Ralston Valley continues to be out front of the CHSAANow.com hockey ranking. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Regis Jesuit moved up three places in this week’s CHSAANow.com hockey poll.
The Raiders (3-0-0) were No. 7 last week, and are now No. 4.
Ralston Valley remained on top of the rankings, a spot the Mustangs have occupied since the preseason. They beat then-No. 4 Cherry Creek 3-0 on Saturday.
Monarch returned to the No. 2 spot, jumping Mountain Vista. Cherry Creek dropped one spot to No. 5.
Cherry Creek and Dakota Ridge are among a host of contenders this season. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
The 2013-14 hockey season emerges from its annual winter break on Thursday. We take a look at where things stand:
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Ralston Valley, last season’s champion, has just about rolled through its entire 2013 schedule. So have Monarch — last season’s runner-up — Mountain Vista and Regis Jesuit.
Those four teams are all winning games by an average of at least 6.6 goals thus far. (Monarch is winning games by an average of 10.6 goals; Mountain Vista by 9 goals.)
These teams are dominant — so far. Regis, Monarch and Mountain Vista have only played three games; Ralston Valley has played four. Thus, these stats don’t so much reveal a trend, but rather a lack of data.
So here’s what we’re saying: It’s early. Very early. Those four teams are very much contenders to win this season’s championship. But they aren’t alone.
Steamboat Springs. (Mark Adams)
There’s also:
Lewis-Palmer (7-1-0). The Rangers have a number of quality wins — Standley Lake (3-2-1), Bishop Machebeuf (3-2-1), Resurrection Christian (4-2-0) — and the lone loss came to Ralston Valley, 5-2. That was the Mustangs’ closest contest of the season thus far.
Cherry Creek (5-1-1). The Bruins’ lone loss came 4-3 to Mountain Vista in overtime on Dec. 20; their tie came with Dakota Ridge (4-0-2) on Dec. 11.
Dakota Ridge (4-0-2). As noted above, one tie came with Creek, the other with Columbine (5-0-1).
And others on the bubble, such as Pueblo County (5-0-2), Columbine (5-0-1), Battle Mountain (4-1-1) and Steamboat Springs (4-3-0).
Surprise team: Columbine.
The Rebels are unbeaten, and have already matched their win total from last season, when they went 5-14-0. Furthermore, the program was 20-69-2 (.211) from 2008-09 to last season.
“By far the best start we’ve ever had. Absolutely,” said Columbine coach Chris Gassman, who is now in his third season at the helm. “We’ve gotten better every year I’ve been there, but this is by far the best one.
“We are definitely a surprise to everybody.”
At the break, Columbine is tied for second in the Foothills Conference with four points. (Only conference games count toward the point total, and the Rebels are 2-0-0. Cherry Creek leads with five points at 2-0-1.) The Rebels are ranked No. 5 in the most recent CHSAANow.com poll.
“Would I say I saw us starting out undefeated? No,” Gassman said. “But … we feel we’re a top-5 team in the conference this year, just with the kids we’ve got coming back.”
The difference? Prior to the season, Gassman and coaches from Cherry Creek and Regis Jesuit put together a “preseason” league. Six high school teams competed as club teams — Cherry Creek, Cheyenne Mountain, Columbine, Heritage, Regis Jesuit and Resurrection Christian. Each team played the others two times.
Columbine’s team also played a few preseason tournaments, and ended up playing “20-something games preseason-wise,” Gassman said.
“Instead of only having two or three weeks (together) before the season started, we had three months,” Gassman said. “It gave us basically a season before CHSAA started.”
So now, Columbine is already in mid-season form.
“We’ve got pretty much the same group from last season, I think we added like five kids. It’s kind of the same good, solid group for a while,” Gassman said. “Something clicked, and they’re starting to figure it out.”
Among Columbine’s wins are Steamboat Springs, which at one point was ranked, and Heritage, which is just on the fringe of the most recent poll. There’s also the tie with Dakota Ridge. Still, there isn’t yet a defining win. They get that chance with a game against Mountain Vista on Saturday. Six days later, Ralston Valley awaits.
“We’re right back into it, right away,” Gassman said.
Brothers Jacob Seibold and Logan Seibold both have seven points thus far to lead the team. Jacob has five goals and two assists, Logan has three goals and four assists.
The Rebels have also had outstanding goaltending via senior Ashton Opperman (2-0-1, 0.31 GAA), Forest Czarnecki (2-0-0, 2.68) and Evan King (1-0-0, 2.65).
“Ashton has been the backup the last couple of years, and this year, he has just kind of taken the team by himself. He has been unbelievable,” Gassman said. “Our other two kids … they’ve both given us a chance to win in every game we’ve played.
“Goaltending has not been any part of a discussion or issue with this team, at all. It’s been nothing to worry about at all. It’s been fantastic.”
Gassman said Opperman will likely play the majority of the games as the season heats up.
Looking ahead: Things are really going to start taking shape as soon as this weekend. In addition to the Columbine game, Mountain Vista also plays Regis Jesuit on Friday.
There’s also Monarch at Battle Mountain on Friday, and Ralston Valley at Cherry Creek on Saturday.
We’ll start to get a good idea of where each team falls with each passing week. But things will happen fast: the regular season ends Feb. 15.
Points
T1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 17
T1. Jack Longenecker (Bishop Machebeuf): 17
T3. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 15
T3. Julain Claudio (Lewis-Palmer): 15
5. Ryan Case (Cheyenne Mountain): 15
Goals
1. Sam Horning (Palmer): 13
T2. DJ Jones (Lewis-Palmer): 10
T2. Isaac Ruybal (Pueblo County): 10
T4. Nick Rems (Bishop Machebeuf): 9
T4. Cody Oakes (Cherry Creek): 9
T4. Tim VanTuinen (Resurrection Christian): 9
Ralston Valley remains atop the hockey poll this week. (Dennis Pleuss)
Mountain Vista’s big week has made an impression on the hockey voters.
The Golden Eagles, coming off a 3-0-0 week which included a 4-3 overtime win over then-No. 6 Cherry Creek, moved up six places to No. 2 in this week’s CHSAANow.com ranking.
Ralston Valley continued to lead the poll, and received five of the six first-place votes. Monarch is third, Cherry Creek is fourth and Columbine rounds out the top-5.
These polls will serve as the rankings over the winter break, and through the first part of January. The next poll will not come out until Jan. 13.
Dakota Ridge is ranked fifth in this week’s hockey poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
Resurrection Christian and Lewis-Palmer have joined this week’s CHSAANow.com hockey poll.
Resurrection Christian, now 3-1-0, is No. 7 this week. The Cougars went 3-0-0 last week, including a 5-2 win over then-No. 8 Steamboat Springs on Friday. Steamboat dropped to No. 10 this week.
Lewis-Palmer, meanwhile, is No. 9. The Rangers beat then-No. 10 Standley Lake and Bishop Machebeuf last week.
Ralston Valley continued to hold the top spot. The Mustangs were idle last week, as was the No. 2 team, Monarch.
Regis Jesuit jumped up from No. 6 to No. 3 after winning its first three games of the season. Columbine is fourth this week, and Dakota Ridge rounds out the top 5.
Aspen (No. 9) and Standley Lake (No. 10) dropped out this week.
Ralston Valley is atop the hockey poll. (Evan Gustafson/The Review)
Ralston Valley, the defending champion and off to a 3-0-0 start this year, leads the first CHSAANow.com hockey poll of the season.
The Mustangs are outscoring opponents 25-3 thus far. They received all five first-place votes this week.
Monarch, last season’s runner-up, is second. The Coyotes own a 12-1 win over Liberty to open the season.
Columbine, also off to a 3-0-0 start, is No. 3 this week. The Rebels did not make the postseason last year after going 5-14-0.
Mountain Vista, yet to play a game, is No. 4, and Cherry Creek rounds out the top 5. Regis Jesuit is sixth, and is followed by Dakota Ridge, Steamboat Springs, Aspen and Standley Lake.
AURORA — No. 7 Regis Jesuit had three players in double figures as the Raiders opened their season with a 60-32 win over Columbine on Tuesday. Bryan Staerkel had 16 points for Regis, while Jared Small and Kip Boryla each had 10.
Fairview sings the school fight song after defeating Pomona in Boulder. More photos. (Kai Casey)
Fairview had to climb out of a 21-7 hole. But the top-seeded Knights did, and are headed to the Class 5A semifinals because of it.
Like they did in the two teams’ regular season matchup, Fairview scored quickly to open the game against No. 8 Pomona. This time, Pomona responded and was up 21-7 late in the first quarter after Chris Marquez scored his third rushing touchdown. But Fairview quarterback Anders Hill hit Cameron Frazier for a 20-yard touchdown to cut things to 21-14 before the half.
Coming out of the break, Fairview tied it up just two minutes into the third quarter on Sam Martin’s 6-yard rush. The Knights took the lead for good in the fourth on a 10-yard rush from Hill. Hill added another rushing score to seal the game late in the quarter. He finished with four total touchdowns.
Fairview, now 11-0, will play the winner of Saturday’s game between ThunderRidge and Grandview in the next round. The Knights will be on the road regardless of who wins as both Grandview and ThunderRidge have played fewer home games during the playoffs.
No. 2 Valor Christian is headed back to the semifinals. The Eagles, a four-time defending champion across three classifications, handled No. 7 Columbine 49-13.
The Classical Academy is headed to the semifinals for the first time in school history. A week after winning in the postseason for the first time, the Titans toppled No. 2 Palisade, 24-21.
TCA led 17-7 at the half, but Palisade rallied to take a 21-17 lead with two minutes to play. Then, Peter Troupe scored the winning touchdown for the Titans with 33 seconds left.
The Classical Academy will play the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal game between No. 3 Roosevelt and No. 6 Coronado.
The top two seeds, as well as Nos. 4, 5 and 8, have all lost in this year’s 3A playoffs.
Valor Christian running back Christian McCaffrey, far right, makes a move to elude Columbine defenders Tanner Degutis (14), Jacen White (99) and Larry Munson (4) on Friday night at Valor Stadium in Highlands Ranch. McCaffrey put up 316 yards from scrimmage and scored four touchdowns in the Eagles’ 49-13 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Valor Christian senior Christian McCaffrey already had first-hand experience of the type of football program Columbine has even before taking the field Friday night.
“My sophomore year, when we were 4A, we shared a locker room with Columbine. We knew they really get after it,” McCaffrey said talking about 2011 when both Valor and Columbine won state titles at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. “We knew that they know what it takes to win. They have a great coaching staff and fantastic players.”
The talented Valor squad looking for its fifth straight state title pounced on the Rebels early, rolling to an eventual 49-13 victory in the Class 5A state quarterfinal at Valor Stadium.
The victory moves Valor (11-1 record) into the 5A semifinals where the Eagles will have a rematch of last year’s state championship game against Cherokee Trail (10-2). The Cougars upended Cherry Creek 27-14 Friday night to set up the rematch.
Valor Christian senior Christian McCaffrey (5) attempts to shed the tackle of Columbine senior Bernard McDondle on Friday night. The Eagles beat Columbine in the 5A quarterfinal game 49-13 to set up a rematch of last year’s 5A state title game against Cherokee Trail in the semifinals next week. (Dennis Pleuss)
On the Eagles’ home field in Highlands Ranch, McCaffrey had a monster game against Columbine with 15 carries for 272 yards and three touchdowns. The Stanford-bound product also caught two passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. This despite only having one carry for a 37-yard touchdown in the second half, which put the Eagles up 49-6 with 7:20 left in the third quarter and induced a running clock for the remainder of the game.
Valor scored touchdowns on each of its first seven offensive possessions. Not what Columbine coach Andy Lowry had in mind. The Rebels had hoped that their grinding running attack could keep McCaffrey and company off the field, but Columbine could manage just two first downs on its first five offensive drives.
“Everyone looks at Valor’s offense, that is incredible, but their defense is overshadowed a lot of the time,” Lowry said. “We were going to try to run the clock, but we couldn’t get the first downs to do that.”
Columbine did have a first-quarter bright spot when senior running back Bernard McDondle scored on a 69-yard touchdown run to cut Valor’s lead to 14-6 with 3:55 left. However, the Eagles responded with four more touchdowns before halftime to extend their lead to 42-6.
“(Columbine) is a very physical team,” Valor coach Rob Sherman said. “I think what I’m most proud of tonight is our defensive line and linebackers. We gave up one huge play and then we responded well.”
It wasn’t all McCaffrey offensively for Valor. Senior quarterback A.J. Cecil was 9-for-11 passing for 149 yards and a touchdown. He also carried the ball seven times for 47 yards and a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs.
Junior Nathan Whatmore got into the scoring act with a 3-yard touchdown run in the first half, too.
Sherman said he has tried to keep McCaffrey as fresh as possible heading into this late-season stretch. The senior has just 117 carries on the season, but averages 12.8 yards per carry. McCaffrey hit the 1,500-yard mark with his effort Friday night.
Columbine running back Bernard McDondle (2) scrambles after a loose ball as Valor Christian junior Brandon Biggs (81) closes Friday in the Class 5A state quarterfinal game. McDondle had 14 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown in his final game as a Rebel. (Dennis Pleuss)
“(McCaffrey) is incredible and our little No. 2 (McDondle) is pretty darn incredible too,” Lowry said. “Coach Sherman and I have been blessed with two great running backs, great kids and just warriors.”
McDondle, who was key in the Rebels’ run to the 5A state title in 2011, finished his final game with 14 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown. The senior finished with more than 1,700 yards on the ground and 25 touchdowns this season.
Columbine did add a late touchdown with a 70-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Michael Tait to junior Austin Norton in the fourth quarter for the final score of the game.
Friday night was actually the first-ever meeting on the gridiron between Columbine and Valor. Both programs have made a significant imprint on the prep football landscape in Colorado over recent years.
Columbine has been a state title contender since the late 1990s, winning 5A football championships in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2011. Lowry has guided the Rebels to a perfect 5-0 in title games. The Rebels’ latest state championship came two years ago with Columbine defeating Jeffco rival Lakewood 41-31 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
The Rebels have racked up a 70-15 record since the start of the 2007 football season.
“When I moved here in 2007, Columbine was the program everyone looked at and I believe they still are,” Sherman said. “Andy Lowry is arguably the best coach in the state. He gets his guys to play so hard. It’s an honor for us to share the field with them and we are very thankful for the result tonight.”
Valor has had an impressive football program since the private school opened 2007. After a 4-6 record in Valor’s first year playing varsity football in 2008, the Eagles have staked claim to four straight football titles in three different classifications. Valor’s run on championships began in 2009 with a 3A title, followed up by back-to-back 4A crowns in 2010 and 2011. The Eagles made a successful jump to the largest classification (5A) last season shutting out Cherokee Trail 9-0 in the title game.
The Eagles have a 62-6 record since the start of the 2009 season. The last in-state team to beat Valor was Mullen back on Aug. 24, 2012 in the Eagles’ season opener last season. Bingham from Utah has gotten the better of Valor twice in games over the past two seasons.
Valor Christian wide receiver Marcus Wilson, far right, uses the block of senior Trey Hanley (2) on Columbine junior Emery Taylor (22) to pick up some extra yards during the first half Friday night. (Dennis Pleuss)
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.
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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Class 4A
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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Class 3A
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.
LAKEWOOD — Columbine 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.
