Wild Card points help determine the postseason fields in 3A, 4A and 5A, with 4A and 5A also using them for seeding. Find a more detailed breakdown here.
Baseball’s Wild Card point standings for April 2 are below.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY — This particular Lamar girls basketball team had never qualified for the Class 3A state tournament.
The seniors, in particular, knew what to expect, however. They had attended the state tournament as spectators in previous years. And they knew the history of Lamar girls basketball.
The team came in to Thursday’s state quarterfinals with a mission, which began with an easy 48-27 victory over Peak to Peak to advance to Friday’s state semifinals.
The five seniors, two of whom come off the bench and many of whom have started since they were freshmen, spent their youth playing whatever sport was in season.
“These seniors have grown up together,” Savages coach Erik Melgoza said. “They’re like sisters.”
“I think it really helps us that we’ve played so long together,” senior point guard Chelsea Vallejos said.
Vallejos was a big factor in Lamar’s ability to set the tone early and establish control. She hit a 3-pointer to give the Savages an 8-6 lead. More importantly, she was effective as Lamar’s floor general.
The Savages’ defense frustrated the Pumas in the second quarter as Peak to Peak got off only four field goal attempts in falling behind 23-12. The Savages pushed the pace in extending their lead throughout the second half.
“The kids followed the game plan,” Melgoza said, allowing him to go four deep to his bench and give his starters a bit of rest.
Vallejos, who tied for team-high scoring honors with Taylor Wertz as each scored 13, was just as effective driving to the basket as she was from the outside.
“We want to be able to drive, usually down the middle,” she said of challenging the Pumas’ taller front court.
Lamar won four consecutive state titles in the mid- to late-1990s.
“A lot of these girls were little girls when they won those,” Melgoza said.
But they look on the gym walls and take in that history.
Lamar’s likely semifinal opponent is Holy Family, which has won five of the last six 3A state titles. Vallejos said her team will take in the Tigers’ quarterfinal game with great interest.
“We’ll watch their game (at 4 p.m. against Eaton),” Vallejos said. “We’re not going to mess around.”
“I feel like these girls are prepared,” Melgoza said.
Sterling 57, Bishop Machebeuf 44
In the day’s first game, the Tigers built a 31-20 halftime lead and made it stand up, matching the Buffaloes basket for basket in the second half.
Taylor Knudson and Kylie Chavez paced the Tigers with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Maggie Smith’s 13 points were tops for Machebeuf.
Holy Family 52, Eaton 30
The Tigers opened up a close game by going on an run 8-1 in the first four minutes of the second quarter to take a 26-19 halftime lead, then outscored Eaton 17-6 in the third to pull away.
The Chavez sisters keyed the attack, with sophomore Katie scoring 18 points while Lindsey, a senior, added 15. Between them they hit six 3-pointers. Maggie Spitzer added to a balanced attack with 13 points.
The Reds had five players score between four and seven points, led by Bailey Schumacher.
Holy Family plays Lamar at 7 p.m. Friday In the semifinals. Eaton and Peak to Peak play an 8:45 a.m. consolation game.
Pagosa Springs 48, Manitou Springs 34
The Pirates took advantage of cold shooting by the Mustangs early, holding them to seven first-half points in building a 12-point advantage.
Manitou Springs briefly cut its deficit to single digits in the second half but baskets by Taylor Strobehecker and Payton Shahan helped the second-seeded Pirates begin a run down the stretch. Shelby Megyeri’s 10 points were tops for the Mustangs.
Shahan led a balanced attack with 13 points as eight Pirates got into the scoring column.
Pagosa Springs meets Sterling in Friday’s first semifinal at 4 p.m. Manitou Springs and Bishop Machebeuf meet in the consolation round at 11:45 a.m.
Cherry Creek is in hockey’s semifinals. (Mark Adams)
Cherry Creek’s hockey program returned from a 24-year hiatus prior to last season. And the Bruins, not unexpectedly, won just two games.
Well, they’ve just won two games in two days of the state hockey playoffs. And now Cherry Creek is headed to the Frozen Four.
The Bruins Ryan Worley had two goals, Cody Oakes had two assists and Quinton Reynolds made 21 saves in a 5-2 win over Lewis-Palmer on Saturday evening. Mark Saxelby, Michael Dubus and Nick McWharter also scored for Cherry Creek.
“You know, we’ve been getting better every week,” Cherry Creek coach Jeff Mielnicki said on Saturday night. “Our goal, initially, was to make the (playoffs). … They’ve put in a lot of time and effort that, now, the rewards are there.”
Lewis-Palmer twice had one-goal leads that were erased.
“Now’s the time of year that it’s about heart and will,” Mielnicki said.
Lewis-Palmer led 1-0 after Zachary Williams’ goal midway through the first period, but Saxelby scored with 1:03 to go in the period to even things up.
“It was perfect timing, because Lewis-Palmer came out heavy,” Mielnicki said. “It felt like we won the period.”
Nick Pavlik made it 2-1 Lewis-Palmer 4:47 into the second, and Worley scored an unassisted power play goal just over four minutes later to tie it up. Creek then opened the third with three-straight goals.
Cherry Creek has now won 17 games this season. The program has four state titles in its history, the last coming in 1981, prior to being shut down in 1988.
Cherry Creek will face defending champion Ralston Valley in the semifinals. Ralston Valley won an earlier meeting on Jan. 4, 3-0.
“I think they’re the best team out there,” Mielnicki said. “Our group has matured a lot, and we’ve learned from every game and made the adjustments. … Come Friday, I can’t predict the result, but I think it’ll be very competitive.”
Ralston Valley 4, Bishop Machebeuf 0. The defending champions have returned to the semifinals for the third year in a row.
Austin Resseguie had a pair of goals for Ralston Valley, which allowed just 17 shots. Zack Larocque had the shutout for the Mustangs. Greg Dyba and Kyle Valdez also scored for Ralston Valley.
Alan Rikli made 34 saves in net for Bishop Machebeuf.
Monarch 5, Columbine 2. The first period was scoreless. Their first goal was quickly answered. But Monarch is back in the Frozen Four for the second year in a row after scoring four of the game’s final five goals on Saturday.
Monarch’s Brett Kiyota opened the scoring at 8:15 of the second period with a short-handed tally, but Columbine’s Logan Seibold answered on the power play just a minute-and-a-half later.
Then Cameron Taggart got an unassisted tally in the final minute of the second period, and Monarch exploded for three goals in the third in the 5-2 win. Andrew Pickner had two of those goals, Joey Buchan the other.
Columbine’s Ashton Opperman made 35 saves in the losing effort. Logan Seibold had a goal and an assist.
Regis Jesuit 3, Mountain Vista 1. The Raiders scored two first-period goals which ultimately held up in the second-round win over the Golden Eagles.
Jack Jordan had two goals, and Jack O’Neil scored the other for Regis.
Tanner Gillis scored for Mountain Vista, but it came 12:12 into the third period and after the Golden Eagles already trailed 3-0.
Sam Harden stopped all 21 shots he faced for Regis Jesuit.
Bishop Machebeuf 3, Dakota Ridge 2. Anders Saarela scored on the power play 2:39 into overtime as the Buffaloes beat Dakota Ridge.
Machebeuf had led 2-1 on Noah Hernandez’s goal in the second period, but Dakota Ridge tied the game with 53 seconds left in regulation when Zach Czarnecki scored.
Then in overtime, with Dakota Ridge’s Zach Czarnecki off for hooking, Saarela put Machebeuf on through to the second round.
Buffs’ goalie Alan Rikli made 32 saves in the win.
Regis Jesuit 8, Doherty 2. Doherty’s Jordan Barrett scored eight seconds into the game, and that lone tally held up for a 1-0 lead into the second period.
Then Regis Jesuit’s Connor Harshman scored the first of his two second-period goals, and Connor Brennan also got on the board as the Raiders turned the tide.
Doherty’s Ty Snyder cut the new lead to 3-2 2:50 into the third period, but Regis totally put the game away from there. Jack O’Neil scored back-to-back power play markers, the Jacob Frishman, Grant Johnson and Carter Alcock iced things. Regis’ final four goals came in a span of just over five minutes.
Regis Jesuit only allowed 16 shots in the game, meaning goalie Sam Harden made 14 saves.
Cherry Creek beat Pine Creek 6-2 on Friday night. More photos. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Cherry Creek 6, Pine Creek 2. A three-goal spurt in the middle of the second period propelled the Bruins over the Eagles on Friday night.
With the score tied at 1 in the second period, Cherry Creek’s Ryan Worley and Owen Berman scored exactly two minutes apart to make it 3-1. Jackson Ross then added a short-handed goal, his second of the game, to extend the lead.
Pine Creek would score just before the second ended, but Matt Jung made it 5-2 in the third and Chris Nitchen added an empty-netter for Cherry Creek.
Aaron Jatana made 32 saves for the Bruins.
Ralston Valley 10, Pueblo County 0. The Mustangs scored 1:29 into the game and the deluge continued from there.
Kyle Valdez had two goals and two assists, including that opener, while Connor Schaff had two goals and an assist as Ralston Valley rolled.
The Mustangs scored four goals in both the first and second periods. They also only surrendered four shots all game long as James Madok notched a shutout.
Cody Noel and Ian Snedden each had a goal and two assists for Ralston Valley.
Monarch 13, Cheyenne Mountain 1. It was 1-1 after the first period. But once the second period started? That’s when Monarch started to roll.
The Coyotes scored six times in the second frame, including two from Walker Harris, then added six more in the third.
Dima Kyle had six points on two goals and four assists to lead Monarch. Harris finished with four points, including the goals and two assists. Andrew Pickner had two goals and an assist, while Cameron Taggart had a goal and two assists. Blake Bride had three assists.
Monarch allowed just seven shots.
Mountain Vista 8, Resurrection Christian 0. Bryan Hancock had a hat-trick and added an assist, while Cordt Fenstermaker assisted on five goals as the Golden Eagles moved to the second round.
Goalie Joe Morgan stopped at 17 shots he faces in shutting out Resurrection Christian.
Michel Karas and Kaden Steward each had a goal and an assist for Mountain Vista, and Brent Berthold added two helpers.
Lewis-Palmer 6, Steamboat 2. Following a scoreless first period, Lewis-Palmer quickly jumped ahead in the second when Casey McMullin scored 1:26 into the frame. The Rangers’ Nick Pavlik added goal four minutes later, and Lewis-Palmer never looked back.
Dmitri Smith had two goals for Lewis-Palmer, while Adam Schaefer and McMullin each had a goal and two assists.
Columbine 3, Heritage 0. Logan Seibold and Matt Meyer each had a goal and an assist as the Rebels moved on to the second round.
Jacob Seibold scored Columbine’s other goal, while Ashton Opperman was huge with 40 saves in the shutout.
All tickets for this weekend’s Class 5A state swimming meet have been allocated to schools for Friday’s preliminaries. It means the 5A swim meet, set for Feb. 14-15 in Thornton, is effectively sold out on Friday.
Parents of swimmers may obtain tickets to the prelims through their school. The general public may wait in line starting at 2:30 p.m. on Friday to buy tickets should they go unused by a school.
A limited number of general public tickets remain available for Saturday evening’s finals — that line opens at 12:30 p.m. Saturday — and a good amount of tickets are available for dive prelims on Saturday morning. These tickets will only be sold on Saturday.
Again, parents may go through their school to buy tickets to the finals.
Plenty of tickets are available both days for the 4A meet.
Dakota Ridge is one of four teams playing at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Four teams will play at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night, and are selling tickets that can be used to at an upcoming Avalanche game.
Battle Mountain and Dakota Ridge will face off at 5 p.m., followed by Mullen and Bishop Machebeuf at 7:30 p.m.
The teams are selling two tiers of tickets:
$20 includes a ticket to the high school games, as well as an upper-level ticket to an Avs’ game, and a $5 donation to a high school hockey team of their choice.
$45 includes a high school ticket, a lower-level Avs ticket and a $5 donation.
There are two options for Avalanche games with this package: Feb. 26 against the Los Angeles Kings, or March 10 against the Winnipeg Jets.
Rampart hired Rob Royer to be its new football coach late last month. The Rams sifted through 60 applicants before making the choice. Royer has been a head coach at Summit, and also served as an assistant at Southlake Carroll in Texas — a team that won that state’s 5A Division 1 title in 2011. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator at Woodland Park for the past two seasons. He was introduced to the Rampart community on Monday night. Here’s a list of all of the coaching changes this offseason.
A number of coaches were honored by the NFHS Coaches Association’s Awards Program. Colorado coaches of the year include: Gunnison’s Shana Benson (volleyball), Monarch’s Phil Bravo (football), Mountain Vista’s Theresa Echtermeyer (girls soccer), Sheridan’s Linda Elliott (spirit), Legacy’s Dawn Gaffin (softball), Discovery Canyon’s Michael Humphrey (boys tennis), Pueblo South’s Shannan Lane (girls basketball), Air Academy’s Scott Newell (boys swim), Thompson Valley’s Matt Norton (girls track), Eaglecrest’s John Olander (boys basketball), Paonia’s Andy Pipher (wrestling), Loveland’s Paul Quere (boys track), The Classical Academy’s Alan Versaw (girls cross country), ThunderRidge’s Joe White (baseball), and Alamosa’s Larry Zaragoza (boys cross country).
The Colorado High School Coaches Association announced its 2014 class earlier this month. Included: Cheyenne Mountain’s Carl Fetters (football, basketball); Durango’s Ron Keller (track, cross country); Cheyenne Mountain and Palmer’s Mike Provenzano (hockey); Otis’ Bonnie Wallin-Kuntz (volleyball); and Poudre’s Randy Yaussi (cross country, track).
Lutheran’s defense led to a number of Bishop Machebeuf turnovers. (Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)
DENVER — Finally, a spark. Lofted off the fingertips of senior Madison Rickey, a 3-point shot tied the game with three seconds left in the third quarter and ignited Lutheran’s girls basketball team.
Then Kristen Vigil fanned the flames.
Vigil, a sophomore, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the fourth quarter as Lutheran took a 45-39 lead against Bishop Machebeuf it wouldn’t surrender. The Lions went on to win 60-53 despite trailing by as much as 12 points in the third quarter.
“Madison Rickey hit a 3 and that got me pretty excited,” Vigil said afterwards. “I just wanted to win that game.”
Rickey’s shot from the right corner, which tied things at 39 late in the third quarter, “was huge,” Lutheran coach Mark Duitsman said.
“That was a momentum-changer,” Lutheran junior Kaleigh Paplow said. “We were struggling, obviously. Once we hit that, it was like, ‘Let’s go.’”
The shot was smack-dab in the middle of an 17-2 run spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter that turned the game from a 37-28 deficit for Lutheran into a 45-39 lead.
“What we’ve been searching for is rhythm. That’s been the word all week.” Duitsman said. “We’ve got to identify our rhythm shots, not just shooting because we’re open: Is there a flow to what we’re doing? They fed off that momentum and that rhythm and knocked (shots) down. That was big.”
But Lutheran didn’t have much rhythm early. The Lions, ranked No. 2 in CHSAANow.com’s latest 2A poll, couldn’t quite find themselves against Machebeuf, a 3A league opponent. The Buffaloes were in control for most of the game, and held leads of 16-7 after the first quarter and 27-21 at the half.
So Duitsman dialed up the defense pressure, using a type of full-court press his team hadn’t even practiced this season. It resulted in 11 second-half turnovers from Machebeuf and a slew of transition points for Lutheran.
“Our offense feeds off our defense,” said Paplow, who finished with a team-high 15 points.
“Defense is one of our keys,” added Vigil, who had 10 points. “It just gets our team pumped up. I think we play better, more energetic.”
Lutheran improved to 10-1, including 4-1 in the tough Metropolitan League which consists of nine 3A teams — and the 2A Lions. Holy Family (No. 1), Peak to Peak (No. 5) and Lutheran are all ranked.
“It’s definitely tough. I mean, you have the top 3A teams,” Vigil said. “It’s really cool, though, for a 2A team to come out here and play the top competition. We play Holy Family, they’re ranked No. 1, you’ve got Machebeuf, Kent Denver – you’ve got a lot of really good teams in this league. … I think that’ll help us in the end.”
Said Duitsman: “I just love it. There’s some really good teams in 2A, but we are certainly getting prepared by going through this.”
Machebeuf dropped to 7-5, 2-2 in the Metro League. The Buffs were led by Jonni Smith’s 17 points. Heidi Grandon added 12, including three 3-pointers in the first half.
