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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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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.”
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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.
