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.
Is there a clear-cut favorite in Class 5A softball? Three weeks into the season, it doesn’t appear that way.
For the second week in a row, there is a new No. 1-ranked team. Dakota Ridge takes over atop CHSAANow.com’s poll, and follows Legacy (preseason) and Brighton (last week) as top teams in the classification.
The Eagles are 7-2-0 this season and went 2-1 last week with wins over Castle View and Erie. Dakota Ridge also beat Legend earlier this season, but did drop a game to Mountain Range last week.
Brighton dropped to No. 2 following a loss to Columbine last week. Legend moved up to No. 3 after going 3-0 last week with wins over Cherokee Trail, Eaglecrest and Grandview.
Mountain Range, meanwhile, moved up to No. 4 from No. 9. Legacy rounds out 5A’s top five teams.
Columbine is the lone newcomer in 5A, joining at No. 10.
Frederick (4A) and Strasburg (3A), the other two No. 1 teams, stayed the same this week.
4A added Windsor (No. 8) this week, while 3A added Brush (No. 9) and Skyline (No. 10).
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.
Fairview senior Johnny Feauto (17), pictured last season after a win in the Class 5A semifinals. (Kai Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Fairview’s offense was supposed to take a hit after graduating its quarterback and three leading receivers. Right?
Yeah, right.
The Knights, ranked No. 7 in this week’s poll, not only picked up right where they left off last Saturday, they expanded upon what last year’s near-record setting offense did on its way to football’s Class 5A championship game last season.
Led by senior Johnny Feauto, their “new” quarterback — more on that later — Fairview racked up 510 passing yards and 712 yards of total offense in its 58-28 win at Grand Junction.
The passing yards now rank No. 3 in the state record book, while the total offense is No. 10.
Here’s what’s scary: Fairview trailed Grand Junction 14-0 after the first quarter.
Last season, Anders Hill and Feauto combined to throw for 4,005 yards. It was only the third time in state history that a program had surpassed the 4,000-yard mark in passing. But Hill, now at Columbia, accounted for 3,878 of that — which is No. 4 all-time in state history for a single season.
Still, Feauto didn’t come out of nowhere. As a sophomore, he played in six games in relief of an injured Hill and threw for 2,316 yards and 21 touchdowns. In fact, his 414 yards on Saturday are just the third-most of Feauto’s career. He had outputs of 433 and 429 yards as a sophomore.
With a fully-healthy Hill back last season, Feauto focused on his role at cornerback and had six interceptions — including two in the semifinals against ThunderRidge.
Anyway, on Saturday, Feauto also had 122 rushing yards. That put his total output at 536 yards, which is now No. 7 all-time.
So this offense, despite losing guys like Hill, Sam Martin, Cam Frazier and Owen Harris, is still very potent. Because of Feauto, and because of other guys like Thomas Creese — who threw for the other 96 passing yards on Saturday — Carlo Kemp (two rushing touchdowns), David McWilliams (202 receiving yards, two touchdowns), Connor May (94 receiving yards, two touchdowns), Tim Ryan (109 all-purpose yards) and Steve D’Epagnier (41 receiving yards).
If anything, they’re just upholding tradition. Historically, Fairview has had one of the state’s best offenses.
The Knights own the Nos. 3 and 4 total marks for passing yards in a season. In addition to the 2013 mark of 4,005 yards, the program threw for 3,977 in 2002. Fairview also sits Nos. 1 and 2 in the record books for passes attempted and completed by a team in a season. And Martin, now at Miami of Ohio, holds the state records for catches (112) and receiving yards (1,860) in a season.
[divider]
Jefferson Academy’s Kupcho plays well at Colorado Women’s Open
(Courtesy of Mike Kupcho)
Jefferson Academy senior Jennifer Kupcho, last season’s Class 4A girls golf champion, finished tied for second at the Colorado Women’s Open last weekend. She finished at 1-under (215) over the three-day event, and actually held the lead after the first day at 6-under.
Kupcho was the top-placing amateur of the event.
“It’s really exciting to finish that high up in a pro tournament,” she told BoCoPreps afterward.
Other notable finishers:
2014 Cherry Creek grad Calli Ringsby (tied for 24th)
2010 Doherty graduate Paige Crawford (tied for 28th)
2012 Regis Jesuit graduate Kathleen Kershisnik (tied for 38th)
Columbine football hadn’t lost its opening game since 2006. Last week, the Rebels started 0-2. I can’t find the last time that happened in the program’s history. That said, both losses were five-point games. Columbine is off then week, then hosts Bear Creek next Friday.
Pueblo West boys soccer beat Lewis-Palmer 6-5 last Friday. Jaydon Moreschini, a senior, scored all six goals for the Cyclones.
Valor Christian quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, a sophomore, has been classified as an a four-star recruit by Scout.
More preseason volleyball honors for Lewis-Palmer’s Alexa Smith and Eaglecrest’s Jordyn Poulter: Both were named to High School Illustrated’s preseason All-American team.
Sticking with volleyball: Thomas Jefferson’s Jessica Jackson, a senior, was selected to play on an all-star team from the United States in Europe this summer.
Regis Jesuit announced that former DU defenseman Zach Blom, a member of the Pioneers’ 2005 national championship team, has joined its hockey program as an assistant.
Colorado’s mark on Wyoming football program has long been undeniable, but that seems extra true this season. Two Colorado products have been named captains of Wyoming’s football team: Grandview grad Eddie Yarbrough (a defensive end) and Palmer grad Dominic Rufran (a wide receiver). Rufran will start at wide receiver — along with former Grandview star Tanner Gentry. In all, 20 products of Colorado high schools are on Wyomong’s roster — including four 2014 grads. By comparison, CSU has 40 Colorado products on its roster this season and CU has 26.
Christian McCaffrey, who graduated from Valor Christian in May after an outstanding athletic career, had an electric debut for Stanford football on Saturday. We are all well aware of McCaffrey’s versatility — his 8,839 all-purpose yards are a state record — and he showed it in the Cardinal’s win against UC Davis. He had this 52-yard touchdown reception — the first of his career — and a 44-yard punt return. McCaffrey had one rush for 10 yards, the 52 receiving yards, returned three punts for 60 yards, and was even on kickoff coverage. Said Stanford offensive coordinator Mike Bloombgren to sfgate.com: “Nah, that didn’t surprise me. I’m not sure he’ll be able to do anything to surprise me anymore.”
2014 Falcon graduate Kalen Ballage also scored a touchdown in his debut for Arizona State last week. He finished with 37 yards on 12 attempts. Still, Ballage told the Arizona Republic, “I definitely want to be better. Now that I hit the ground running and got the first game out of the way, I’ll be able to just play.”
2010 Rocky Mountain graduate Marco Gonzales picked up his first MLB win on Saturday. “It feels pretty rewarding,” Gonzales told MLB.com afterward. He made his debut in June.
Another recent addition to football’s record book: Holy Family just recently submitted the career (2011-13) numbers for former quarterback David Sommers. His 8,326 yards of total offense are No. 10 all-time.
Former Pine Creek setter Rory McCloy was named the NJCAA Division I national player of the week last week. Now at Laramie County Community College in Wyoming, she had 175 assists in her team’s first four matches — and averaged 10.9 per set. She’s currently leading the nation in assists with 345.
Jefferson Academy alum Ally Thimsen, a 2014 graduate, was named the Big Sky offensive player of the week after recording two goals and an assist in one game.
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.
Frederick is the new No. 1 team in 4A softball this week. (Courtesy of Michelle Camacho)
It’s a week for change in softball. All three classifications got new No. 1 teams when CHSAANow.com’s rankings were released on Monday.
Brighton takes over in Class 5A. The Bulldogs are just 1-0-0, but their lone win came over then-No. 5 Eaglecrest — which owns wins over three ranked teams. Eaglecrest is No. 2, Dakota Ridge is No. 3 and former No. 1 Legacy dropped to No. 4.
Frederick is the No. 1 team in 4A after starting the season 8-0-0. Among those wins are a 6-0 decision over former No. 1 Erie on Aug. 23.
Meanwhile, defending champion Strasburg takes over in 3A. The team has started 3-0-0, including a wins over Valley (No. 2) and Eaton (No. 4).
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.
In a neat showing of sportsmanship, four Class 5A Highlands Ranch-area football teams will meet Thursday to watch When The Game Stands Tall, a movie based on a high school football team in California.
Players from Mountain Vista, ThunderRidge, Rock Canyon and Highlands Ranch will gather at the AMC Highlands Ranch 24 to watch the movie on Thursday night. The event was organized by the schools’ head football coaches — Ric Cash, Joe Johnson, Brian Lamb and Mark Robinson, respectively.
When The Game Stands Tall focuses on De La Salle High School’s success over 12 years, which included 151 straight wins from 1992-2003. It is based on a 2003 book of the same name.
In recognition, said Pat McCabe, athletic director at Mountain Vista, “These programs have collectively earned the Continental League Sportmanship Award for the month of August.”
Here’s a trailer for the movie:
Short stuff
With the season starting, we’ve completed our previews of every classification of every sport. You can find them all here.
Plenty of good news coming down the pipe for hockey. Stay tuned.
Our weekly live chat will be heading on the road to kick off the football season this Friday. We’ll be at Montrose vs. Grand Junction.
There was an intriguing meeting at the CHSAA office on Wednesday night where a panel of experts sought to find solutions to the arm injury problems which have plagued youth baseball of late.
Quarterback Dante Sparaco, who is just set to start his sophomore season at Glenwood Springs, has received a scholarship offer from Colorado State, according to the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent. He’s already 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. According to the Post-Independent, Sparaco has also been receiving interest from Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Arizona, USC and Florida State. Sparaco threw just five passes last season, but is expected to start this season, according to the paper.
Erie has new turf for its all-purpose field. The old turf was damaged in last September’s flooding.
MaxPreps compiled the longest road trips of the 2014 football season. Trips to Florida for Littleton, Dakota Ridge and Columbine check in at No. 7. (Other Colorado schools, such as Monarch and Chatfield on Thursday, are also going to Florida, but they did not make the list.)
The NFHS released 2013-14 participation numbers this week. As excepted, they grew once again, this time to 7.8 million. Our Bert Borgmann did some research and found that while Colorado ranks 25th in number of member schools, the state is 20th in students who participate in high school sports.
Here’s a nice feature on Regis Jesuit graduate Missy Franklin in The New York Times.
Two Colorado products were named to Athlon Sport’s preseason All-Freshman Team. JK Scott, a 2014 graduate of Mullen, is the first-team punter, while Daniel Carlson, a 2013 graduate of The Classical Academy, is the first-team kicker. (The team includes redshirt freshmen, as well.) In a somewhat related note, Mullen has new goalposts.
High praise (I think?) for former Denver South standout Phillip Lindsay: CU football coach Mike MacIntyre said “he is the Tasmanian Devil.” Lindsay is turning heads during fall camp, according to the Denver Post. Here’s another detailed feature on Lindsay.
Lewis-Palmer, the defending 4A volleyball champion, heads the preseason ranking in that class. (Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)
Rampart, Lewis-Palmer, Manitou Springs, Resurrection Christian and Fleming are the preseason No. 1 volleyball teams in their respective classifications.
CHSAANow.com’s preseason poll was released on Monday, and three of last year’s champions are atop the rankings. Those are Lewis-Palmer, Resurrection Christian and Fleming.
Rampart, which received eight of the 11 first-place votes, heads the Class 5A poll. The Rams made the state tournament last season, where they went 1-1 in pool play. They return a number of top players from that team.
Cherokee Trail is No. 2 to start the year, and is followed by No. 3 Fossil Ridge, No. 4 Grandview — the defending champion — and No. 5 Cherry Creek.
Pine Creek is sixth, Eaglecrest is seventh, Legend is eighth, Arapahoe is ninth and Mountain Vista rounds out the ranking.
Lewis-Palmer heads 4A. Ponderosa is No. 2, and Air Academy, last year’s runner-up, is third.
Manitou Springs is on top of the 3A ranking, just ahead of defending champ Eaton. Manitou was runner-up last season.
Resurrection Christian leads 2A, while Fleming is on top of 1A.
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.
Legacy opens as the No. 1 team in the preseason 5A softball poll. (Pam Wagner)
Two teams that finished runner-up a season ago head CHSAANow.com’s preseason softball rankings.
Erie (4A) and Sterling (3A) both fell in the championship games of their respective classifications last season. A year later, they’re both the preseason favorites.
In 5A, defending champion Legacy is the unanimous preseason No. 1. Legend, runner-up last year, is No. 2, and is followed by No. 3 Brighton, No. 4 Fossil Ridge and No. 5 Eaglecrest.
Dakota Ridge is sixth, Douglas County is seventh and Loveland is eighth. Rock Canyon (No. 9) and Fort Collins (No. 10) round out the 5A ranking.
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. New voters can sign up by emailing rcasey@chsaa.org. These rankings have no bearing on postseason seeding.