us to keep going. They got the offense going, as well.”
[divider]
Notes
In a rematch of last year’s 1A championship game, No. 1 Paonia handled No. 4 Centauri 44-0.
Mountain View beat Loveland 24-21 on Jayce Melby’s 24-yard field goal with six seconds left.
Falcon also got a late field goal to beat Pueblo West 16-14. Falcon’s 16 points were actually unanswered after trailing 14-0.
With Valor Christian’s loss, Dayspring Christian now solely owns the longest winning streak in the state at 15 games. The defending 8-man champions play Soroco on Saturday.
Poudre took down Monarch, 7-2. Monarch actually had a chance from the 9-yard-line with 0.4 seconds to play, but couldn’t score.
Eaglecrest, a 5A program, upset 4A No. 3 Denver South 12-6.
Overland rolled Legend, 54-0. The Trailblazers are now 4-0. As recently as 2011, they opened 0-4.
Boulder running back T.J. Jones rushed for 300 yards in his team’s 42-22 win over Thornton, according to BoCoPreps.com.
5A No. 4 Grandview rushed for six touchdowns in its 49-27 win over Arapahoe.
4A No. 4 Montrose rebounded from its first loss with a 55-0 win over Fruita Monument.
In a top-10 4A matchup, No. 9 Holy Family took care of No. 7 Palisade. Said coach Mike Gabriel to the Scoreboard Show: “We really needed it after last week. We played a little less than what we were capabale of last week, so this is a big win for us.”
There were three other top-10 games in 6-man this week besides the 1-2 showdown: No. 3 Eads 52, No. 8 Cheyenne Wells 6; No. 6 Peetz 53, No. 7 Prairie 0; No. 9 Flagler 46, No. 10 Kit Carson 22.
Lakewood is No. 9 in this week’s 5A football ranking. More photos. (Tom Hoganson)
Lakewood, coming off a big win over Montrose, has joined the Class 5A football poll this week.
The Tigers beat Montrose, then ranked No. 2 in 4A, on Saturday. Monday, they entered CHSAANow.com’s ranking at No. 9.
Elsewhere in 5A, Valor Christian remained the unanimous No. 1 team, but things changed behind the Eagles. Cherokee Trail (No. 2), Pomona (No. 3) and Grandview (No. 4) all moved up one spot this week after Cherry Creek, last week’s No. 2, fell to Pomona.
Creek is No. 5 this week, and is followed by Fairview, Ralston Valley, Regis Jesuit, newcomer Lakewood and Overland.
Denver South is ranked No. 3 in this week’s 4A poll. More photos. (Pam Wagner)
The 4A ranking also added one team in No. 10 Longmont, which was ranked in the preseason. Pine Creek maintained its spot at No. 1. Pueblo South moved up to No. 2 after Montrose’s loss, and Denver South bumped up to No. 3. Montrose is fourth this week, and Vista Ridge is fifth.
In 3A, Erie joined at No. 10. Lutheran continued its stay at No. 1, and Delta remained just behind at No. 2. Discovery Canyon bumped up to No. 3 after its big win over Holy Family last week.
The 2A poll added No. 8 Bayfield, while 1A added No. 7 Cedaredge and No. 9 Platte Canyon. Granada (No. 7) joined the 8-man ranking, while 6-man added No. 8 Cheyenne Wells and No. 9 Flagler.
The No. 1 teams in each of those classifications remained the same. Those are Brush, Paonia, Dayspring Christian and Stratton/Liberty, respectively.
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.
The Huskies, off to a 8-0 start, are ranked No. 8 in CHSAANow.com’s poll.
The other big mover in 5A was Chaparral, which went from No. 5 to No. 2.
Olathe joined the 3A poll at No. 10, while 2A added Rye (also No. 10) this week. The 1A poll has two newcomers: No. 9 Springfield and No. 10 McClave.
All five No. 1 teams stayed the same this week: Rampart (5A), Lewis-Palmer (4A), Eaton (3A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A).
The biggest battle for the top spot came in 3A, where four different teams received first place votes, including Eaton, Valley, Manitou Springs and Platte Valley. Those teams are Nos. 1-4 in this week’s poll.
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 media members around the state. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
There were a number of major movers as CHSAANow released the first football rankings of the regular season on Monday.
New Wheat Ridge football coach Dan Reardon. (Tracy Renck)
Pueblo East (Class 3A), Discovery Canyon (3A), and Wheat Ridge (4A) all made big jumps after being unranked in the preseason.
Pueblo East had the biggest climb, and wound up at No. 3 in the 3A poll after winning its first two games. The Eagles beat Longmont, No. 4Â in the preseason 4A poll, in Zero Week, then topped Coronado, the defending 3A champion which has since moved up to 4A, in Week 1.
Discovery Canyon is No. 6 in 3A this week. Last Thursday, the Thunder beat Silver Creek, the 3A runner-up a season ago which has also moved up to 4A.
And Wheat Ridge, also off to a 2-0 start under new coach Dan Reardon in 4A, has won its games by a combined 91-0. The Farmers are No. 5 in this week’s 4A poll.
In total, those moves were just a microcosm of the new rankings, which saw massive change. All seven polls got at least one new team, with 4A and 6-man getting four new members, and 3A adding three.
There’s also a new No. 1 team in 2A, where Brush takes over for Platte Valley.
The least amount of change occurred in 5A, where Valor Christian continues its stranglehold on the No. 1 spot following its physical win over Pomona. The Eagles received all 13 first-place votes.
Teams Nos. 2-4 stayed the same behind them: Cherry Creek (which beat Regis Jesuit), Cherokee Trail and Pomona. Grandview joined the top five this week, bumping up three places from its preseason No. 8 spot.
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
Chatfield remained at No. 6, Fairview moved up three spots to No. 7, Regis Jesuit fell to No. 8 and Ralston Valley remained at No. 9.
The lone newcomer in 5A is Overland, which joined at No. 10.
In addition to Wheat Ridge in 4A, new teams include No. 8 Vista Ridge, No. 9 Falcon and No. 10 Fort Collins. Pine Creek remained atop that poll following its escape of Falcon’s upset bid.
Besides Pueblo East and Discovery Canyon, D’Evelyn also joined the 3A ranking. Lutheran stayed atop that poll after its overtime win in Texas last week.
2A added No. 9 Eaton, while 1A added No. 7 Meeker. Paonia is still No. 1 in 1A.
The 8-man ranking added No. 8 Akron and No. 9 Springfield. Dayspring Christian continues to lead that pack.
Finally, 6-man added No. 6 Prairie, No. 7 Pawnee, No. 8 Walsh and No. 10 Cotopaxi. Stratton/Liberty remained in the top spot.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be 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.
Chaparral is No. 5 in this week’s 5A volleyball poll. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Chaparral and Regis Jesuit both joined this week’s CHSAANow.com volleyball ranking in Class 5A.
Both teams were unranked in the preseason. Chaparral joined the poll at No. 5 after going 4-1 over the first two weeks of the season. Regis Jesuit, meanwhile, is No. 10 after going 3-2.
Rampart remained atop the 5A ranking. In fact, the only No. 1 team to change this week was in 3A, where Eaton takes over for Manitou Springs. Lewis Palmer (4A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A) all held firm in their respective top spots.
Mullen (No. 9) was the lone newcomer in 4A, while Gunnison (No. 10) joined 3A. The 2A poll added Swink (No. 6) and Hoehne (No. 9). Cheraw joined 1A at No. 10.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. During the regular season, polls will be released each Monday.
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.
Rock Canyon 9, Castle View 6, Highlands Ranch 6, Monarch 5, Legend 3, Mountain Vista 3, Douglas County 2, Lakewood 1.
Dropped out
Legend (8), Mountain Vista (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Lewis-Palmer (9)
1-0
90
1
2
Cheyenne Mountain
1-0
74
4
3
Ponderosa
0-0
66
2
4
Air Academy
0-1
55
3
5
Elizabeth
0-0
39
5
6
Pueblo West
0-1
37
8
7
Montrose
1-0
35
7
8
Longmont
0-0
32
6
9
Mullen
2-0
19
–
10
Valor Christian
1-1
16
9
Others receiving votes:
Thomas Jefferson 10, Windsor 10, Roosevelt 5, Steamboat Springs 3, Woodland Park 3, Holy Family 2, Niwot 2.
Dropped out
Thomas Jefferson (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Eaton (7)
2-0
97
2
2
Manitou Springs (3)
0-0
89
1
3
Valley
3-0
80
4
4
Platte Valley
2-0
62
5
5
Bayfield
1-1
61
3
6
University
0-1
36
6
7
Sterling
1-2
26
7
8
Lutheran
2-4
21
8
9
Colorado Springs Christian
0-0
16
10
10
Gunnison
0-1
12
–
Others receiving votes:
Pagosa Springs 10, Coal Ridge 9, St. Mary’s 8, Machebeuf 6, Lamar 5, Faith Christian 4, Frontier Academy 4, Centaurus 1, Grand Valley 1, Olathe 1, The Academy 1.