Wheat Ridge and senior Ryan Browne (3) joined the 4A boys soccer poll this week. (Dennis Pleuss)
The Classical Academy picked up a huge win over preseason No. 1 Cheyenne Mountain last week. Monday, the Titans entered CHSAANow.com’s Class 4A boys soccer ranking — all the way up at No. 2.
TCA, in its first 4A season, was runner-up in 3A last year. It beat Cheyenne Mountain, the reigning 4A champ and preseason favorite, 1-0 last Thursday.
But they were just one of four news teams to enter the 4A poll this week. Other newcomers included No. 5 D’Evelyn, No. 7 Pueblo Centennial and No. 10 Wheat Ridge.
The ranking also got a new No. 1 team in Air Academy.
The 5A poll added three new teams: No. 7 Fort Collins, No. 8 Broomfield and No. 10 Rocky Mountain. Pine Creek held firm at No. 1 in that ranking.
In 3A, Faith Christian (No. 9) and Manitou Springs (No. 10) joined the poll, which continued to be led by Salida.
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. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.
Cherry Creek 12, Fossil Ridge 12, Adams City 11, Arvada West 11, Mountain Vista 4, Loveland 3, Regis Jesuit 2, Fountain-Fort Carson 1, Grandview 1.
Dropped out
Grandview (6), Cherry Creek (9), Rangeview (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Air Academy (8)
1-0-0
89
2
2
The Classical Academy (2)
2-0-0
74
–
3
Battle Mountain
2-0-0
72
5
4
Cheyenne Mountain
0-1-0
49
1
5
D’Evelyn
2-0-0
45
–
6
Ponderosa
2-1-0
35
4
7
Pueblo Centennial
3-0-0
30
–
8
Denver North
2-0-0
28
7
9
Evergreen
0-1-0
25
3
10
Wheat Ridge
2-0-0
24
–
Others receiving votes:
Niwot 22, Montrose 10, Summit 9, Golden 8, Littleton 8, Windsor 6, Denver West 5, Valor Christian 4, Green Mountain 3, Greeley West 2, Pueblo South 1, Vista Ridge 1.
Dropped out
Niwot (6), Standley Lake (8), Centaurus (9), Pueblo West (10).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
1
Salida (5)
1-0-0
67
1
2
Colorado Academy (2)
1-0-0
65
2
3
Coal Ridge
1-0-0
50
3
4
Fountain Valley
0-0-0
49
4
5
Denver Christian
1-0-1
36
5
6
Frontier Academy
1-0-1
31
10
7
Sheridan
0-0-0
24
7
8
Kent Denver
1-1-0
22
6
9
Faith Christian
1-0-0
19
–
10
Manitou Springs
1-1-0
10
–
Others receiving votes:
Bruce Randolph 7, DSST-Stapleton 3, Arrupe Jesuit 2.
Lutheran and Lutheran South Academy meet at midfield after their game on Friday night. (Courtesy of Lutheran athletics)
Lutheran was destined to win its football game on Friday night.
Consider that while on the road in Texas, the Lions saw a 21-point lead erased; surrendered an onside kick in a tie game with less than three minutes to play; faced fourth down in overtime; and — finally — had to stop a two-point conversion attempt later in that overtime.
Lutheran lead 35-21 at halftime and seemed to be in relative control. The lead extended to 42-21 early in the third quarter, but then things got crazy.
Lutheran South Academy scored 21 unanswered points, the final touchdown coming with 48 seconds to play in the third quarter. Lutheran retook the lead at 49-42 in the fourth quarter, but Lutheran South answered with 2:58 remaining. It followed the score up with an onside kick, and recovered.
But Lutheran’s defense forced a punt, and it’s offense drove down to Lutheran South’s 35-yard-line before regulation eventually expired.
In overtime — unlike Colorado, Texas starts teams at the 25-yard-line — Lutheran had possession first but soon faced 4th-and-9. That’s when quarterback James Willis hit Joshua Clausen for a first down at the 10. Three plays later, Willis had a 3-yard score on the ground.
It was 56-49. But not for long. Lutheran South quickly scored a touchdown of its own and called timeout. Out of the break, Lutheran South went for two but was turned away.
Clausen had a monster game with 214 receiving yards and a score, and running back Jamil Bond had four rushing scores and 184 yards. Willis threw for 238 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for the winning score.
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Adams City 21, Thornton 8
Friday’s victory marked the first time since 2008 that Adams City had won a football game on the field.
The Eagles had lost 58-consecutive games on the field, though their loss to Niwot to open the 2011 season was later forfeit. In fact, dating to the 2006 season, Adams City was 4-96 heading into 2014.
Adams City made the move to Class 4A this season after years of playing in 5A.
Friday was also the first time since 2005 that the Eagles had won their opening game of the season. That year, they went 6-5.
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4A: (1) Pine Creek 34, Falcon 28 (OT)
(Photo: District 49)
All night, this game had the state buzzing: Is Falcon going to knock off the top-ranked and defending champion Eagles to start the season?
Well … no.
Falcon led 14-6 at halftime, 21-14 in the third quarter and 28-20 late in the fourth. But Pine Creek rallied to score a touchdown and convert for two with 1:02 to play in regulation.
The Eagles then stopped Falcon’s offense on its possession in overtime, and scored on its own possession a short while later.
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2A: (7) Strasburg 26, (1) Platte Valley 22
While the defending 4A champ might not have been toppled on Friday, the 2A champ was — on the road, no less.
Like many games across the state on Friday, the teams endured a lightning delay. And Strasburg coach Jeff Giger said it may have helped, especially with his team trailing by 10 at the time.
“We were able to regroup,” he told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show. “I thought the kids just battled through it. I can’t say enough about them. They worked so hard to put themselves in this position.”
Giger added that the win may be a springboard, of sorts.
“We’ve got to take it in stride, it is a season-opener, but at the same time, playing in the Patriot League as long as we did, we’ve never beaten those guys. So for the kids to get out there and do that, I think it just helps confidence. We think we have a pretty good team this year, and it’s a huge stepping stone for us starting off the season.”
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4A-3A: (2) Montrose 28, (2) Delta 21
Montrose picked up yet another big win to start the season. A week after beating rival Grand Junction, the Indians had to rally and beat Delta.
“Delta’s a heck of a team, so I was happy to get out of there with a win,” Montrose coach Todd Casebier told the Scoreboard Show.
Delta hung tough most of the game, thanks to its offense. So Montrose’s D stepped up.
“Our defense has got to carry us sometimes, and they did tonight in the second half,” Casebier said.
[divider]
1A: (1) Paonia 20, (7) Monte Vista 14
The defending 1A champion had a tough matchup to start the season, but prevailed.
“It was a fun game,” Paonia coach Brent McRae told the Scoreboard Show. “They played a heck of a ballgame. Our kids fought, their kids fought. … It was a fun night.”
[divider]
5A: (3) Cherokee Trail 35, ThunderRidge 7
Izaiah Lottie rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns, Quincy Voss had 102 and a score and Cherokee Trail cruised to a win.
Quarterback Connor Nantkes also threw a touchdown for the Cougars, who led 21-7 at halftime.
Zeke Johnson had 83 rushing yards in the loss for ThunderRidge. Quarterback Tristan Eve hit Alex O’Reilly on a 39-yard touchdown.
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Notes
Rocky Mountain kicker Alex Kinney had a 56-yard field goal in his team’s 34-7 win over Brighton. Kinney is a CU recruit.
Fossil Ridge beat Boulder 24-14 tonight, and it was apparently the first time in school history that the team had won its opener.
Another long winless streak came to an end on Friday night. Battle Mountain, coming off of consecutive 0-10 seasons, beat Middle Park 58-0 to capture its first game since Nov. 4, 2011. The losing streak spanned 21 games.
Dakota Ridge beat Taravella (Fla.) 26-3, but the two teams didn’t finish their game until close to 2 a.m. in Florida because of a late kick caused by a lightning delay in an earlier game. They actually didn’t kick off until 11:20 p.m. local time. The win improved Colorado teams to 10-4 against out-of-state competition, including a 6-1 mark on Friday. They are 10-3 on the road.
Legacy won the Mayor’s Cup by virtue of a 21-6 win over Broomfield.
Can’t wait to see this boxscore: Holy Family 66, Mountain View 47. Still, the combined 113 points doesn’t even crack the top-10 all time. The record is held by Hugo and Vona (mostly Hugo, though) at 182 points. Hugo beat Vona 176-6 in 1930.
THORNTON — Fort Collins golfer AJ Ott had a hole-in-one on the par-three No. 16 and finished with a 4-under 68 on Friday, helping the Lambkins to a fifth place finish, with an overall score of 313 among 13 teams.
Colorado State football has another in-state commitment.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported on Tuesday that Rocky Mountain offensive lineman Salofi Gaoa committed to the Rams. Gaoa told GoldandGreenNews.com that he committed last Thursday.
At 6-foot-6 and 274 pounds, Gaoa is a big body at tackle for Rocky Mountain. The senior-to-be helped the Lobos to a 5-5 record last season.
He’s the second Division I commit from Rocky Mountain’s football team this season. Punter/kicker Alex Kinney has committed to Colorado, meaning the two will be teammates as seniors, but rivals as college freshmen.
Gaoa’s addition means there are now eight Division I recruits in Colorado’s 2015 class thus far. Colorado has three of those commits, CSU and Nebraska each have two, and Wyoming has one.
Rocky Mountain’s Alex Kinney has committed to the University of Colorado, according to various media reports.
Kinney is a 6-foot-1, 197-pound kicker and punter who will be a senior for the Lobos this season. His commitment was first reported on Twitter by Chris Sailer, who runs kicking national camps as well as a service ranking kickers.
Chris Sailer ranked Kinney as the No. 3 punter and No. 22 kicker in the 2015 class nationally.
Kinney punted 40 times last season, and averaged 35.75 yards per attempt. He was also 11-of-15 on field goals with a long of 51, and made 27-of-28 extra points.
On Saturday, Kinney told BuffStampede.com that he “was pretty excited when Colorado offered, it was shocking. I didn’t really expect it at all. … I had a pretty good camp and they need a punter for next season so it worked out well.”
“I kind of wanted to get out of state but I realize in-state is great,” he added to BuffStampede.com. “Colorado is a great school, Pac-12, you can’t really beat that. They haven’t had a great record in recent seasons but I think they are going in the right direction.”
Kinney follows linemen Tim Lynott (of Regis Jesuit) and Dillon Middlemiss (of Pomona) as in-state kids from the 2015 class headed to CU.
Marco Gonzales, a 2010 graduate of Rocky Mountain, made his Major League debut for the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday — against the hometown Colorado Rockies, no less.
He allowed five earned runs on seven hits and two walks, and struck out three in five innings of work at Coors Field. True to his history as a talented two-way player, Gonzales also doubled to left-center field in his first major league at-bat and later scored.
Coors Field. (Dennis Pleuss)
Gonzales ultimately got a no-decision, but the Cardinals came back to beat the Rockies with a late rally, 9-6.
Gonzales was the winning pitcher in each of Rocky Mountain’s baseball championships from 2007-10, and remains the only high school player in Colorado history to do so.
He went on to star for Gonzaga as a left-handed pitcher and outfield/infielder. As a junior, he won the John Olerud Award award — given annually to the best two-way player in college baseball.
Gonzales was then selected by the Cardinals in the first round of the 2013 draft at No. 19 overall.
He made meteoric rise through the Cardinals’ farm system. After playing at the organization’s Rookie and High-A affiliates last season, he began 2014 at High-A, and then made seven starts for Double-A Springfield. Then, the 22-year-old Gonzales was called up on Wednesday.
Wednesday, he cruised through the first three innings — in fact, he didn’t allow a hit — but then surrendered all five earned runs in the fourth.
“It was a blast,” Gonzales told the Fort Collins Coloradoan afterward. “I had people flying in from everywhere and I’m very grateful for it. I’ve seen my fair share of games and I’ve played here a few times, so coming here and having family here was a blast.”
Gonzales is the first Colorado product to make their Major League debut this season, and the most recent since Grandview grad Kevin Gausman debuted for Baltimore in May 2013.
“(Gonzales) was really good, all things considered,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told MLB.com after the game. “First opportunity here in the situation we put him in, it was an incredible test. Hopefully he answered a lot of questions for himself about himself.”
Gonzales’ father, Frank, played baseball at La Junta, and later coached at Fort Collins. He’s now the pitching coach for the Tri-City Dust Devils, the Rockies’ short-season Class A affiliate in Washington.
The 2014 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues and coaches, and then a vote of coaches.
Players of the year were also selected by a vote of the coaches.
