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 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.
Pine Creek players celebrate their 4A football title. More photos. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
DENVER — Pine Creek senior Matt List gave a kiss to the Class 4A state football trophy and proudly handed it off to a teammate Saturday afternoon at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
“This is indescribable,” said List after his Eagles defeated Montrose 49-14 in the 4A final. “We played our hearts out and the score shows it. We played a great game. I’m so excited for the guys, happy for the seniors and the community.”
It was the second trip to the state championship football game for Pine Creek (12-2) in three years. The team from Colorado Springs lost in the 4A title game to Valor in 2011. List, who started in the 2011 championship game, pointed out a group of seniors from the state runner-up squad who came out Saturday to support this year’s championship team.
Montrose (12-2) was attempting to win its first football title since 1950.
No. 3 Pine Creek’s rushing attack of seniors Austin Schultz, Lavanson Coffey and Scott Savage was too much for top-seeded Montrose to handle. The trio combined for 334 yards on the ground and five touchdowns. List and junior Avery Anderson both added rushing touchdowns. The Eagles scored all seven touchdowns on rushes.
“It’s all the O-line,” List said. “They played a great game.”
Pine Creek coach Todd Miller broke propensity on Pine Creek’s first scoring drive, calling on Coffey to run the ball. The fullback had three carries for 40 yards on the drive, including a 21-yard touchdown run to cap things off.
“(Coffey) is our heart and soul,” Miller said. “He blocks and does all the things nobody wants to do. If he was at any other school he’d be carrying the ball.”
Coffey finished the game with 79 yards on just seven carries.
“(Coffey) is such a great fullback and he deserves to get his own highlights,” Schultz said.
Just over a minute after Coffey’s touchdown, Pine Creek scored on a 30-yard touchdown run by Schultz to widen the Eagles’ lead to 14-0.
Schultz had a monster first half with 11 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns. Schultz’s second touchdown carry in the first half capped off a 13-play, 93-yard scoring drive. The Eagles took a 21-7 lead in at halftime. He finished with 178 yards on 20 carries.
“Austin just runs hard,” Miller said. “If you know the kid you’ll like him even better. He has great passion.”
Pine Creek scored two quick touchdowns on both 1-play drives in the second half to take a 35-7 lead. Savage took a reverse for a 59-yard touchdown and Schultz scored on a 45-yard run after Montrose turned the ball over on downs.
“We didn’t play great, but Pine Creek is a reason why we didn’t play great,” Montrose coach Todd Casebier said. “Give them credit. It was their day.”
Montrose senior Angelo Youngren was instrumental in both of Indians’ touchdowns. The tailback scored from 2 yards out to finish a 16-play, 51-yard touchdown drive early in the second quarter to cut Pine Creek’s lead to 14-7.
Youngren caught a 57-yard touchdown pass from Montrose junior quarterback Kameron DeVincentis in the fourth quarter on a fourth-down play. The Indians’ tailback missed a handful of games this season with a broken hand and broken collarbone finished with 64 yards rushing and two catches for 63 yards.
“We came up short, but we left it all out on the field,” Youngren said. “Our seniors are happy that we got Montrose here to play on this field.”
Junior Mike Rocha led the Indians in rushing with 84 yards, but Montrose had just three carries over 10 yards.
“We tackled very well,” Miller said. “We didn’t want to give up big plays and we did.”
Pine Creek’s defense also forced four Montrose turnovers to aid in the Eagles winning their school’s first state football title.
“Our defense is phenomenal,” Schultz said. “A great core of linebackers really leads the team with Matt List, Josh Odom and Kacin Nowlin. I could not ask for a better defense.”
Pine Creek players celebrate with the 4A championship trophy. More photos. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Montrose coach Todd Casebier, left, and Pine Creek coach Todd Miller. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
DENVER — When Pine Creek football coach Todd Miller looks at game film of his opponent — Montrose — for the upcoming Class 4A football championship game he sees a mirror image of his own team.
“I look on film and Montrose is the same as us,” said Miller during Tuesday’s press conference for the 4A title game, scheduled to kickoff at 11 a.m. Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
Top-seeded Montrose (12-1) and No. 3 Pine Creek (11-2) have used physical play on both sides of the ball to reach the championship game. The three losses both teams have combined for this season all came to 5A squads — Grand Junction, Columbine and Lakewood — which all made the 32-team 5A postseason field.
Montrose will attempt to win its first football title since 1950, while the Pine Creek Eagles will attempt to win the school’s first football championship trophy.
“In order to be the champion you have to beat the best teams,” Montrose coach Todd Casebier said Tuesday after flying in from the Western Slope for the press conference. “I think it’s a perfect situation where we have to beat the best.”
The detail that Montrose and Pine Creek scored victories against last year’s 4A state champion, Monarch, during the season is glaring evidence that the two best 4A teams in the state will square off for the state title Saturday. The Montrose Indians knocked off Monarch in late September. The Pine Creek Eagles pulled off the same feat in the semifinals last week. Both victories were on Monarch’s home field.
Pine Creek beat Monarch in last week’s semifinals. (Pam Wagner)
“The fact that we beat Monarch, and Pine Creek beat them, I do believe the best two teams are playing,” Casebier said. “Now it’s about who plays the best on Saturday.”
One of the most important battles Saturday will pit Montrose’s vaunted ground game versus Pine Creek’s stingy defense. Indians’ running backs Mike Rocha (1,492 yards, 26 touchdowns) and Angelo Youngren (995 yards, nine touchdowns), along with Montrose’s offensive line, will attempt to find a weakness in the Eagles’ defense that held Monarch to 133 yards and no offensive touchdowns last week.
“The offensive line has been the mainstay of our offense,” Casebier said. “It starts up front for us.”
Youngren has been sensational during the Indians’ postseason run. The senior missed a handful of games during the season with a broken hand and then broken collarbone, but since returning to the field for the playoffs, Youngren has 490 yards rushing and five touchdowns in three playoff games.
“Anytime (Youngren) touches it, he can go,” Miller said. “He makes people miss in the hole and has great vision.”
Miller gives credit to his defensive coordinator Andy Colgate for Pine Creek’s defensive success. The Eagles have held six of their opponents to single digits.
The Eagles’ starting linebacker core of Matt List, Josh Odom, Kacin Nowlin and JoJo Domann will have the task of slowing down the Indians’ running game.
“We do play on a razor’s edge,” Miller said of his defense. “We aren’t really big, but we play very physical and hard. Since the playoffs I think we’ve kicked it up just a notch.”
Pine Creek does have some recent familiarity playing in the championship game. The Eagles faced Valor Christian in the 2011 4A title game. Pine Creek suffered a 66-10 loss.
“The experience was great, being a young pup out there,” said List, who started as a sophomore in the championship game. “The loss was tough. It was tough on the seniors. What I took from that is I didn’t want my senior class to go through what they went through. We are going for that ring this year. We are putting everything on the line.”
The total population of nearly 19,000 in Montrose County might very well descend on Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Saturday. Despite a five-hour drive covering 300-mile to Denver, Casebier expects a good crowd from the Western Slope.
“It will be one of those deals where the last one out shuts the lights off,” Casebier said. “Hopefully we’ll have a great following. We’ve had a great following all year. Our town does a great job supporting us.”
DENVER — Saturday looks to be an offensive showdown for the Class 5A football championship.
Both coaches of the finalists, from Fairview and Valor Christian, praised their opponent’s offense on Tuesday morning at the annual press conference held in advance of the Class 4A and 5A championship football games at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
It makes sense: Valor Christian (602 total points, 46.3 per game) and Fairview (540 points, 45.0 per game) are the two highest-scoring offenses in Colorado, regardless of class.
“Much is known about their prolific passing offense, but also being able to run the ball when they need to do that, “Valor Christian coach Rod Sherman said of Fairview. “Exceptional quarterback, receivers all over the field that can make plays — I think it’s going to be quite a track meet on Saturday.”
Fairview wide receiver Sam Martin has already set the single season record for receiving yardage — he’s up to 1,719 — and the Knights also have weapons like Cam Frazier (20 total touchdowns), Daniel Hoskins (seven scores), Jason Harvey (six) and Owen Harris (three).
Fairview quarterback Anders Hill, left, and Valor Christian quarterback A.J. Cecil. More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Of course, there’s also quarterback Anders Hill, who has thrown for a state-best 3,659 yards and 35 touchdowns.
“I feel like their quarterback is the best quarterback in the state,” Sherman said. “He doesn’t miss open guys and can thread the needle.”
Valor Christian, meanwhile, has scored 86 total touchdowns, a figure that tops the state. (Fairview is second with 72.) The Eagles are led by senior do-everything back Christian McCaffrey, whose 42 total touchdowns lead Colorado.
“Valor scores a lot of points, and they don’t give up much,” Fairview coach Tom McCartney said. “They have great size, they have great speed. They love to give the ball to No. 5 (McCaffrey), and that’s pretty smart. That’s probably what we would do, too.
“Offensively, you’ve got to be prepared for so many different things. Sometimes, we’ll see (McCaffrey) to the right, sometimes we’ll see him to the left, sometimes we’ll see him in the backfield. Sometimes, the quarterback will take off and (McCaffrey is) now the quarterback. So there’s a lot going on with him, and we have tremendous respect for him.”
Valor quarterback A.J. Cecil has thrown for 1,974 yards this season and 29 touchdowns. He also has 406 rushing yards and eight scores.
“Their quarterback, he can hurt you with his arm, he can hurt with with his feet,” McCartney said. “So they have so many different things they can do.”
Valor Christian has won four consecutive state championship over three classifications.
“We don’t talk a lot about the tradition, the past. Every year’s different, every team’s different,” Sherman said. “We’re certainly thankful to be able to be playing here again, and we’re excited.”
Fairview last won a championship in 1987, when it took 4A.
Montrose, Pine Creek readying to play for 4A title
Pine Creek coach Todd Miller, left, and Montrose coach Todd Casebier. More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Todd Casebier took a plane to Mile High. Well, not directly to the stadium, but from Montrose to Denver. It made for a shorter trip.
And, the Montrose coach joked, he needed all the time he could get. Because, “After seeing Pine Creek here, I’ve got to get home in a hurry to practice.”
The drive from Montrose to Denver is roughly five hours. So, to ensure he made it home for practice, Casebier took a trip on his brother’s plane in order to speak at Tuesday’s press conference
“We got up early and our principal and our AD are both here,” Casebier said. “We’ll get back for practice.”
The 4A matchup features Casebier’s top-seeded Indians and No. 3 Pine Creek (11-2).
“I know everyone says they have respect for their opponent, but it’s pretty simple for us: Montrose is trying to get to where Pine Creek is,” Casebier said. “We played Monarch earlier in the year, and the two best programs in 4A are Monarch and Pine Creek. It turns out we’re going to play them both in the same season.
“They set the bar high, the way they do things, the way their kids play, the way they prepare. … In order to be a champion, you have to beat the best teams. I think it’s a perfect situation in that we have to beat the best.”
Montrose will face a Pine Creek team that really like to spread the ball around among its players. Nine different Eagles have scored rushing touchdowns this season.
“It’s just a selfless group. No one really cares about who gets their carries,” Pine Creek coach Todd Miller said. “We wear ‘One Team’ on the back of our jerseys for a reason. In a society that’s very selfish, we’ve got a bunch of selfless guys.”
Montrose is in search of its first football championship since winning Class A in 1950. Pine Creek has never won a championship, but appeared in the 2011 4A title game.
