Eaglecrest is the No. 1 seed in 5A. (Tim Visser/TimVisserPhotography.com)
AURORA — Eaglecrest, Lewis-Palmer and Eaton nabbed the top seeds when volleyball’s regional tournament brackets were released on Monday morning.
Eaglecrest is the top seed in the Class 5A field and is set to host No. 24 ThunderRidge and No. 36 Liberty in its regional.
Grandview, Regis Jesuit, Rampart, Chaparral, Pine Creek, Cherokee Trail, Douglas County, Cherry Creek, Fairview, Ralston Valley and Legend will also host regionals. See the full 5A bracket here.
The top 12 teams (and regional hosts) were all seeded strictly based upon the MaxPreps computer rankings at the regular season’s end. All league champions earned automatic bids to regionals, and the remaining teams were selected based on the same MaxPreps rankings.
Lewis-Palmer volleyball is 4A’s No. 1 seed. (Matt Daniels)
Lewis-Palmer heads the 4A field, and will host No. 24 The Classical Academy and No. 36 Weld Central. Ponderosa, Cheyenne Mountain, Montrose, Valor Christian, Mullen, Mead, Berthoud, Pueblo West, Niwot and Air Academy are also regional hosts.
The 3A regional tournament field is led by No. 1 Eaton, which will host No. 24 Middle Park and No. 36 Denver Science & Tech – Green Valley Ranch. This is the first postseason appearance for a GVR team in the school’s short history.
Other 3A regional hosts are Valley, Bayfield, University, Colorado Springs Christian, Manitou Springs, Platte Valley, Sterling, Faith Christian, Pagosa Springs, Coal Ridge and Olathe.
The 1A and 2A regional brackets were also released after those two classifications completed district play this past weekend. Those fields were not seeded by a committee, but instead the districts determined regional placement.
Cheraw junior Tristan Headrick entered his team’s Week 8 game against Cotopaxi with 24 receiving touchdowns. The state record is 25.
“We were aware of it, so we were going to try and get him touches,” Cheraw coach Brad Phillips said on Tuesday.
But with Cheraw, a 6-man program, leading 16-0 early in the second quarter, Cotopaxi had to forfeit the game when injuries meant they could no longer field a team. Headrick didn’t have a touchdown to that point, so he stayed at 24.
Fast forward to Monday, and the release of the Wild Card points. This season, 6-man football is using the formula to help in determining crossover games, which take place in Week 9 of the regular season. Sixteen teams move on to play, including the Nos. 1 and 2 teams from each conference, as well as six Wild Card spots.
Cheraw was No. 16 in that forumla, but Genoa-Hugo/Karval, No. 18 in the Wild Card points, was No. 2 in the Central League. It meant Cheraw got bumped. Their season over was over, and so was Headrick’s chance at a record.
“It’s too bad,” Phillips said. “But he had a good year.”
Headrick finished his season with 1,295 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns. Perhaps most astonishingly, he only had 48 catches — meaning that every other reception he had, he scored.
Another thing to keep in mind: Heritage’s Shane Optiz set the record during the 2009 season, when his Eagles won the Class 4A championship. His mark came over 14 games. Headrick played seven games and one quarter.
In any case, Optiz will keep the record. At least until Headrick gets another shot at it next year.
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Lewis-Palmer volleyball’s national profile is rising
Just how good is this Lewis-Palmer volleyball team? The Rangers are ranked No. 3 in MaxPreps’ latest national poll. That’s astounding.
That the Rangers actually dropped a set is significant. It was only the second one they’ve lost the entire season. The other came in a 2-1 win over Valley (3A’s current No. 2 team) in a tournament in early September. They have now won 53 sets, and dropped two.
And it’s not as though the schedule has been weak. There are the wins over Chaparral and Valley, and well as sweeps of Cheyenne Mountain (at the time No. 2 in 4A), Rampart (at the time No. 1 in 5A) and Valor Christian (then No. 7 in 4A). L-P has played anyone and everyone willing to land on the schedule.
Should this dominance continue on through the state tournament, the question at that point may turn from one of a national perspective to historical. At this point, 1979 Evergreen team is widely regarded as the best in state history. In fact, they were inducted into CHSAA’s Hall of Fame last January. Recently, though, the 2011 Chaparral squad headed by Nicole Dalton was hailed as a challenger to the Evergreen squad.
That Chaparral team ended the season 31-0, ranked No. 3 in MaxPreps’ national poll, and went 93-6 in terms of sets. Spanning the 2010-12 seasons, the program had a 58-match winning streak.
Lewis-Palmer’s current winning streak sits at 25 matches. In terms of history, it may not yet match the multiyear runs of Evergreen and Chaparral. But, headed by national player of the year candidate Alexa Smith, the Rangers are having an incredibly special season.
Perhaps one of the best ever.
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Smoky Hill, Hinkley come together to make a memory
Here’s what high school sports are about: Last week, Smoky Hill and Hinkley lined up before kickoff to give a special needs student Blake Yaw a memory he won’t soon forget.
A four-year manager for the team, he lined up with Smoky’s offense, took a handoff and ran 40 yards for a touchdown through the Hinkley defense, who was in on the moment.
“The entire bench emptied to help celebrate Blake’s touchdown,” athletic director Preston Davis wrote in an email.
The full video:
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Short stuff
The state playoff brackets for five of the seven classes of football come out on Sunday. I’m very interested to see how 5A plays out. This is the first year of a new system which gives the seeding committee to move the qualifiers anywhere on the bracket. At this point, I think Grandview has the inside track at the No. 1 seed, assuming the Wolves beat Valor Christian on Friday. If Valor wins, I expect Ralston Valley to take the top seed — again, assuming a win against Mullen this week.
BoCoPreps had a powerful story on how Nederland football is dealing with a severe spinal cord injury to senior Miles Pancoast.
Eaglecrest’s Jordyn Poulter is on the same national volleyball player of the year watch list as Alexa Smith. It was produced by MaxPreps.
Ralston Valley’s super athlete Andrew Wingard committed to Wyoming to play football on Tuesday night.
Ridge View Academy, a 2A program, forfeit two football wins due to use of an ineligible player. Wins over Manual (Oct. 4) and Denver West (Oct. 11) were forfeit. And, actually, that forfeit win may have guaranteed Manual a playoff spot. Manual moved from No. 15 to No. 9 in the Wild Card points standings as a result.
There may be a change to CHSAA’s playoff structure coming down the road in the form of an expansion. The staff had some internal discussions last week about exploring the possibility. In essence, it would create true district/regional fields where every team would qualify and then have to play their way into the state tournament. It’s still an idea at this point.
Elsewhere in 5A, Rampart continued to lead the way, and Grandview moved up three places from No. 5 to No. 2 after a week which included a win over then-No. 2 Eaglecrest.
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.
MONUMENT — The script couldn’t have been written any better for the senior duo of Alexa Smith and Nicole Montgomery. On senior night, the Lewis-Palmer Rangers (18-0 overall, 7-0 4A Pikes Peak League) played host to Cheyenne Mountain (15-2, 6-1) in a battle of the two teams highly regarded as the best in the state as they reign atop the 4A volleyball rankings.
By the end of the night, Smith and Montgomery had said goodbye to their home crowd and claimed the Pikes Peak League trophy as they swept the Indians 25-16, 25-23, 25-21.
“Coming into it, we felt really pumped because Cheyenne Mountain was such strong competition and we knew it was going to be a good game,” Montgomery said. “(Coach Susan Odenbaugh) said if we lose or win that we would learn from this experience.”
(Matt Daniels)
The Rangers controlled the first set, feeding off the emotion from the crowd. They took a 16-9 lead early, maintained control and won 25-16 as Smith earned the final point with a hard kill.
“She’s very humble and meek,” Odenbaugh said of her star hitter. “But in tight games she’s going to look right at her center and say ‘get me the ball because I’m going to put it away.’”
Once the initial jitters were out of the Indians’ system the match began to play out like a battle of the top two teams in the state. The Rangers jumped out to a 11-4 lead in the second set, but Cheyenne Mountain refused to give in.
The Indians battled back and pulled to within one point, highlighted by a kill from outside-hitter Bethany Cullity. They eventually took a 15-13 lead, but the combination of timely kills from Montgomery and blocks from sophomore Elizabeth Reich brought the Rangers right back.
They eventually fell 25-23 with Smith once again getting the game-ending kill.
“Once we got rid of our nerves in the first game and got in our system, we scored points,” Indians coach David Barkley said. “When we got them out of their system, they struggled as all teams do.”
The third set played out in a similar fashion as the second. The Rangers jumped out to a quick lead, but the Indians battled back and were able to stay close. They gained some momentum to bring the score to 21-17, with the Rangers still holding the lead.
(Matt Daniels)
But that momentum was quickly squashed with yet another devastating kill from Smith, who finished with 17 on the night. The Rangers took the third set 25-21, giving them the sweep and an undefeated run through their league.
“Cheyenne Mountain is a really good team and I think this win just shows how good (our) team can be,” Smith said. “This means everything, it couldn’t have ended any better than this.”
With both teams holding victories over the state’s No. 1 ranked 5A team, Rampart, there is a perception out there that Lewis-Palmer and Cheyenne Mountain are the top two teams in the entire state, regardless of class. A 3-0 sweep for the Rangers would make them instant favorites to win another state championship, but Odenbaugh cautions not to read that much into Thursday’s win.
“With a 3-0 win, and you look at the sets, it could’ve gone either way,” she said. “It was nice that we came out and got a three-set win, but they played us tough.”
Regis Jesuit volleyball returned to the 5A poll this week. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
Regis Jesuit has returned to this week’s CHSAANow.com Class 5A volleyball rankings.
The Raiders went 3-0 last week and are now 11-6 this season. They returned to the poll at No. 10. Regis Jesuit was last ranked on Sept. 1.
Elsewhere in 5A, Grandview moved from No. 8 to No. 5.
Each of the five No. 1 teams stayed the same this week. Those are Rampart (5A), Lewis-Palmer (4A), Eaton (3A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A).
The 4A poll added Air Academy (No. 10), 3A added Faith Christian (No. 10), Cedaredge (No. 10) joined 2A and Norwood (also No. 10) was new to 1A.
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.
We’ve seen Cotopaxi’s Alex Burger score ten total touchdowns in a game. D’Evelyn quarterback Owen Burke threw for more than 530 yards in consecutive weeks. Cheraw’s Tristan Headrick tied the state receiving touchdown record with six. Two players have recorded 99-yard touchdowns runs.
Last Friday, two quarterbacks threw for six touchdowns.
Put it this way: Holy Family quarterback Chris Helbig threw for an eye-popping 491 yards on Sept. 5. That’s just the fourth-best mark this season.
But.
This is how we tally records at the CHSAA office. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
This has undoubtedly been the most closely-followed football season in terms of combing for records. After each week, we literally go through each boxscore to scan for outstanding (perhaps record-setting) performances. Additionally, our partners at MaxPreps — specifically, Gerry Valerio — have been kind enough to create a weekly report which highlights similar individual performances.
In the past, the record book has been solely reliant on schools reporting performances to the CHSAA office. And while we still verify each record-setting performance with the school or coach to ensure the accuracy of the record, finding the data is now largely on us.
“We’ve always relied on schools sending us information,” said CHSAA assistant commissioner Bert Borgman, who has been in charge of CHSAA’s record books for years. “Now, with a vehicle like CHSAANow and a resource like MaxPreps, we are able to go out and find these things ourselves.”
So, yes, there has been a dramatic increase in record book-worthy performances this season. But the reason for the increase likely boils down to this: When you go looking for data, as opposed to waiting for it to come to you, you will inevitably find more of it.
Expect similar record results for the upcoming basketball season. We’re also looking at restarting the volleyball record book, which has sat dormant for a few years.
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Short stuff
Passing this along as a PSA: Boys tennis’ state tournaments will likely be delayed tomorrow. Here’s the plan.
There will be no Stableford scoring system for girls golf next spring. In my mind, this is a move that eventually needs to be made. Alas, not yet.
La Junta beat Lamar in volleyball on Tuesday night. It was their first win over Lamar since 1995, according to the La Junta Tribune-Democrat. “We wanted to end this nightmare and get it over with,” La Junta coach Heath Grantham told the paper afterward.
Two weeks ago, legendary basketball coach Guy Gibbs gave a speech to Regis Jesuit students about his life experiences. Midway through, he brought up CHSAA associate commissioner Tom Robinson, who was his assistant at Regis for 10 years before becoming head coach himself. Gibbs mentioned that he would often turn to Robinson on the bench at crucial points of games for his thoughts. I pointed this out to Tom, who shrugged in his way and said, “Well, I was always sitting there.”
In an email to CHSAA staff this week, a field hockey official who did the Regis Jesuit-Fossil Ridge game complimented the Raiders on their sportsmanship. Regis led 7-1 at halftime, “but instead of racking up an embarrassing score,” the official wrote, “(Regis Jesuit coach) Spencer (Wagner) had his team play a ‘training game’ in the second half. … At no time did they attempt to advance their 7-1 score. … Coaches like Spencer know what absolute sportsmanship is and demonstrated this (Monday).”
2014 Fairview graduate Sam Martin, who holds a few career state receiving records, scored four touchdowns in Miami (Ohio)’s win over UMass on Saturday. The in-state schools made a mistake in not offering him a scholarship.
Grandview grad Kevin Gausman, now with the Baltimore Orioles, started the last home game in Derek Jeter’s career. “That’s pretty incredible!!” he tweeted. Now, he’s in the ALCS.
Eaglecrest is No. 2 in this week’s 5A volleyball rankings. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
There was some upheaval in the Class 5A volleyball rankings this week as both Eaglecrest and Cherokee Trail moved into the top five.
The Raptors (10-2) jumped from No. 5 to No. 2 in CHSAANow.com’s poll, while Cherokee Trail went from No. 6 to No. 3.
Rampart received 11 first-place votes and remained atop the 5A poll. The ranking added Denver East at No. 10 this week.
Each of the other No. 1 teams remained the same this week, as well, including Lewis-Palmer (4A), Eaton (3A), Resurrection Christian (2A) and Fleming (1A).
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.
Valor escaped with a 23-21 win thanks to a game-sealing interception from Brian Dawkins Jr. in the final minute.
It was the second-straight league game in which Valor (5-1) got all it could handle. Last week, Centennial foe Overland hung until midway through the fourth quarter before the Eagles’ ran off 21-unanswered points to win 35-10.
Valor Christian’s Dylan McCaffrey, pictured earlier this season. (Ray Chen/ArrayPhoto.com)
This week, Eaglecrest led 14-7 after the first quarter as Elijah Ross found Peter Anderson twice on long touchdown passes. Valor then scored 16 straight points to take a 23-14 halftime lead.
But Eaglecrest (3-3) wouldn’t go away. The Raptors’ Glenn Washington scored on a 25-yard run with 7:52 to play in the third quarter to make it 23-21.
After that, each team’s offense stalled as turnovers and penalties ruled the night.
Eaglecrest did get the ball back with just over two minutes to play in the game, but was backed up as Valor downed a punt at the 4-yard-line.
The Raptors weren’t able to move the ball, but the Eagles were flagged for roughing the passer on fourth down, giving Eaglecrest a first down at their own 16. Two plays later, Dawkins picked off the pass to seal the win.
Dylan McCaffrey finished with 184 yards and two touchdowns through the air, and Eric Lee Jr. had 106 yards rushing — including an 84-yard score. Jarred Kendziorski made a 28-yard field goal which proved to be the difference.
Valor Christian’s in-state winning streak now stands at 27 games. The Eagles play Cherokee Trail next week.
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1A: (1) Paonia 22, (3) Meeker 16
Paonia trailed 16-14 with less than two minutes to play, but was able to drive down and get what was ultimately the winning score when Taylor Walters found tight end Joel Simianer for a 4-yard touchdown with 34 seconds to play.
“It was just kids making plays, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top,” Paonia coach Brent McCrae told ColoradoPreps.com’s Scoreboard Show. “We actually had a big fourth-down conversion (on the final drive), where we just trusted our O-line; they pushed the pile. And then we had a pretty big pass play … on a third-down and long. Two biggies there.”
Meeker did drive down and had the ball in the red zone, but Paonia held on for the win.
“We were fortunate enough to have a linebacker to make the tackle just as time expired,” McCrae said. “I think they were on the (5-yard-line) at that point.”
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2A: (1) Brush 32, (4) Platte Valley 28
Brush got its first real big test of the year, and passed.
“It was a heck of a battle,” Brush coach Randy Dreitz told the Scoreboard Show. “They’re a very good football team.”
The Beetdiggers had a great third quarter, where they expanded a 13-7 halftime lead to 28-14, and then Michael Gutierrez’s 20-yard rushing score with eight minutes to play made it 34-21.
Platte Valley did cut things to a six-point game with two minutes remaining, but Brush held on and defended its No. 1-ranking.
“The difference was that we held them more than they held us. If you get one play here or there where you can hold them and take it down and score, I think that was the key,” Dreitz said. “Our kids played really well tonight, but their kids played hard. It was a definite battle.”
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1A: Wray 14, (5) Burlington 12
The Eagles pulled off the upset.
“We’ve play each other so many times over the years. We know what we’re doing against each other,” Wray coach Levi Kramer told the Scoreboard Show. “It really comes down to who’s going to make the plays at the end of the games, and turnovers. We had one tonight, and they had a couple. It comes down to that.”
Wray started 1-3 but is now 3-3 after two straight wins.
“(The kids) could have very easily just said, ‘This is the year we’re going to be down,’ or whatever, but they refused to do that,” Kramer said.
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2A: (9) Gunnison 39, (10) Bayfield 14
The Cowboys led 24-0 at halftime, and 31-6 midway through the fourth quarter. They cruised from there.
“Offensively, we just got off the bus tonight … and our boys were just ready to play,” Gunnison coach Bob Howard told the Scoreboard Show. “We had a pretty good mix tonight of run and pass.”
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8-man: (1) Dayspring Christian 32, (2) Akron 20
For the second week in a row, Dayspring came out on top of a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup.
The Eagles were up 20-6 at halftime, but Akron battled back to tie the game at 20 after three quarters. Dayspring then rattled off the game’s final 12 points to stay unbeaten.
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4A: (8) Greeley West 14, (4) Windsor 0
The Spartans are now 6-0, and have a feather in their cap after this win. They led 14-0 early in the second, and the score held up.
Running back Alex DeLaCroix had both of Greeley West’s touchdowns, the first on a 14-yard run, the second on a 7-yard catch.
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Notables
D’Evelyn quarterback Owen Burke had another record performance on Friday night. He threw for 530 yards and four touchdowns as D’Evelyn lost to No. 10 Conifer, 38-35, in 3A. Burke threw for 535 last week. The 535 yards were No. 5 all time last week, while the 530 are No. 6 this week. In his last two games, Baker has thrown for 1,065 yards and nine touchdowns. He has 1,762 yards this season.
Antonito beat Cotopaxi 83-56. The 139 combined points are now the ninth-most in state history.
Luke Nethercot threw for six touchdowns in Canon City’s 45-27 win over Lewis-Palmer on Friday. Technically, that’s tied for eighth-best all-time, though 28 others have done it, as well. He’s a sophomore.
TeQuan Baker rushed for 344 yards and three touchdowns in 5A No. 10 Doherty’s 34-14 win over Legend. He now has 1,328 yards this season, which is second in the state. Baker’s gone over 100 yards in all six games, and over 200 yards in five of six. His 18 touchdowns lead the state.
No. 4 Holy Family handled No. 8 Berthoud 43-7 in a battle of ranked 3A teams. Holy Family actually trailed 7-6 after the first quarter. “I think the hype of the game got to our kids a little bit,” coach Mike Gabriel told the Scoreboard Show. “But then we kind of settled in and pulled away.” Ultimately, the Tigers scored the game’s final 43 points.
Is this the biggest turnaround in 2014? Mountain Valley is now 6-0 in 6-man football. The Indians were 1-7 last year, and didn’t field a team in 2012 because of low numbers. Wow.
Mountain Vista is 6-0 in 5A following a 34-7 win over Rock Canyon on Friday night. The Golden Eagles — who had a pink-out on Friday — should be sniffing the top-10 come Monday.
