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.
Class 5A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Valor Christian (10)
3-0
154
1
Bye
2
Pomona (6)
3-0
150
2
W
3
Eaglecrest
3-0
120
3
W
4
Columbine
3-0
103
4
W
5
Regis Jesuit
2-1
73
7
W
6
Grandview
2-1
68
5
L
7
Cherry Creek
2-1
62
8
W
8
Mullen
2-2
56
6
W
9
Highlands Ranch
3-0
46
9
W
10
Fairview
3-0
18
10
W
Others receiving votes:
Doherty 16, Poudre 9, Rock Canyon 3, Legacy 2.
Dropped out
None.
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Pine Creek (19)
3-0
208
1
W
2
Ponderosa (2)
3-0
178
2
W
3
Chatfield
2-1
125
5
W
4
Windsor
2-1
119
4
W
5
Fruita Monument
4-0
118
7
W
6
Loveland
3-0
116
6
W
7
Pueblo West
3-0
95
10
W
8
Monarch
3-0
68
9
W
9
Pueblo South
2-1
52
3
L
10
Broomfield
1-2
22
8
L
Others receiving votes:
Rampart 16, Vista Ridge 14, Skyline 7, Fort Collins 6, Brighton 3, Greeley West 3, Montrose 3, Widefield 2.
Dropped out
None.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (5)
3-0
127
1
W
2
Mead (4)
3-0
117
2
W
3
Silver Creek (1)
3-0
98
4
W
4
Palmer Ridge (3)
3-0
96
6
W
5
Fort Morgan
2-1
64
5
L
6
Erie
3-0
63
7
W
7
Discovery Canyon
2-1
43
9
W
8
Durango
3-1
35
8
L
9
Longmont
1-2
33
3
L
10
Thomas Jefferson (1)
3-0
27
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Skyview 15, Berthoud 13, Roosevelt 10, Evergreen 6, Frederick 6, Harrison 6, Glenwood Springs 5, Rifle 5, Canon City 1.
Dropped out
Pueblo East (10).
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Kent Denver (11)
3-0
152
1
Bye
2
Bayfield (3)
3-0
139
2
Bye
3
The Classical Academy
3-0
126
4
W
4
La Junta (2)
3-0
124
3
W
5
Platte Valley
3-0
86
5
W
6
Sterling
2-1
69
7
Bye
7
Faith Christian
2-1
49
8
W
8
Alamosa
3-1
42
9
W
9
Salida
4-0
23
–
W
10
Basalt
2-1
22
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Valley 14, Aspen 11, Eaton 9, D’Evelyn 7, Delta 4, Elizabeth 3.
Dropped out
Delta (6), D’Evelyn (10).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Bennett (10)
3-0
118
1
W
2
Meeker (2)
3-0
108
2
Bye
3
Strasburg
2-1
84
3
W
4
Limon
3-0
82
4
W
5
Centauri
4-0
75
5
W
6
Paonia
2-1
48
7
W
7
Platte Canyon
3-0
42
8
W
8
Monte Vista
2-1
23
6
L
9
Wray
2-1
21
–
W
10
Peyton
2-1
17
9
L
Others receiving votes:
Burlington 15, Grand Valley 7, Crowley County 6, Olathe 5, Clear Creek 3, Highland 2, Manual 2, Rocky Ford 2.
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.
Class 5A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Valor Christian (8)
3-0
143
1
W
2
Pomona (7)
2-0
142
2
W
3
Eaglecrest
2-0
100
5
W
4
Columbine
2-0
82
4
Bye
5
Grandview
2-0
77
6
W
6
Mullen
1-2
72
9
W
7
Regis Jesuit
1-1
69
3
L
8
Cherry Creek
1-1
54
7
W
9
Highlands Ranch
2-0
45
8
Bye
10
Fairview
2-0
17
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Doherty 15, Poudre 4, Rock Canyon 3, Legacy 2.
Dropped out
Doherty (10).
Class 4A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Pine Creek (15)
2-0
186
1
W
2
Ponderosa (3)
2-0
166
2
W
3
Pueblo South (1)
2-0
117
4
Bye
4
Windsor
1-1
110
3
L
5
Chatfield
1-1
105
5
W
6
Loveland
2-0
91
6
W
7
Fruita Monument
3-0
84
8
W
8
Broomfield
1-1
57
7
W
9
Monarch
2-0
47
–
W
10
Pueblo West
2-0
43
10
W
Others receiving votes:
Greeley West 22, Rampart 9, Vista Ridge 6, Brighton 1, Grand Junction 1.
Dropped out
Rampart (9).
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Holy Family (7)
2-0
131
2
Bye
2
Mead (2)
2-0
121
3
W
3
Longmont (2)
1-1
98
1
L
4
Silver Creek
2-0
97
4
W
5
Fort Morgan
2-0
90
6
W
6
Palmer Ridge (3)
2-0
82
7
W
7
Erie
3-0
51
9
–
8
Durango
3-0
45
10
W
9
Discovery Canyon
1-1
33
8
W
10
Pueblo East
0-2
24
5
L
Others receiving votes:
Thomas Jefferson 15, Berthoud 10, Evergreen 6, Palisade 4, Skyview 4, Frederick 3, Harrison 3, Roosevelt 3, Glenwood Springs 2, Summit 2, Lewis-Palmer 1.
Dropped out
None.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Kent Denver (9)
3-0
140
1
W
2
Bayfield (3)
3-0
129
2
W
3
La Junta (3)
2-0
111
3
W
4
The Classical Academy
2-0
98
4
W
5
Platte Valley
2-0
76
8
W
6
Delta
1-1
74
6
W
7
Sterling
2-1
67
5
L
8
Faith Christian
1-1
34
7
L
9
Alamosa
2-1
24
9
L
10
D’Evelyn
1-1
19
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Salida 12, Eaton 10, Aspen 7, Basalt 7, Elizabeth 5, Manitou Springs 4, Valley 3, Bishop Machbeuf 2, Resurrection Christian 2, University 1.
Dropped out
Eaton (10).
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Bennett (9)
2-0
108
2
W
2
Meeker (2)
3-0
99
3
Bye
3
Strasburg
1-1
84
1
L
4
Limon
2-0
71
6
W
5
Centauri
3-0
61
5
W
6
Monte Vista
2-0
43
8
W
7
Paonia
1-1
33
9
W
8
Platte Canyon
2-0
31
–
W
9
Peyton
2-1
24
4
L
10
Olathe
2-0
15
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Burlington 10, Crowley County 8, Wray 8, Highland 4, Clear Creek 3, Grand Valley 3.
Dropped out
Crowley County (7), Grand Valley (10).
8-man
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Sedgwick County (9)
2-0
99
1
Bye
2
Hoehne (1)
2-0
87
2
W
3
Dayspring Christian
2-0
80
3
W
4
West Grand
2-0
56
5
W
5
Norwood
1-0
48
7
Bye
6
Holly
2-0
47
6
W
7
Haxtun
2-0
38
8
W
8
Fowler
2-0
29
–
W
9
Merino
2-0
26
10
Bye
10
Caliche
2-1
18
–
W
Others receiving votes:
Soroco 9, Akron 4, Del Norte 2, McClave 2, Sargent 2, Swink 2, Springfield 1.
Dropped out
Sargent (4), Akron (9).
6-man
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
PVS
LW
1
Stratton/Liberty (4)
2-0
82
2
W
2
Peetz (3)
2-0
80
3
W
3
Cheyenne Wells (2)
2-0
76
1
W
4
Otis
2-0
55
5
W
5
Kit Carson
2-0
54
4
W
6
North Park
1-1
36
7
Bye
7
Fleming
1-1
34
8
W
8
Prairie
2-0
30
–
W
9
Cotopaxi
2-0
15
9
W
10
La Veta
2-0
13
10
W
Others receiving votes:
Genoa-Hugo 12, Arickaree/Woodlin 5, Sierra Grande 2, Idalia 1.
STRASBURG — No. 2 Bennett ripped off big play after big play to take down No. 1 Strasburg in a big Class 1A matchup on Friday night.
“It’s huge. We talked about it all week,” Bennett coach Rick Jacoby said. “The kids were super focused, I haven’t seen them like that in years. They were down to business — not too much in the hype of the game, not engaged in other situations — just down to business and focused. I’m real proud of the boys.”
The Tigers won 37-14, snapping a 14 game winning streak for Strasburg. The streak was tied for the longest in the state.
“Strasburg is a good team,” Jacoby said. “They’re young and trying to fill some spots from last year’s group. They’re a quality program. I’m sure as soon as they work those kinks out, man, it’s going to be a little bit different in November.”
Bennett’s Rocky Lechman kept on the read option and gutted the Strasburg defense for a 68-yard touchdown. A 2-point conversion put the Tigers up 16-0 with the first play of the second quarter.
Lechman was everywhere for No. 2 Bennett on both sides of the ball. He made tackle after tackle for the swarming Tiger defense. He made plays with his legs for the quick-striking offense, including a 20-yard run to put the score at 37-8.
“Our offensive and defensive lines came out and killed it,” Lechman said. “They were the MVP for this game. I couldn’t do anything on offense without our offensive line. Without them, I’m nothing.”
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jesse Rodriguez got loose on a 78-yard touchdown run to put Bennett up 30-8.
“I call it the three-headed monster back there,” Jacoby said. “I think teams start looking at Jesse (Rodgriguez) and some of the things he can do, and they over prep on him. Not taking anything away from Rocky, he’s an incredible athlete, very smart, but I think teams over-prepare for Jesse and it allows us to do some special things with Rocky with his speed and power.”
Michael Spence looked to be free on a run to the outside, but Lechman caught him from behind to keep the score at 16-0.
“Really, we were just trying to shut their sweep down,” Lechman said. “Last year, they beat us on that a lot. Fly in, fill our holes and make some big hits.
“Our defensive line just forces it in. I flew to where I’m supposed to be and I made plays.”
Strasburg hurt itself with penalties throughout the game. Delay of game penalties stalled the Indians on offense, then a block in the back took away a Strasburg first down in the middle of the first quarter.
The next play, Mason Wakeham broke off a 49-yard touchdown run and gave Bennett an 8-0 lead over Strasburg.
“Gameplan was limit the big play,” Jacoby said. “Look over last couple years, we feel like we’ve done a very good job playing Strasburg up to third down. Third and fourth down was our key. That was our mantra all week, third and fourth down, get them off the field. Limit those big plays on third and fourth down, and we knew we had a good chance.”
Nearing halftime on the opposing 30-yard-line, Strasburg’s Carson Spence looked endzone three plays in a row.
Spence passed just over the hands of his intended receiver. Next play, Spence’s pass just missed again. Facing a 4th & 11 with 1:31 left in the first half, Strasburg elected to go for it.
And the decision paid off.
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Spence found Michael Spence on a wheel route on a completed pass down to the 4-yard-line.
With 18 seconds left, Spence scrambled right and found Jacob Miller in the endzone. Strasburg closed the gap to a one-possession game going into halftime.
“Our leadership stood out. We picked eachother up even in sticky situations that we got into. We were able to build eachother up and get over those. We preach the brotherhood concept, and it really stood out tonight.”
But Bennett kept on the gas and went on to a 30-8 win thanks to touchdowns from Donovan Velasquez Kerns and Rodriguez, and the defense stepping up.
“Our pursuit to the ball on defense was a difference maker,” Jacoby said. “We thought we had a good scheme. It did break down a couple times, and that’s stuff we talked about. We have to go and work on stuff with their two scoring drives.”
On a big fourth down and five with 1:03 in the third quarter, Bennett took over on downs after the pass was broken up.
“We just knew we had to come out and play,” Lechman said. “Coach kept telling us that it’s just another game. Obviously, it’s a big deal to all the people we had out here, but he kept telling us that it’s just a game. Don’t make it too big, don’t freak yourself out. Just play like it’s another game.”
Football is in the blood of the people of these towns. Some fans have been watching Strasburg from the same spot for as they put it, “years.” One couple watched their sons and grandsons go through the program, and they still watch today.
“(The rivalry) means a lot to me,” Lechman, who transferred from Strasburg after freshman year, said. “It means a lot because I know all of these kids. It’s a great game and it’s fun to play in.”
On Friday, Bennett took home the win in the true definition of Friday Night Lights. Fans lined the chain link fence around the field as the town stood still for a few hours on a Friday night.
“Tomorrow morning, the celebration is over,” Lechman said. “It’s time to start preparing and continue on toward that state ring.”
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.
There’s a hurt lingering in the chest of the Bennett football team.
Yes, they made the state semifinals last season, a triumph for the school. Yes, it was the best showing in program history. And, yes, as senior Montana Rodwell said, it was a pretty cool experience.
But if you head east on I-70 from the metro area, pass the airport, take a left before the Kiowa exit, and stare out over a brilliant green field where 40 white jerseys are practicing, you can sense it: There’s a fire here. It’s burning inside these kids.
Semifinals are not enough. Not here.
Which is undoubtedly ambitious. Bennett has never appeared in a state football championship game, let alone win a championship. It is not among the recent titans of 1A — Strasburg, Buena Vista, Paonia, to name a few. Not yet, anyway. But that’s exactly where Bennett’s expectations lie.
“State,” Rodwell said simply. “That’s always the goal, isn’t it?”
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
To a player, at least the returning ones, that hurt lingers. They remember that Class 1A semifinal game, a 34-24 loss to Meeker.
34-24.
34-24.
34-24.
“We were one game away,” said Jarett Brown, a senior defensive end and fullback. “That just hit us deep in the stomach.”
“Every time I come out here,” Trever Miller, a junior, said after practice on Friday morning, “there’s still that little pain that gets me up and going, makes me want to do my best every play.”
Added Alec Packard, a senior lineman: “We’ve got that sour taste in our mouth now.”
When Bennett stepped on that semifinal field, the nerves were evident, players said.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” running back Mason Wakeham said. “We had never made it that far.”
But this season? Now they’ve reached that stage.
“Now we know what to expect,” Wakeham said. “I think we know what we need to do, how we need to fix it.”
The result is that spring and summer workouts were highly attended. Coach Rick Jacoby, entering his tenth season, said that allowed the staff to install their system earlier than usual, which in turn led to a first week of practice that was “one of the best we’ve had in a long time.”
“Where this week usually has been a lot of teaching,” Jacoby said, “I feel like this year it’s been a lot of sharpening.”
Seniors Rocky Lechman and Jesse Rodriquez — both quarterback/running back hybrids — were first-team all-state last season. Jadyn Brown, a two-way lineman, made the second team along. And the Tigers return every starter on the defensive line, and four of five on the offensive line, along with the senior Packard, who played a lot last season.
That last part is especially notable, Rodriquez points out, because “I think we had the best offensive line in the state last year. And this year, I think we’re even better.”
So the Tigers — keep in mind their expectations — believe they should be ranked first in that preseason poll.
“Our program doesn’t believe that you should ever be content with where you are,” Jadyn Brown said. “If someone says you have potential to be something good, what they’re really saying is, ‘You’re not good right now, and you have to keep working at it.’ So we’re going to never be OK with where we’re at.”
The 40-man roster is down slightly from previous seasons, but it’s a group that has total buy-in.
“We’re not that big, but we’re mighty, that’s for sure,” Rodriquez said. “We’ve got a lot of hard workers. We’ve got a lot of cowboys that are ready to put on their boots and go to work.”
Freshmen and sophomores are eager to learn, and upperclassmen are eager to teach.
“We do a lot of non-football things together, and it really helps bring those younger kids in,” coach Jacoby said. “They’re a part of that family, a part of that brotherhood — and not only are they being coached, they’re allowing themselves to be coached by their teammates.”
“They’ve got heart,” Rodwell, a lineman, said of the underclassmen. “They’re all taking seniors on (in practice), it’s pretty cool.”
(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Added Jake Floryancic, a senior who plays center and defensive tackle: “Everybody pushes each other to be better.”
It’s a group that has been together since most of them were young. They played Pee Wee football alongside one another. And now, for the 14 seniors at least, this season is their last chance to line up next to their friends.
“We all live around here, we all know each other really well,” said Elam Laing, another senior who plays tight end and defensive end. ” I think it’s really fun just playing with your friends and your buddies.”
“We know each other and it’s a family,” Rodwell added later. “It’s a brotherhood bond.”
That word — brotherhood — comes up a lot with Bennett. It’s even on the back of their jerseys. After practice, each coach names a player who stood out, and that player walks up for a congratulatory hug.
“No one gets left behind, so we’re going to bring everyone with us,” Jadyn Brown said. “If one man’s going to keep fighting, you need to help keep fighting with him.”
The community plays a large part in that, too.
Bennett’s practice field, a sprawling natural turf, was built by local farmers. It’s helped their gameday field stay in pristine condition. And the support from superintendent Robin Purdy and the school administration also played a large role in “helping us get the facilities to match the quality of program that we’re putting together,” Jacoby said.
“The town really rises around the football team,” Jacoby added.
Now, the next step is to have the results match Bennett’s expectations. It’s the fire inside of each Tiger, one they hope eventually burns away last season’s hurt.
“We’re all hungry, and we want that title,” Lechman said. “We want a ring.”
First team: Willy Boatman, Kent Denver, OT/DL, Sr.; Peter Flack, D’Evelyn, MLB/OL, Sr.; T.J. Love, Kent Denver, DT/OT, Sr.; Joshua McDonald, Kent Denver, FB/LB, Sr.; Charles McKissick, Kent Denver, WR/FS, Sr.; Jon Nuschy, La Junta, QB, Jr.
Second team: Mitchell Black, Faith Christian, G/DT, Sr.; Logan Church, Delta, OL/DL, Sr.; Ryan Phelps, Bayfield, DT/OT, Sr.; Josh Reeder, Delta, TE/DE, Sr.; Cole Sienknecht, Manitou Springs, QB/CB, Senior; Trevon Wehrman, Platte Valley, QB, Sr.; Cole Wood, Bayfield, G/MLB, Sr.; Taylor Wright, Manitou Springs, G/DT, Sr.
Kent Denver is No. 1 in 2A. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
Six of the seven defending champions lead CHSAANow.com’s preseason football rankings.
The lone non-champion to head a classification’s poll is Kent Denver, which is No. 1 in Class 2A.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association. Polls are released each Monday during the regular season.
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.
