BOULDER — The Class 5A boys basketball final four was held at the University of Colorado’s Coors Events Center on Friday.
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Tag: Fossil Ridge
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Unbeaten Fossil Ridge races past Mountain Vista in 5A boys semis
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) BOULDER — The only thing that was missing from the start of the 5A semifinal match-up between Fossil Ridge and Mountain Vista was a celebrity telling everyone to start their engines.
The battle for the last remaining spot in the state championship game had a feel that was more like a NASCAR race than a basketball game.
Both teams liked to get out and run in the open court and neither was shy when it came to pulling the trigger on a shot. But in the end, it was the SaberCats who really opened up the throttle and took a step closer to finishing a perfect season. Fossil Ridge walked away with a 79-62 victory over the Golden Eagles, earning a date with the Denver East Angels Saturday night for the state championship game.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) In the early minutes of the game, the two teams found themselves locked in a see-saw battle that saw the Golden Eagles take a three point lead at the end of the first quarter as freshman Issac Phillips put up an off-balance shot that rolled around the rim and dropped just as time expired.
Senior Jake Pemberton, who finished with a game high 24 points, scored the first bucket of the second quarter to extend the Mountain Vista lead to five points.
And then the SaberCats took the inside track and stepped on the gas. Evan Smith’s eight points on three consecutive possessions highlighted a 16-0 run that gave Fossil Ridge a 12-point lead and total control of the game.
“We made some defensive adjustments and I though we really did well with that,” SaberCats coach Matt Johannsen. “We just try to worry about what we’re doing and try to be as efficient as we can. I don’t know what we shot for the game, but I thought the kids shot the ball well and the moment wasn’t too big for them.”
What had been a three point lead for the Golden Eagles after the first quarter had turned into an 11 point deficit at halftime. The SaberCats kept their momentum in the third quarter as they were able to extend their lead to 20 points, which created problems for the Golden Eagles’ up-tempo style of play.
“In the first quarter they kind shocked us honestly,” senior Alex Semadeni said. “In the second quarter we really buckled down defensively and I think they only scored eight points in the second quarter compared to (24) in the first. So we really focused on the defensive end.”
The SaberCats will have to continue to shine on the defensive end as they prepare to take on one of the top players in the state in East guard Dom Collier. The Angels have been potent offensively this entire season, averaging 72 points a game, with Collier leading the charge and netting an average of 23 points each time he steps on the floor.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) When he steps on the floor tomorrow, it will be for a chance to win a state championship on the very floor that will house his college career. The added motivation of avenging last year’s state championship loss could make Collier even more difficult to stop.
“I don’t know if (shutting him down) is possible,” Johannsen said. “We’re going to defend him as well as we can and we’re going to try and make him work for what he gets and let the chips fall where they may.”
If the chips fall for the SaberCats, they will have completed an undefeated season, a feat almost unheard of in today’s sports landscape. But the focus for Fossil Ridge is far from finishing undefeated, they are only interested in winning the next game, a mentality that they have carried all year.
“(The players) are the ones that have been driving this,” Johannsen said. “They’re the ones who are saying ‘one win at a time, one practice at a time’ and they haven’t let us look forward and that’s the maturity that they have.”
Saturday’s 5A state championship game is scheduled to tip-off at 8:30 p.m. at the Coors Events Center in Boulder.
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Regis Jesuit girls cruise to second-consecutive 5A basketball title
Photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) BOULDER — If there was any question as to just how good the Regis Jesuit Raiders were, it was answered when they held a talented Fossil Ridge team without a field goal in the first quarter.
Senior Diani Akigbogun’s 21 points paced the Raiders to their second consecutive state championship with a 60-34 win over SaberCats Saturday at the Coors Events Center. An early 10-0 run ignited the Raiders who also kept constant pressure on Fossil Ridge defensively.
And they were good defensively.
A punishing first half saw Regis hold the SaberCats to only 13 points and two field goals. Fossil Ridge also committed 12 turnovers in the first two quarters, paving the way for an 18-point lead for the Raiders that would only grow in the second half.
“That’s been one of our biggest staples all year; everyone talks about how offensive these kids are and how talented they are, but our defensive unit is fantastic,” Raider coach Carl Mattei said. “We change our presses up and we work well together. We broke the game up into eight different quarters and little games and we wanted to win each game and contest each shot.”
The state championship for the Raiders concludes a season of dominance against Colorado teams. The Raiders faced teams from outside the state while playing in the Nike Tournament of Champions in December where they suffered one of their two losses on the season, dropping their first game of the tournament to Long Beach Poly. Their second loss came in the Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout where lost to the Incarnate Word Academy out of St. Louis.
Photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) But they owned the competition inside the state of Colorado. Their toughest game proved to be a 13-point win over Horizon back on Dec. 13. But their average margin of victory totaled out to be over 40 points a game, cementing their status as one of the most dominant teams in Colorado history.
“It feels great, it just feels so amazing to come out here and have played with so much heart and so much passion and to come out on top,” senior Justine Hall said. “We gave it our everything out on the court, we just came ready to play and we came out on top. We knew we had to key on Savannah (Smith), one of their best players, and we just had to play really tight (defense).”
Saturday’s win completes a four-year journey for Hall, as well as Akigbogun, Anna Ptasinski, Neffie Lockley and Kelsi Lidge who all contributed greatly to the program in their time with the Raiders.
Mattei couldn’t ask for a better ending for those seniors, who have put together a very memorable run in their time with the program.
“They’re just incredible. To go 101-11 and play a national schedule and with every one of these kids to go play in college, it’s a special group,” Mattei said. “It’s like my 2009 group. We had seven and went to one state, it took five years to get back but I am so proud of these kids.”
Photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) For the SaberCats, their story is far from over. Though they lose plenty of talent in Smith, they return the bulk of their team next and should be in position to contend for a state title once again.
And while the sting of Saturday’s loss will hurt, coach Chad Salz knows that there is no shame in losing to the Raiders.
“With six Division I players, (Regis) is pretty darn good,” SaberCats coach Chad Slaz said. “We came out scared and timid and it showed in the first quarter score. We just dug ourselves a hole and it’s hard to dig out of it the all game against a team like that.”
For Salz and the SaberCats there’s always next year, but Saturday is all about the accomplishments for the Raiders. Taking the early lead allowed them to control the pace of the game leave little doubt as to the outcome.
Their dominance they showed through the course of the season will become the stuff of legends when enough time has passed for reflection. But there’s plenty of time to ponder how this team will be remembered. Saturday the Regis Jesuits Raiders got enjoy being the queens of basketball in Colorado for the second straight year. And nothing can take that feeling away from them.
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Photos: 5A girls basketball semifinals at CU
BOULDER — The Class 5A girls basketball final four was held at the University of Colorado’s Coors Events Center on Thursday.
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Regis Jesuit 58, Poudre 35
Fossil Ridge 65, Grandview 54
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Fossil Ridge girls basketball advances to first title game in program history
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) BOULDER — The Grandview Wolves rode the wave of freshman Michaela Onyenwere to the state final four, but it was the senior leadership of Fossil Ridge’s Savannah Smith that would be their undoing.
The Sabercats beat the Wolves 65-54 behind Smith’s game-high 23 points to put the Sabercats in their first state championship game in school history. They are set to face the Regis Jesuit Raiders on Saturday.
Smith’s offensive output didn’t come easy as a slow start forced her to contribute in other ways for her team. She spread her herself out through every aspect of the game during the first half, pulling down three rebounds, dishing out two assists and even coming up with a big blocked shot as the Sabercats built a 29-22 lead at the break.
“Savannah has kind of had that look in her eye since state playoffs started, that she didn’t want to go home,” coach Chad Salz said. “She put us on her back pretty much night in and night out and it’s been nice.”
More photos (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) To pick up for the lull in Smith’s scoring, junior Brooke Pemberton scored 10 points in the first half which equaled her averages points per game on the season. Her 18 points complimented Smith’s second half performance. What makes Pemberton’s performance that much more impressive is that she had not practiced since the team’s elite eight win over Dakota Ridge.
But as usual for Fossil Ridge, when one player is struggling to score baskets, the team will step up and rally together to advance toward their goal being the best team in the 5A class.
“It was nice to see, we’ve kind of done that all year,” Salz said. “It always one or the other, it’s starting to take over games. One will do one quarter really well and so on. It’s a tough match-up for people.”
The second half was when Smith finally found her groove. Shots starting falling and she came away scoring 17 points in the half to help her team advance. The key for her was to stay patient, allow her teammates to continue playing well and taking advantage of the shot opportunities she was given.
“I tried to pick up my intensity (in the second half),” Smith said. “I always play better when I’m playing as hard as I can and playing fast.”
Defensively, the key for the Sabercats was slowing down Onyenwere. She was held to five first half points which was essential for Fossil Ridge to build on their lead as the game progressed. Eventually, the Wolves were able to work their offense through Onyenwere in the second half, but it was too little, too late.
“We watched tape and we saw that she was a really good player,” Pemberton said. “We knew it was important to keep her controlled and keep her off the glass so we could come out with a win.”
The only thing now standing between Fossil Ridge and their first state title is arguably the best team in the state. Salz and his team will have a brief chance to enjoy their trip to the title game before having to face the reality of preparing for the Raiders.
“You’ve got to beat the best to be the best,” Salz said. “We’ll have to talk to our recruiting coach and see what he saw. It’s a quick turnaround and we know we have our hands full.”
The 5A state championship game will tip off at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Coors Events Center.
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Top-10 girls soccer schedule for the week of March 10
A complete schedule and scoreboard for girls soccer’s top-10 teams this week.
Class 5A 1 Mountain Vista 0-0-0 Tues: at (7) Fort Collins Thurs: vs. Grandview 2 Rock Canyon 1-0-0 Off this week. 3 Fossil Ridge 2-0-1 Mon: W 9-1 at Highlands Ranch Tues: W 2-0 at (4A 3) Palmer Ridge 4 Legacy 1-0-0 Tues: vs. Heritage Thurs: vs. (4A 2) Broomfield Fri: vs. Standley Lake 5 Fairview 1-0-0 Tues: at Adams City Wed: W 10-0 vs. Overland 6 Cherry Creek 1-0-0 Wed: W 3-2 vs. (3A 1) Colorado Academy 7 Fort Collins 0-0-0 Tues: vs. (1) Mountain Vista 8 Liberty 0-2-0 Wed: L 1-2 vs. Legend Fri: at TBD (Tournament) Sat: at TBD (Tournament) 9 Pine Creek 1-0-0 Wed: W 5-0 vs. Denver East Thurs: at TBD (Tournament) Fri: at TBD (Tournament) Sat: at TBD (Tournament) 10 Ralston Valley 2-0 Wed: W 7-0 at Golden Fri: vs. Rangeview Class 4A 1 Cheyenne Mountain 2-0-1 Tues: W 1-0 vs. Doherty Thurs: vs. Doherty 2 Broomfield 1-0-0 Tues: vs. Mountain Range Thurs: at (5A 4) Legacy Sat: vs. (9) Lewis-Palmer 3 Palmer Ridge 0-1-0 Tues: L 0-2 vs. (5A 3) Fossil Ridge Thurs: at (3) Palmer Ridge 4 Valor Christian 1-0-0 Tues: at Discovery Canyon Thurs: vs. Heritage Sat: at (8) Centaurus 5 Air Academy 0-1-0 Off this week. 6 Wheat Ridge 1-0-0 Mon: W 2-1 vs. Dakota Ridge Thurs: at Columbine Sat: at TBD (Tournament) 7 Mullen 0-0-0 Wed: vs. Bear Creek Sat: at Castle View 8 Centaurus 2-0-0 Tues: W 6-1 vs. The Academy Thurs: vs. Silver Creek Sat: vs. (4) Valor Christian 9 Lewis-Palmer 1-0-1 Wed: T 0-0 at Ponderosa Thurs: at Canon City Sat: at (2) Broomfield 10 Green Mountain 0-1-0 Mon: L 1-4 vs. Columbine Thurs: at Dakota Ridge Sat: at TBD (Tournament) Class 3A 1 Colorado Academy 0-1-0 Wed: L 2-3 vs. (5A 6) Cherry Creek Thurs: at TBD (Tournament) Fri: at TBD (Tournament) Sat: at TBD (Tournament) 2 The Classical Academy 0-0-0 Tues: vs. (3) Peak to Peak 3 Peak to Peak 0-0-0 Tues: at (2) The Classical Academy Thurs: at Niwot Sat: vs. (7) Frontier Academy 4 Kent Denver 0-0-0 Tues: at (7) Frontier Academy Fri: at Fruita Monument Sat: at TBD (Tournament) 5 Holy Family 0-0-0 Tues: at Skyview Academy 6 St. Mary’s 0-0-0 Fri: vs. Widefield 7 Frontier Academy 0-0-0 Tues: vs. (4) Kent Denver Sat: at (3) Peak to Peak 8 Coal Ridge 0-0-0 Mon: vs. Vail Mountain Thurs: at Moffat County 9 Manitou Springs 1-0-0 Tues: W 10-0 vs. James Irwin Thurs: at Fountain Valley Sat: at Mitchell 10 Faith Christian 0-0-0 Tues: vs. Northglenn -
Fossil Ridge boys basketball moves to program’s first final four
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com) DENVER — Brandon Bodnar had a relatively silent first half Friday night, knocking down a lone second-quarter basket.
The Fossil Ridge senior and his teammates were anything but quiet coming out of halftime.
Bodnar and fellow seniors Evan Smith and Alex Semadeni combined to score the SaberCats’ first 17 points of the second half, igniting a run that broke open the Class 5A state quarterfinal against Arapahoe and eventually led to a 68-58 victory at the Denver Coliseum.
What was a five-point lead morphed into a 20-point cushion early in the fourth quarter.
“I’m glad our offense started to pick it up,” Bodnar said. “We kind of got in that flow. It’s weird coming into a new place and kind of a new atmosphere, but in the second half I think we adjusted well.”
More photos. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com) Fossil Ridge (26-0) is the only undefeated team still in the field and will meet either Mountain Vista or Eaglecrest in the state semifinals March 14 at the CU Events Center in Boulder.
It marks the first time the SaberCats have reached this stage.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” Fossil Ridge coach Matt Johannsen said. “The only thing we can do is keep doing what we do. That’s been our motto all year, is do what we do.”
Semadeni and Smith each scored 18 points to pace the SaberCats, with Semadeni adding 10 rebounds. Bodnar finished with nine points.
Arapahoe (20-6) used a second-quarter surge to pull to within two points, but a three-point play by Matt Laine just before halftime turned the momentum back in Fossil Ridge’s favor. Bodnar and Smith each hit their first three shots of the second half, with Bodnar’s three-point play upping the lead to 10 for the first time all night.
“I think it’s a testament to how good the kids are and how mature they are,” Johannsen said. “We didn’t let the environment get to us. I thought in the beginning we were a little jittery, but after that we settled down and we played great.”
Ethan Brunhofer had a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds for Arapahoe and Corbin Atwell added 18 points. The Warriors had knocked Fossil Ridge out of the Sweet 16 a year ago.
“It definitely feels good, but they were a heck of a team,” Bodnar said. “They were aggressive and (Brunhofer) scored 22 on us. I respect them a lot, but we’re happy to come out with a win.”
Fossil Ridge’s height advantage played a crucial role as well. The SaberCats out-rebounded the Warriors 39-22, pulling down 15 offensive boards while notching 13 second-chance points.
“I think the height advantage helped. I thought it helped with our defense as well,” Johannsen said. “I thought it gave them some problems when they went to the basket. When they attacked the basket, we had some big guys waiting for them there.”
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Photos: 5A boys basketball’s Great 8 at the Denver Coliseum
DENVER — The 5A boys basketball Great 8 was held at the Denver Coliseum on Friday night.
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Fossil Ridge forces 24 turnovers en route to Great 8 win vs. Dakota Ridge
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) DENVER — Playing in one of the tougher Class 5A girls basketball conferences has helped steel Fossil Ridge for the playoffs.
The SaberCats (20-1) turned it up a notch on Thursday, forcing 24 turnovers in advancing to next week’s state semifinals in Boulder with a 60-50 win over Dakota Ridge.
“It started from day one,” Fossil Ridge coach Chad Salz said of the mission of reaching the final four.
“Playing in a tough (Front Range) conference helped,” he said, the SaberCats’ only loss this season coming to another final four qualifier, Poudre.
More photos. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com) Dakota Ridge struggled against the SaberCats’ stifling defense, which forced 24 turnovers.
On the offensive end, Savannah Smith and Kellee Willer paced Fossil Ridge, scoring both outside and driving into the paint to combine for 20 points as the SaberCats forged a 26-15 halftime lead.
Smith came out on fire in the third quarter, scoring on a pair of three-point plays within a minute of each other and producing another layup as Fossil Ridge pulled away to a 17-point lead by the end of the third.
Smith, who scored a game-high 29 points before fouling out with 4:46 remaining, said Salz set the tone in the halftime locker room.
“Coach told us to pick it up,” she said.
Her penetration into the lane was a key factor in the SaberCats’ ability to keep the Eagles at bay despite limited production from Brooke Pemberton, who is nursing a sore ankle.
“That’s always my style,” Smith said of being unafraid to attack the basket, despite often times being the smallest player on the court.
Willer helped by adding 12 points and, more importantly, eight rebounds.
Jae Ferrin paced Dakota Ridge with 18 points underneath while Caitlin Navratil added 15 from the outside.
Smith and Salz both said the SaberCats’ effort on one end of the court must improve in order for them to win their final two games.
“We’ve got to do some fine-tuning defensively,” Salz said
“For us (to succeed) we’ve got to pick up our defense,” Smith echoed.
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Fossil Ridge grinds out tough win over Legend in 5A boys Sweet 16
(Brock Laue) FORT COLLINS — It was the type of back-and-forth affair typical in these later-round tournament games. The type of game Fossil Ridge coach Matt Johannsen thinks his guys don’t get enough credit for being able to win.
“We haven’t gotten a lot of credit this year for having hard-nosed kids and kids that aren’t going to give up. They had us down several times,” Johannsen said after a 60-53 survival of No. 5-seeded Legend in the Class 5A Sweet 16 Wednesday night.
Fossil, the No. 1 seed in the Chauncey Billups Region, moved to 25-0 this season.
(Brock Laue) “I’ll tell anyone that I think Kevin is one of the top one or two coaches in the state,” Johannsen added about Kevin Boley, the coach at Legend. “When we opened Fossil Ridge ten years ago and he was at Broomfield, I said this is what we want to pattern our program after. Playing him sucks, because one of us is going to go home and he’s a good friend of mine, but it didn’t surprise me that they played that well.”
Said Fossil’s senior point guard Evan Smith: “Legend is very underrated. I think they should’ve gotten a higher seed than they did. They’re a tough team and played in a tough conference.”
In a game with several ties and lead changes, Fossil Ridge took early command with smothering defense and a power outage offensively for Legend. The Titans didn’t score until 1:45 remaining in the first, and the SaberCats held an 11-4 lead after one.
Legend’s 6-foot-4 athletic wing, Elijah Cherrington, decided to put on the superman cape in the second and drained five 3-pointers, scoring 17 of the Titans’ 22 points to give Legend a 26-24 halftime lead. Cherrington was unconscious and went 5-of-5 from downtown in the quarter. He ignited a fantastic game.
“We knew Elijah could shoot a little bit,” Johannsen said about Cherrington, “but he’s only shooting 27 percent (from 3) on the year and then he comes out with a little bit of confidence after he hit his first two and it really snowballed from there. Give him credit. He did a great job shooting the ball. He got shots, we had guys running at him, man he’s a player.”
But, Johannsen added of his team trailing in stretches — a rarity this season, “They didn’t hang their heads and I guess that’s the biggest thing that I really appreciated about them.”
Legend opened with a 30-25 lead in the third, Fossil’s largest deficit of the game, but the SaberCats quickly roared back on the play of Evan Smith, Ryan Quaid, Brandon Bodnar and Matt Laine.
Legend’s talented sophomore point guard, Riley Matticks, cashed a 3-point runner to tie the game at 40 headed into the final quarter.
Monroe Porter, another of Legend’s sophomore studs, was keyed on by Fossil’s defensive gameplan throughout.
“We wanted to limit Porter’s looks. We knew he was a good shooter,” Johannsen said.
Porter was snuffed out offensively until he pulled up for a deep, contested trey with 56 seconds left. The shot brought Legend within one, 54-53.
(Brock Laue) Fossil, displaying its hard-nosed toughness and refusal to lose, answered at the other end with a pair of Sawyer Novak free-throws.
Legend’s Riley Matticks drove hard to the basket the next play looking for an easy two, but was rejected by Smith, a surprisingly bouncy six-foot point guard who played with amazing fire throughout.
Legend inbounded to a wide open Zach Mihalicz down low but Mihalicz, who had some nice moments in the game, missed the layup and Fossil closed out the victory.
Evan Smith had 12 points, all of them critical for the SaberCats. He added six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and seemed to make a play every time Fossil needed one. The senior is an ultra-competitive player with a high basketball intelligence.
“Evan’s a stud,” Johannsen said. “You see three years of being a varsity starter and just understanding what we need to do. He understands being patient, he can go to the basket, he can shoot, he’s a good defender. He’s got long arms, he causes a lot of problems on defense. He’s our floor general. He makes us go.”
Fossil showed their tremendous resiliency, confidence, and depth late in the game with the amount of big plays made by several different players.
“We really believe in ourselves,” Smith said. “We knew we could come back and get it. We never felt out of it at any time.”
Cherrington finished 8-of-10 from 3 and had 23 points for Legend. Matticks chipped in eight, but Cherrington didn’t get quite enough help offensively to lead the Titans to an upset. Legend concludes its season 17-9.
Sawyer Novak led Fossil Ridge with 13 points, Bodnar had nine points and Laine scored eight. Bodnar had back-to-back crucial baskets in the fourth quarter to keep the pressure high on Legend in the tough road environment.
Fossil Ridge will face consistent power Arapahoe (20-5), the No. 3 seed in the region, at the Denver Coliseum in the program’s second Great 8 in history on Friday.
Johannsen has reiterated this season the team’s single-minded focus on how they perform and not how others view them.
“People complain about our schedule,” Johannsen said. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve got kids that are going to play hard and we buy into. We’re going to play hard and let the chips fall where they may.”