Arickaree/Woodlin is the new No. 1 team in the 6-man football poll this week. More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Turns out a win over a No. 1 team does help you move up to the top spot.
Arickaree/Woodlin, No. 2 in CHSAANow’s 6-man football poll last week, moved up to No. 1 this week following its 60-30 win over Stratton/Liberty on Friday night.
Coach David Saffer was expecting the move after the game on Friday.
Saffer’s squad was the only new No. 1 team this week. Valor Christian (5A), Pine Creek (4A), Lutheran (3A), Brush (2A), Paonia (1A) and Dayspring Christian (8-man) all held firm atop their respective rankings.
Ralston Valley is up to No. 4 in this week’s 5A football poll. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
Valor held on to the top spot despite its loss to Chandler (Ariz.). But the Eagles are no longer a unanimous selection: they received 13 of the 18 first-place votes this week.
No. 2 Pomona, No. 3 Grandview and No. 4 Ralston Valley — which got three — also received first-place votes in 5A this week. Fairview rounds out the top five after bumping up one spot.
Regis Jesuit is sixth, Cherry Creek fell to seventh following its loss to Jordan (Utah), Overland moved up to eighth and Cherokee Trail fell to No. 9 after losing to Regis Jesuit. Doherty is the lone newcomer in 5A this week, and joins at No. 10.
Among the biggest movers this week was Fort Collins, which jumped up from No. 9 to No. 5 in the 4A poll following its win over Windsor last week.
The 4A ranking added Pueblo Centennial (No. 10), 3A added Berthoud (also No. 10) and St. Mary’s joined 2A (No. 9). In 1A, newcomer Rye is No. 10, and 6-man has two new teams this week: No. 9 Hanover and No. 10 Weldon Valley.
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.
LAKEWOOD — Pueblo South wasted no time in erasing a 6-0 first-quarter deficit Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium.
The No. 2 ranked team in this week’s CHSAANow.com 4A poll trailed 6-0 against No. 6 Wheat Ridge. An eight-play, 99-yard scoring drive capped off with a 15-yard touchdown run by senior Jordan Jones put the Colts in an early hole. However, Pueblo South responded in a big way.
Pueblo South scored 23 points in a span of 4 minutes, 42 seconds on the clock to sweep momentum to its side. The Colts (3-0) went to on a 37-20 victory on the road on the night Wheat Ridge (2-1) was celebrating its homecoming.
“Momentum just changed after that,” Pueblo South senior running back Raymond Mitchell said of his 60-yard touchdown run with 2:21 left in the first quarter started the Colts’ scoring outburst. “Our (offensive) line started taking care of what they needed to do. Holes started opening up.”
Wheat Ridge turned the ball over on its own 7-yard-line two plays later to set up Pueblo South’s next score. Junior Dennis Ramos scored on a 1-yard run with 21 seconds left in the quarter to extend the Colts’ lead to 14-6.
It was Pueblo South’s defense to get into the scoring act next. The Colts’ defensive line put pressure on Wheat Ridge junior quarterback Nicco Young with junior Isiah Pannunzio sacking Young back on the Farmers’ 7-yard-line. On the next play Young threw an incomplete pass, but Wheat Ridge was called for holding in the end zone to force a 2-point safety.
“Our kids played hard and played well for 48 minutes,” Pueblo South coach Ryan Goddard said. “They overcame some things early. We didn’t like our energy on the sideline, but we got going and made some plays.”
After a getting the ball back on offense after the safety, Pueblo South scored with 9:39 left in the second quarter on a 15-yard touchdown run by Mitchell to make the score 23-6.
Mitchell finished the game with 17 carries for 150 yards and three touchdowns.
Wheat Ridge used the ‘wildcat’ formation for a nice 80-yard scoring drive that was capped off by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Young to junior Xavier Dreiling, cutting the deficit to 23-13. The Colts struck quickly again with a 49-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nathan Spinuzzi to Pannunzio to put an exclamation point on the first half.
“The big strike to Isiah was a real momentum changer,” Goddard said of the score to give the Colts a 30-13 halftime lead.
Mitchell scored his third touchdown of the game on the Colts’ first possession of the second half to pretty much put the game out of reach.
Jones was a big bright spot for Wheat Ridge in the first loss of the season under first-year coach Dan Reardon. The senior racked up 232 yards on 21 carries and found the end zone twice.
“Jones is a good player. You have to give Wheat Ridge credit. They do a good job with him,” Goddard said. “He gashed us there a little bit. Second half I think our defense did a good job of bending, but not breaking.”
Wheat Ridge sophomore Sam Magalei, right, looks for away around Pueblo South junior Marcos Estrada. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
The Farmers’ defense came into Thursday’s contest with back-to-back shut outs on the road against Pueblo Central and Littleton. Pueblo South was able to put up 254 yards rush and an addition 60 yards through the air Thursday.
“We had the momentum, but we pretty much beat ourselves. We had fumbles. We could have done way better,” Jones said. “Pueblo South is a good team, but we are too. I’m sure we’ll see them again.”
Wheat Ridge faces another top-10 ranked team in 4A next week. No. 7 Dakota Ridge squares off against the Farmers at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 at Jeffco Stadium.
Pueblo South will get a tough test when it hosts Falcon next Friday night in a 7 p.m. kickoff before a return to the Denver area Sept. 27. The Colts square off against No. 3 Denver South at All-City Stadium in a Saturday afternoon tilt.
Pueblo South junior Dennis Ramos (28) fights for extra yards against Wheat Ridge’s defense Thursday night at Jeffco Stadium. The Colts racked up 254 yards on the ground in a 37-20 victory against the Farmers. More photos. (Dennis Pleuss)
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.
PUEBLO — Adversity only made Nate Spinuzzi stronger Friday night.
After a sluggish start, the senior Pueblo South quarterback regrouped to run for three touchdowns and pass for another vaulting the Colts to a 34-20 victory over Pueblo East in the 39th annual Cannon Game before an estimated crowd of 10,000 at Dutch Clark Stadium.
“We responded well (Friday night),” the 6-foot, 205-pound Spinuzzi said. “I had a couple of turnovers early, but when they scored we scored right after them. It’s big to win, especially being a senior, you don’t want to graduate without the Cannon. Colt Nation showed up in force and we didn’t want to disappoint them.”
South, which was ranked No. 3 in the latest Class 4A CHSAAnow.com poll, improved to 2-0. East, No. 3 in the latest 3A poll, dropped to 2-1.
“We responded when we needed to and we did a better job in the second half of talking care of the football and that helped,” said South coach Ryan Goddard, whose team had three-first half turnovers. “Plus, our defense stepped up and got some big stops. This was our most important game of the year because it was this week. Obviously, we take a lot of pride in having the Cannon. Our kids and our community, it is a big event for them.”
In the first quarter, East took a 7-0 lead when Bryson Torres ran in from two yards. The score was set up by an interception by Eagles’ defensive back Luke Padula.
Rather than wilt, Spinuzzi and the Colts came alive putting together two touchown scoring drives ending with a 1-yard sneak by Spinuzzi and then a 21-yard scamper by him.
Trailing 14-7 at intermission, East quarterback Danny Martin countered with a 17-yard scoring jaunt to get the Eagles within 14-13, but once again Spinuzzi answered, capping the Colts’ next possession with a 2-yard touchdown leap.
Martin did make things very interesting with his 2-yard run at 8:40 of the fourth quarter to cut the Colts lead to 26-20.
The Colts, however, chewed the clock with a solid running game and then Spinuzzi tossed a 20-yard touchdown pass to tight end Isiah Pannunzio with 6:03 left to seal the victory.
“Nate made plays when we needed him to,” Goddard said. “The kid is a playmaker and he’s going to make plays.”
Spinuzzi finished 13-for-26 passing for 130 yards and he also had 67 yards rushing. Martin paced East with 122 yards rushing and 145 yards passing. East sophomore Torres, who rushed for 260 yards in the first two games, was held to 76 yards.
The game was marred by penalties as East had 13 penalties for 122 yards and South was flagged for 11 times for 108 yards.
“We did some good things throughout the game, but it was frustrating because we would get to a spot where we would could feel the momentum shift and there would be a penalty or we would make a mistake on our end,” East coach David Ramirez said. “It’s something we will learn from and get better at.”
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.
