THORNTON — A total of 24 teams participated in the two-day Mustang Swim Invitational held at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center. The top ten schools and their scores:
THORNTON — Fairview won girls swimming’s annual Coaches Invite at VMAC on Saturday. The Knights’ 271 total team points bested second-place Cherry Creek (238) and third-place Regis Jesuit (217).
Team results are below. Find complete results on MaxPreps.
| Coaches Invite: Team scores | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Name | Dive Total | Total |
| 1 | Fairview | 271 | |
| 2 | Cherry Creek | 238 | |
| 3 | Regis Jesuit | 31 | 217 |
| 4 | Heritage | 155 | |
| 5 | Ralston Valley | 147 | |
| 6 | Fossil Ridge | 9 | 145 |
| 7 | ThunderRidge | 125 | |
| 8 | Mountain Range | 13 | 120 |
| 9 | Mountain Vista | 112 | |
| 10 | Chaparral | 98 | |
| 11 | Niwot | 83 | |
| 12 | Arapahoe | 60 | |
| 13 | Broomfield | 53 | |
| 14 | Monarch | 6 | 45 |
| 15 | Rock Canyon | 7 | 39 |
| T16 | Highlands Ranch | 36 | |
| T16 | Grandview | 36 | |
| T18 | Silver Creek | 35 | |
| T18 | Boulder | 35 | |
| 20 | Lakewood | 2 | 33 |
| 21 | Mullen | 28 | 28 |
| 22 | Brighton | 26 | |
| 23 | Pine Creek | 1 | 25 |
| 24 | Windsor | 24 | |
| 25 | Legend | 20 | |
| 26 | Chatfield | 19 | 19 |
| T27 | St. Mary’s Academy | 17 | 17 |
| T27 | Smoky Hill | 17 | |
| 29 | Castle View | 15 | 15 |
| 30 | Greeley West | 14 | |
| 31 | Golden | 9 | |
| 32 | Thompson Valley | 8 | |
| 33 | Northglenn | 7 | |
| 34 | Dakota Ridge | 6 | |
| 35 | Fort Collins | 3 | 3 |
| 36 | Legacy | 2 | |
| 37 | Skyline | 1 | |
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LITTLETON — It was a mixed bag for Chatfield senior Darius Reiter in the opening minutes Thursday night.
Reiter scored the Chargers’ first seven points of the Class 5A Jeffco League game against Lakewood in the first few minutes, but with 4:38 left in the first quarter he picked up his second foul. Even with Reiter being a spectator for the remainder of the first quarter, Chatfield (6-2, 2-0 in league) kept things on track. And the Chargers scored a 77-67 home victory heading into the holiday break.
“It wasn’t necessarily the flow I wanted, but it came out well,” said Reiter, who finished with a team-high 28 points. “I was able to get some stuff going.”
Chatfield coach Stephen Schimpeler was encouraged with how his team responded with some adversity in the opening half.
“That whole first half we were in foul trouble. I really liked how we handled the situation,” Schimpeler said. “It’s important that your bench performs because there are times you are going to need them.”
Sophomore Riley Welch led Chatfield’s bench players with 14 points. Starters Alec Wray (14 points) and Andrew St. Germain (11 points) also had strong games in the Chargers’ fourth straight win.
Reiter did plenty of damage at the free-throw line, making 12-of-13 shots from the charity stripe. The second conference game for both teams turned into a physical affair with a total of 56 fouls being called.
Lakewood (4-4, 0-2) only led once in the game at 2-0. Chatfield extended its lead to as much as 21 points late in the third quarter, but the Tigers turned it on offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring 31 points to make a game of it.
“We had the opportunity to shoot instead of handing it to Chatfield,” Lakewood coach Daryl Johnson said of the fourth quarter. “We actually got shots up instead of turning it over.”
Lakewood senior Evan O’Dorisio led all scorers with 32 points. Senior Irhad Kozic found his shooting touch with a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and freshman Kolton Peterson came off the bench to score 16 points for the Tigers.
“It’s a matter of execution and trust,” Johnson said after the Tigers’ second straight league defeat. “We’ve got to weave our strengths together. We’ll get it together.”
Lakewood will get back into action after winter break with a 2 p.m. game Saturday, Jan. 4, when it hosts Ralston Valley.
Chatfield has a long road ahead to defend its conference championship it grabbed with an undefeated 16-0 mark last season. Each of the nine 5A Jeffco teams faces their league foes twice (home and away) during the conference schedule.
“We aren’t necessarily aiming for that, but we know it’s there and we want to repeat it,” Reiter said of Chatfield attempting to match last year’s undefeated run in the conference.
Schimpeler stated that he believes the 5A Jeffco league is “getting better” and it will be no easy task in repeating as league champs.
“It’s going to be really hard this year when everyone is gunning for you being league champs and you are Chatfield,” Schimpeler said. “We told these guys it’s going to be tougher this year than last year. I think that was evident tonight.”
After playing eight games in 17 days since the start of the basketball season, Chatfield will get back to action after the holidays by hosting Pomona at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 4.
LITTLETON — Staying at the top of the heap is never easy.
Ralston Valley girls basketball team knows its will be a marked team every time it takes the court during the Class 5A Jeffco League schedule. The Mustangs are attempting to win their fourth straight conference title.
It wasn’t trouble-free, but Ralston Valley (5-2) took care of business Tuesday night in its league opener with a 60-51 road victory against Chatfield (2-4).
“It wasn’t the win we wanted to come out with, but with it just being out of the way we can build on it to improve,” said Ralston Valley junior Morgan Nishida, who led the Mustangs with a team-high 16 points.
The Mustangs held a single-digit lead for the majority of the game until a 3-point play by senior Chantal Jacobs early in the fourth quarter gave Ralston Valley a 49-39 lead. Jacobs had a strong second half scoring all 12 points after halftime.
Nishida and Jacobs combined to go 8-of-9 from the free-throw line in the final quarter to seal the victory. Freshmen Ashley Van Sickle (13 points) and Sydney Prey (12 points) had solid games for the Mustangs.
Ralston Valley coach Jeff Gomer was happy to take the victory to open league play, but saw plenty of areas for improvement.
“We played like we were young,” said Gomer, who started a pair of freshmen and a sophomore. “We just weren’t very patient. We are talented. We are just young, but we’ve got to learn fast.”
Gomer was without the services of seniors Sierra Galbreath and Amanda Lefholz. Galbreath has an injury that will keep her out for about a month. Lefholz was ill Tuesday and didn’t make the trip up to Chatfield High School.
“We are going to need (Galbreath and Lefholz) later in the season,” Nishida said. “I think we came in timid and scared tonight without them. We’ve just got to build our confidence.”
Chatfield had some confidence after taking a 10-8 lead after the first quarter. Seniors Emily Lachenmayer and Katie Glander each scored 10 points to lead the Chargers.
An attacking offensive style for Chatfield paid off with several trips to the foul line. The Chargers finished 16-of-27 from the charity stripe. Ralston Valley on the other hand made just three trips to the foul line before the fourth quarter.
“If you are aggressive and attack you never know,” Chatfield coach Mike Deutsch said of the Chargers’ advantage at the line. “You let the officials make the call. That was encouraging.”
Deutsch also doesn’t mind the fact that his team faced Ralston Valley and goes up against undefeated Lakewood at 7 p.m. Friday before winter break. The Tigers are undefeated on the season and entered the CHSAANow.com 5A girls’ hoops rankings this week at No. 7.
“I like going into January knowing kind what we have to do and what we are up against,” Deutsch said of facing the two favorites to win the conference title. “I think it’s an advantage. We can talk over winter break about what we need to work on.”
While Gomer wants this year’s squad to write its own chapter, he admits the conference success has put a target on its back.
“I know this,” said Gomer after the Mustangs stretched it conference-winning streak to 17 games dating back to last season. “Every time we step on the floor somebody wants a piece of us. That’s tough.”
To say Ralston Valley has dominated the 5A Jeffco League in recent years is an understatement. The Mustangs have a 31-1 conference record over the previous two seasons, only dropping their league finale to rival Arvada West during the 2011-12 season.
Ralston Valley rolled to a 16-0 league mark last year to claim its third straight 5A Jeffco championship.
Ralston Valley will continue its league journey on the road 7 p.m. Friday at Columbine.
LITTLETON — Eighth-ranked Steamboat Springs broke open a scoreless game with two goals in the third period to top Chatfield 2-0 in hockey on Saturday.
Andrew Firestone scored on the power play 11:48 into the third to break the scoreless tie. Matt Hale added an empty-netter for Steamboat. Trent Trask stopped all 15 shots he faced.
Chatfield goalie Joshua Aycock made 24 saves.
Columbine ran Grand Junction right out of town.
The seventh-seeded Rebels got three rushing touchdowns from Jeremy Aparicio and easily handled No. 10 Grand Junction, 41-7, in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.
Aparicio had scoring runs of 58, 4 and 1 yards, while Michael Tait passed for a score and rushed for another. Austin Norton had a 30-yard touchdown run and caught Tait’s 28-yard scoring toss.
The Rebels will play at No. 2 Valor Christian in the quarterfinals. The Eagles exploded for 28 second-quarter points in pulling away from No. 15 Ralston Valley. Up just 14-6 after the first quarter, Valor scored on the first play of the second frame and never looked back.
It was 42-6 at halftime and a 49-20 final.
Valor quarterback A.J. Cecil was 19-of-23 for 278 yards and four touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey rushed 13 times for 121 yards and two scores and also caught six passes for 110 and two more touchdowns. The carries were the most McCaffrey has had since he rushed 11 times against Fountain-Fort Carson on Sept. 27.
Ralston Valley scored two late touchdowns after recovering three-consecutive onside kicks in the fourth quarter.
We’ll have at least two rematches in the 5A quarterfinals: No. 1 Fairview hosting No. 8 Pomona and No. 3 Cherry Creek hosting No. 6 Cherokee Trail.
Fairview topped No. 16 Douglas County 45-17 on Friday. Knights quarterback Anders Hill had five total touchdowns, four passing. He tossed scores to Steve D’Epagnier (twice), Cam Frazier and Sam Martin. Fairview also got a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown from Carlo Kemp.
Douglas County was in the game in the first half, trailing 14-10 after the first quarter, and 21-17 later in the second, but Fairview’s Jonathan Swartzwelter nailed a 47-yard field goal just before the half to give Fairview a spark heading to the locker room.
When the night ended, Fairview had scored the game’s final 24 points.
In the quarters, the Knights will get Pomona, a team they beat 33-30 on Oct. 18. Pomona beat Chatfield 49-35 on Friday. (Find a full recap of that game here.)
Cherry Creek, meanwhile, beat No. 19 Overland for the second time this season with a 49-14 victory Friday. The Bruins got 21 second-quarter points to make it a 35-7 halftime margin.
Cherry Creek plays Cherokee Trail in the quarterfinals. The two teams played a tight one on Oct. 4 — a 28-27 Creek win.
Cherokee Trail easily handled No. 11 Mountain Range, 41-7, on Friday. Quarterback Aric Johnson was 14-of-19 for 171 yards and two scores through the air. He also rushed for 84 yards and two more touchdowns.
Junior running back Cameron Smith had 163 yards and two touchdowns.
No. 5 ThunderRidge beat No. 12 Doherty, 56-35, on Friday. The Grizzlies could get a rematch, as well: No. 5 Regis Jesuit and No. 20 Grandview play Saturday. Should Regis win, it would give ThunderRidge a chance to avenge its only loss of the season, which came Sept. 27 to the Raiders.
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Fifth-seeded Pueblo South was in trouble heading into the fourth quarter against No. 12 Longmont.
The Colts trailed 27-17 following a 15-point outburst from Longmont in the third quarter, but rallied with 21 fourth-quarter points for a 38-27 win.
Trailing 27-24 with 5:34 to play, South converted a fourth-and-6 and went on to score the go-ahead touchdown. The Colts stopped Longmont on fourth-and-13 on their ensuring drive, and sealed the game with a score a few plays later.
In other 4A games, No. 3 Pine Creek beat No. 14 Pueblo West, 35-18, and No. 2 Monarch handled No. 15 Vista Ridge, 62-28.
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No. 7 The Classical Academy looked to be in control. But, late in the third quarter, a Conifer touchdown cut the Titans’ lead to 14-6. Then, with six minutes to play in the fourth, Conifer made it 14-12.
A stop of a two-point conversion attempt on the try gave TCA its first postseason victory in school history, 14-12, over the tenth-seeded Lobos.
In Friday’s other 3A game, No. 3 Roosevelt cruised past No. 14 Frederick, 47-13, to move to the quarterfinals.
Higher seeds were 13-0 in Friday night’s football playoffs.
ARVADA — Pomona used its running back tandem of Chris Marquez and Lukas Russell to pound out a 49-35 victory against Chatfield on Friday night at the North Area Athletic Complex.
Marquez and Russell combined for 51 carries, 354 yards and six touchdowns on the ground as the eighth-seeded Panthers advanced to the Class 5A state football quarterfinals. Pomona (9-2) will face top-seed and undefeated Fairview next week at Recht Field in Boulder. The Knights kicked a game-winning field goal to beat Pomona 33-30 in a 5A North Metro meeting on Oct. 18 at NAAC.
“We have a lot of work to do to have a chance to beat (Fairview) this time,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “They have a great offense and defense.”
Pomona needed a second-half surge to advance past No. 9 seed Chatfield (8-3) in the second-round playoff game. The Chargers scored a pair of 4-yard touchdown runs by junior Michael Callahan-Harris in the final minute of the second quarter to tie the game at 21.
The second-half didn’t start well with Pomona taking over on its own 7-yard line. However, Marquez and Russell went to work. The Panthers chewed up half the third quarter with a 13-play drive, capped off with a 3-yard touchdown run by Russell.
“When (Russell) is properly motivated he is a hell of a football player,” Madden said. “In big games he is properly motivated. We knew he would come out big tonight.”
Russell had just one carry in the first half. He carried the football 11 times for 78 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the second half. He also was key on defense with two fumble recoveries and two sacks on Chatfield junior quarterback Kyle Winkler.
Chatfield had just one offensive possession in the third quarter and turned the ball over on its first possession of the fourth quarter. Marquez, who went over the 2,000-yard mark on the season, gave the Panthers a 42-21 lead with 8:09 left in the fourth quarter with a 58-yard touchdown run right after the turnover.
Marquez finished the night with 31 carries for 265 yards and four touchdowns. He had 29 rushing touchdowns on the season.
Pomona also had solid contributions from seniors Chris Benefiel and Hunter Hogoboom. Benefiel had five carries for 67 yards and Hogoboom had five catches for 92 yards and a touchdown. Pomona junior quarterback Justin Roberts was 8-for-13 passing for 115 yards and the touchdown pass to Hogoboom.
“I felt like we had a good game plan,” said Winkler, who was 16-for-29 for 205 yards and a touchdown through the air. “The turnovers just killed us.”
The Chargers turned the ball over four times, three times in the second half. The final turnover came when senior Gus Karr picked off Winkler deep inside Pomona territory and returned it to Chatfield’s 8-yard line.
“That was a big play,” Marquez said of Karr’s interception. “That put the nail in the coffin.”
Russell scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with 3:28 left in the game to put the Panthers up 49-28.
Callahan-Harris did score his fourth touchdown of the night with less than two minutes to go. The junior running back had 34 carries for 179 yards in the season-ending loss for Chatfield.
The Chargers will return several key juniors who have been playing football together since the fifth grade, according to Winkler.
“We are really close and I’m excited about next year,” Winkler said.
Football’s 2013 state playoff bracket for Class 5A.
2013 CHSAA State Football Championships CHSAA 5A Football Championship
The groundwork, as is so often the case, was laid four years ago. Tom McCartney saw it in his freshmen then. Those freshmen are now seniors, and that group has Fairview seeded No. 1 overall in the Class 5A football playoffs.
“We knew that it was a special group,” McCartney, Fairview’s coach, said Sunday morning. “We also knew that for them to do the things and reach some of the goals they’ve set, you’ve got to have junior compliments. You want to know that your juniors are also part of that.
“We’ve been kind of waiting on this group of seniors for a while, and a lot of them have gotten a lot of playing time as sophomores and juniors,” he continued. “When you get in those kinds of battles against teams like Pomona and Ralston Valley, and Legacy and Arvada West and Boulder — and Grandview in the playoffs last year, and Regis the year before — all of those experiences help. So, yes, to be honest with you, we’ve seen this coming from this particular group. We knew this was a talented group.”
The Knights were the lone 5A team to finish the regular season unbeaten (9-0). They were ranked No. 2 in the CHSAANow.com football poll in recent weeks, but were No. 1 in Wild Card points during that stretch, and finished atop the final Wild Card standings released Sunday morning.
And so, when the 5A bracket was unveiled, it was Fairview in the No. 1 spot. (See the full bracket.)
“It feels awesome,” McCartney said. “It’s playoff football. We’re just going to prepare. We understand that if you win you move on, and if you don’t you’re done. We want to keep playing. The best way to keep playing is to be prepared and to improve.”
Fairview draws No. 32 Mountain Vista (3-6) in the first round. The two teams played in 2010 and 2011, both Mountain Vista wins.
“Our seniors, when they were freshmen, played them. And so we know a little bit about them,” McCartney said. “We’ve got a ton of respect for coach (Ric) Cash. His teams are always prepared. They’re always hard-nosed.”
Rounding out the top-5 seeds in 5A were No. 2 Valor Christian, No. 3 Cherry Creek, No. 4 Regis Jesuit and No. 5 ThunderRidge.
The top 16 seeds host in the first round, meaning No. 6 Cherokee Trail, No. 7 Columbine, No. 8 Pomona, No. 9 Chatfield, No. 10 Grand Junction, No. 11 Mountain Range, No. 12 Doherty, No. 13 Prairie View, No. 14 Rangeview, No. 15 Ralston Valley and No. 16 Douglas County will get home games.
Other qualifiers were No. 17 Legend, No. 18 Arapahoe, No. 19 Overland, No. 20 Grandview, No. 21 Gateway, No. 22 Heritage, No. 23 Westminster, No. 24 Rocky Mountain, No. 25 Fountain-Fort Carson, No. 26 Hinkley, No. 27 Arvada West, No. 28 Castle View, No. 29 Fort Collins, No. 30 Lakewood and No. 31 Eaglecrest.
The 2A, 1A, 8-man and 6-man brackets were also released on Sunday.
Brush is 2A’s top seed. As the top-8 host in the first round, No. 2 Manitou Springs, No. 3 Platte Valley, No. 4 Faith Christian, No. 5 Gunnison, No. 6 Bennett, No. 7 Kent Denver and No. 8 Florence will all get home games.
Also qualifying in 2A were No. 9 Strasburg, No. 10 Lamar, No. 11 Olathe, No. 12 Fort Lupton, No. 13 Aspen, No. 14 Ridge View Academy, No. 15 Jefferson and No. 16 The Academy.
In 1A, Buena Vista got the top seed. No. 2 Limon, No. 3 Centauri, No. 4 Paonia, No. 5 Monte Vista, No. 6 Hotchkiss, No. 7 Yuma and No. 8 Platte Canyon will also host first-round games.
Additional 1A qualifiers were No. 9 Resurrection Christian, No. 10 Rye, No. 11 Burlington, No. 12 Cedaredge, No. 13 Colorado Springs Christian, No. 14 Wray, No. 15 Lyons and No. 16 Front Range Christian.
Hoehne is 8-man’s top seed. Also hosting in the first round will be No. 2 Dayspring Christian, No. 3 Norwood, No. 4 Simla, No. 5 Caliche, No. 6 Kiowa, No. 7 Sargent and No. 8 Dove Creek. Also qualifying were No. 9 Sanford, No. 10 Vail Christian, No. 11 Merino, No. 12 Walsh, No. 13 Akron, No. 14 West Grand, No. 15 Fowler and No. 16 Granada.
Liberty/Stratton grabbed 6-man’s top seed. Also qualifying were No. 2 Hi-Plains, No. 3 Eads, No. 4 Prairie, No. 5 Otis, No. 6 Peetz, No. 7 Hanover and No. 8 Flagler
LAKEWOOD — Chatfield quarterback Kyle Winkler wouldn’t allow history to repeat itself Friday night at Jeffco Stadium.
Winkler, a junior, threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to running back junior Michael Callahan-Harris on the final play of the game as time expired against Arapahoe. The fourth touchdown toss of the night by Winkler gave the Chargers a dramatic 48-46 victory in the Class 5A Super 6 League showdown.
“It was just a great designed play. Michael was wide open,” said Winkler of the play called ’98 ducks.’ “We put it in about two weeks ago for this kind of situation. It worked out.”
Chatfield was in the almost exact state of affairs three weeks ago against rival Columbine. The Chargers trailed by seven points, but had the ball on the Rebels 18-yard line with 1.4 seconds left. Winkler’s pass fell incomplete, allowing Columbine to win 50-43.
Winkler said he had flashbacks to the Columbine game before taking the snap with 2.6 second left from Arapahoe’s 20-yard line and trailing 46-42.
Chatfield offensive coordinator Craig Aukland called the play, but head coach Bret McGatlin put in his two cents, keeping Callahan-Harris in the backfield on the play instead of on the line. McGatlin wanted to keep this running back hidden before coming out of the backfield on a wheel route.
“Just wanted to get me open and make something happen,” said Callahan-Harris, who also had 16 carries for 146 yards and two touchdowns on the ground to go along with his game-winning touchdown catch.
Winkler was able to buy some time in the pocket before hitting Callahan-Harris with the pass. The junior running back caught the ball near the 5-yard line and quickly turned up field and into the end zone.
“I thought Winkler got sacked for a second. I couldn’t see what was going on,” McGatlin said. “Then I saw the ball in the air. It’s a great finish for our regular season.”
The victory actually helped out Chatfield’s chief rival; No. 6 Columbine (8-1, 4-1 in league) win the Super 6 conference title outright. Chatfield (7-2, 3-2) prevented Arapahoe (6-3, 3-2) from taking the crown. The Warriors handed the Rebels their lone league loss.
“I’m going to send (Columbine coach Andy Lowry) a text that just says ‘Your welcome.’ Andy is one of my best friends,” said McGatlin, who was an assistant coach under Lowry at Columbine for four years before taking over Chatfield’s program. “I don’t know if I want to see (Columbine) again in the playoffs, but we wouldn’t mind it.”
Winkler called helping Columbine win a league title out “bittersweet”.
Arapahoe and Chatfield will both head into the 5A playoffs next week after combining for 1,081 yards of offense from the line of scrimmage.
Arapahoe senior quarterback Gabe Peterson had a monster night throwing for 17-of-25 for 295 yards and four touchdowns. Peterson guided the Warriors’ offense for two fourth-quarter touchdowns after Chatfield had a 42-31 lead going to the final quarter.
Seniors Kevin Dement and Ethan Brunhofer combined for 11 catches to mass 219 yards and three touchdowns for the Warriors.
Arapahoe took 46-42 lead when Peterson connected with Brunhofer on a 13-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play with 1 minute, 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
However, Chatfield’s hurry-up offense mounted an 80-yard drive in 12 plays to pull off the remarkable last-minute comeback.
“Our offense helps with that tempo. We are used to having to drive in a short time,” Callahan-Harris said. “It shouldn’t have come down to that, but it did and we won.”
The other offensive standouts for Chatfield included running back Jake Carstensen. The junior had 119 yards rushing and a touchdown on just five carries. Senior Brandon Zanier had five catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns. Junior Sean O’Dell had just one catch, but it went for a 74-yard touchdown during the Chargers’ 21-point first quarter.
