That last feat earned him an entry into the state record book. Mestas is the 22nd player in the history of the sport to return a kickoff at least 99 yards, and he is now tied for the ninth-longest return ever.
Mestas had 241 yards and three touchdowns receiving, and 48 tackles and four interceptions on defense last season as the Demons reached the Class 4A quarterfinals.
West Grand coach Chris Brown is currently tied with Pat Panek at 306 career wins. West Grand begins its season next week.
This was the first-ever varsity game for Prospect Ridge Academy.
Notables
Sedgwick County, the defending champion in 8-man, opened its season with a 58-0 win over Creek Valley (Neb.). The Cougars have now won 14 games in a row — the longest active streak in the state. Buena Vista (1A) and Pueblo East (3A) also enter the 2016 season with 13-game winning streaks, but neither team plays in Zero Week.
In 2A, No. 8 Resurrection Christian had 23 unanswered points as the Cougars beat No. 9 Sterling 34-6.
In 8-man, a top-10 matchup between No. 2 Akron and No. 8 Granada didn’t exactly live up to the hype as the Rams rolled 59-0.
Bayfield had its 12-game winning streak snapped with a 19-0 loss to San Juan (Utah).
3A No. 2 Roosevelt, runner up a season ago, opened its season with a 39-0 win against Thornton.
Grand Junction Central nearly pulled off an upset, but 3A No. 6 Palisade held on with a 31-26 win.
3A No. 7 Rifle beat Basalt 48-34.
Another top-10 team in 3A, Holy Family (No. 9), opened with a 40-19 win at Mountain View.
1A No. 4 Crowley County beat Colorado Springs Christian 32-22. And No. 10 Meeker beat Highland 18-8.
Valor Christian is No. 1 in 5A’s preseason poll. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)
As is tradition, the defending state football champions have a way of finding themselves atop the initial set of CHSAANow.com football rankings.
Of the seven teams that came away with titles in their respective classes, six will come into the 2016 season with a No. 1 ranking.
With 12 first place votes in Class 5A, Valor Christian comes in as the top dog in the states highest classification. They return MaxPrep All-American quarterback Dylan McCaffrey and emerging running back Josiah Davis on the offensive side of the ball.
Defensively, Noah Elliss leads a front seven that could rank as one of the top in the state. With balance on both sides of the ball, the Eagles will look for their seventh title in eight seasons.
State runner-up Pomona takes the No. 2 spot in the polls and are looking to bounce back after a tough loss to Valor in the 5A title game.
Mullen slides in at No. 3, while Cherry Creek and Grandview round out the top five teams.
Windsor is No. 1 in 4A. (Matt Daniels/MattDanPhoto.com)
In 4A, defending champion Windsor is riding high after playing its way to the fourth football title in team history. The Wizards sit atop the rankings with Pine Creek nipping closely at their heels.
The Eagles had a string of back-to-back title reigns ended last season and are looking rebound from an unexpected exit in the 4A semifinals.
With two consecutive titles in hand, Pueblo East starts the season as the top team in the 3A polls, taking seven first place votes.
The Eagles went through Fort Morgan in the 3A semifinals last year and topped Roosevelt in the title game. Those two teams follow Pueblo East in the rankings with the Roughriders sitting at No. 2 and the Mustangs coming in at No. 3.
As a newcomer to 3A, Longmont comes in at No. 4 despite receiving six first place votes.
The 2A poll starts with the most distribution among voters in the class. Bayfield comes in at No. 1 with three first place votes. Delta, a team dropping down to 2A with the new football classification cutoff numbers, received the most first place votes with five, but the Panthers come in at No. 4 to start the year.
The Classical Academy — another newcomer to 2A for this cycle — lands at No. 5.
Buena Vista is No. 1 in 1A. (Bill Cronin)
Just as they ended last season duking it out with each other, Buena Vista and Paonia battled for the top spot in the 1A polls with the Demons coming away with the top spot.
They received 12 votes for the No. 1 spot while the Panthers snagged four.
Burlington (No. 3) and Crowley County (No. 4) also received high rankings after making playoff runs last year.
Other quarterfinal teams that made the top 10 this season are Limon (No. 5) and Meeker (No. 10).
Like in the 1A polls, the 8-man state champ and runner-up come in as the top two teams this preseason. Sedgwick County and Akron take the No. 1 and No. 2 spots respectively with Sargent coming in at No. 3 and Norwood coming in at No. 4.
Overall, seven of the eight quarterfinal teams in the 8-man playoffs come into the season ranked in the top 10.
Fleming comes in as the only No. 1 team who does not have championship hardware from a year ago. The Wildcats lost in last year’s 6-man semifinals to eventual champion Eads, but come in this year as the preseason favorite to take the state title.
After coming away with the state title, Eads comes in at No. 2 despite receiving the majority of the first place votes.
State runner-up Arickaree/Woodlin comes in at No. 4.
Kit Carson (No. 3) and Pawnee (No. 5) round out the top five teams in the 6-man poll.
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.
Chatfield 25, Pueblo South 25, Fruita Monument 20, Monarch 17, Fort Collins 10, Montrose 10, Grand Junction 5, Greeley West 5, Pueblo Centennial 4, Pueblo West 4, Rampart 4.
Class 3A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Pueblo East (7)
0-0
126
2
Roosevelt
0-0
100
3
Fort Morgan (1)
0-0
89
4
Longmont (6)
0-0
75
5
Discovery Canyon
0-0
71
6
Palisade
0-0
65
7
Rifle
0-0
40
8
Evergreen
0-0
37
9
Holy Family
0-0
30
10
Thompson Valley
0-0
26
Others receiving votes:
Mead 23, Durango 16, Lutheran 10, Pueblo County 9, Eagle Valley 8, Lewis-Palmer 8, Silver Creek 8, Vista Peak 8, Palmer Ridge 7, Mitchell 6, Alameda 5, Conifer 1, Pueblo Central 1, Woodland Park 1.
Class 2A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Bayfield (3)
0-0
104
2
Kent Denver (1)
0-0
97
3
Platte Valley (2)
0-0
90
4
Delta (5)
0-0
78
5
The Classical Academy
0-0
68
6
D’Evelyn (3)
0-0
67
7
La Junta (1)
0-0
62
8
Resurrection Christian
0-0
58
9
Sterling
0-0
47
10
Brush
0-0
38
Others receiving votes:
Eaton 33, Faith Christian 20, Bishop Machbeuf 9, Manitou Springs 8, Moffat County 8, Elizabeth 7, Cortez 6, Fort Lupton 5, Steamboat Springs 5, Arvada 4, The Academy 4, Gunnison 3, Basalt 2, Weld Central 2.
Class 1A
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Buena Vista (12)
0-0
149
2
Paonia (4)
0-0
146
3
Burlington
0-0
83
4
Crowley County
0-0
76
5
Limon
0-0
71
6
Strasburg
0-0
52
7
Bennett
0-0
50
8
Platte Canyon
0-0
41
9
Monte Vista
0-0
35
10
Meeker
0-0
34
Others receiving votes:
Rye 33, Cedaredge 24, Centauri 24, Dolores 16, Ellicott 15, Wiggins 14, Center 8, Dolores Huerta 8, Holyoke 8, Vail Christian 8, Colorado Springs Christian 6, Olathe 6, Rocky Ford 6, Grand Valley 5, Byers 4, Highland 4, Peyton 3, Trinidad 3, Hotchkiss 2, Front Range Christian 1.
8-man
RK
TEAM
W-L
PTS
1
Sedgwick County (8)
0-0
96
2
Akron
0-0
87
3
Sargent
0-0
80
4
Norwood (2)
0-0
73
5
Dayspring Christian
0-0
61
6
Hoehne (1)
0-0
60
7
Merino
0-0
31
8
Granada
0-0
26
9
Caliche (1)
0-0
23
10
Dove Creek
0-0
20
Others receiving votes:
West Grand 15, Sangre de Cristo 14, Holly 12, Springfield 12, Sanford 10, Las Animas 9, Mancos 9, Miami-Yoder 6, Haxtun 5, Plateau Valley 3, Del Norte 2, Hayden 2, Soroco 2, Gilpin County 1, McClave 1.
The 2016 all-state baseball players of the year are (from left): Holly’s Ricardo Juarez (1A); Dawson’s Luke Feigal (2A); ThunderRidge’s Jake Eissler (5A); Lewis-Palmer’s Paul Tillotson (4A); and Faith Christian’s Austin Stone (3A). (Photos: Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com; Jeff Tucker/jefferywtucker.zenfolio.com; Chris Fehrm/MaxPreps; Michael Hankins/MaxPreps)
The 2016 all-state baseball teams honor the best players in the sport as judged by the leagues and coaches. They are presented by CHSAANow.com, ColoradoPreps.com and MaxPreps.
These teams were created following a lengthy process which included nominations from leagues, and then a vote of head coaches.
Player and coach of the year was also selected by a vote of the coaches.
[divider]
Class 5A
ThunderRidge’s Jake Eissler is the 5A baseball player of the year. (Michael Hankins/MaxPreps) Player of the year: Jake Eissler, ThunderRidge
Coach of the year: Allan Dyer, Cherokee Trail
First Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Austin Alarid
Rocky Mountain
LHP/1B
Senior
Jerome Bohannon
Cherokee Trail
LHP/OF
Senior
Quin Cotton
Regis Jesuit
OF
Senior
Jake Eissler
ThunderRidge
RHP/3B/1B
Senior
Maverick Handley
Mullen
C/INF
Senior
Travis Marr
Regis Jesuit
RHP/1B
Senior
Conner Nantkes
Cherokee Trail
LHP/UTIL
Junior
Ryan Sullivan
Cherokee Trail
1B
Senior
Nate Sweeney
Cherry Creek
RHP/SS/OF
Senior
Bo Weiss
Regis Jesuit
RHP
Senior
Second Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Peter Carlson
Ralston Valley
SS/RHP
Senior
Bailey Collins
Dakota Ridge
OF/P
Senior
Eric Cox
Cherokee Trail
RHP/OF
Junior
Cade Crader
Grandview
1B/RHP
Senior
Tommy Gillman
Columbine
SS
Senior
Jay Onken
Pine Creek
OF/RHP
Sophomore
Casey Opitz
Heritage
C/SS/RHP
Junior
Tanner O’Tremba
Cherry Creek
OF/RHP
Sophomore
Sam Schroeder
Fruita Monument
P/OF
Senior
Josh Schumacher
Rangeview
2B/SS/P
Senior
John Sorensen
Rocky Mountain
SS/RHP
Junior
Honorable mention:
Cuba Bess, Senior, Fruita Monument
Evan Bolin, Senior, Prairie View
Wade Council, Senior, Pine Creek
Aaron Dammel, Senior, Highlands Ranch
Chris Diehl, Senior, Rocky Mountain
Riley Egloff, Sophomore, Heritage
Cole Farmer, Senior, Brighton
Matt Givin, Junior, Rock Canyon
Alex Gonzales, Senior, Rocky Mountain
Tanner Hauptman, Senior, Ralston Valley
Tyson Hays, Junior, Grandview
Ryley Humrighouse, Senior, Castle View
Ricky Marshall, Senior, Fountain-Fort Carson
Jake Minnick, Senior, Douglas County
Jacob Moyer, Senior, Fort Collins
Dylan Paulsen, Senior, Gateway
Walter Pennington, Senior, Broomfield
Nick Perez, Junior, Cherokee Trail
Rocco Porreco, Junior, Mullen
Chase Powell, Senior, Lakewood
Tony Rice, Senior, Liberty
Jacob Rodriguez, Senior, Adams City
Joey Salvato, Junior, Mullen
Tyler Smith, Senior, Grandview
Jordan Stubbings, Junior, Legend
Nathaniel Swanson, Junior, Northglenn
Jadon Uhrich, Junior, Rocky Mountain
Razzo Vigil, Junior, Westminster
[divider]
Class 4A
Lewis-Palmer’s Paul Tillotson is the 4A baseball player of the year. (Chris Fehrm/MaxPreps) Player of the year: Paul Tillotson, Lewis-Palmer
Coach of the year: Keith Wahl, Valor Christian
First Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Clint Allen
Erie
C/INF/P
Senior
Rocco Arguto
Pueblo West
RF
Senior
Holden Bernhardt
Mountain View
P/OF/1B
Senior
Wyatt Featherston
Green Mountain
OF/P
Senior
Jake Greenwalt
Windsor
–
Senior
Cole McKissock
Air Academy
INF
Senior
Dauson Tate
Pueblo West
C
Senior
Paul Tillotson
Lewis-Palmer
–
Senior
Austin Wood
Silver Creek
1B/P
Senior
Luke Ziegler
Valor Christian
3B/RHP
Sophomore
Second Team
Name
School
Pos.
Year
Mike Berg
Thompson Valley
C/OF/3B
Junior
Issac Bracken
Berthoud
–
Senior
Jaspar Carmichael
Delta
SS/P
Sophomore
Billy Cook
Lewis-Palmer
–
Junior
Nyk Crumrine
Valor Christian
INF/RHP
Senior
Bailey Hansen
Air Academy
P/OF
Senior
Davis Heller
Valor Christian
RHP/1B
Freshman
Ethan Keller
Delta
CF/P
Junior
Ruben Portillo
Erie
P/INF
Junior
Cooper Rothe
Longmont
CF
Senior
Judah Wilbur
Denver North
INF/SS/2B
Junior
Honorable mention:
Kavan Andrew, Senior, Longmont
Locke Bernhardt, Senior, Mountain View
Cameron Brosh, Senior, Canon City
Josh Crites, Senior, Erie
Kyle Daniels, Senior, Fort Morgan
Blake Donels, Junior, Valor Christian
Gavin Fesmire, Senior, Pueblo Centennial
Daniel Gurrola, Senior, Denver North
Spencer Hamilton, Senior, The Classical Academy
Jaeden Hegmann, Junior, Mesa Ridge
Dane Kapande, Senior, Evergreen
Joe Lucas, Senior, Palisade
Zach Manchester, Senior, Canon City
Garrett Martin, Junior, Eagle Valley
Lawrence Mayberry, Senior, Durango
Mitch Menard, Senior, D’Evelyn
Skyler Messinger, Junior, Niwot
Jared Miller, Sophomore, Montrose
Brett Muscatello, Senior, Evergreen
Max Noland, Junior, Palisade
Dylan Norsen, Junior, Mountain View
Gunner Pickett, Senior, Mead
Blake Reiher, Junior, Delta
Morgan Robinson, Senior, Rifle
Stephen Romero, Junior, Glenwood Springs
Andrew Shaw, Junior, Summit
Tyler Shubert, Senior, Windsor
Isiah Torres, Senior, Pueblo East
Sean Weller, Senior, Battle Mountain
Kaylor Werner, Sophomore, Northridge
Cole Winn, Sophomore, Silver Creek
[divider] Faith Christian’s Austin Stone is the 3A baseball player of the year. (Matt Mathewes/MVPSportsPics.com)
The seven titles are the most since Regis Jesuit and Cheyenne Mountain each won seven in 2010-11.
Five teams tied for second place in the state with three team championships this season: Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Academy, Kent Denver, Pomona and Regis Jesuit.
Colorado Academy and Valor Christian each had a state-best three girls championships, while Valor’s four titles were the most on the boys’ side.
In all, 67 different teams won a team championship in 2015-16, including 16 teams which won multiple championships.
A breakdown of team championships is below.
Rank
Team
Girls
Boys
Co-Ed
Total
1
Valor Christian
3
4
0
7
2
Cheyenne Mountain
2
1
0
3
2
Colorado Academy
3
0
0
3
2
Kent Denver
1
2
0
3
2
Pomona
1
2
0
3
2
Regis Jesuit
0
3
0
3
7
Broomfield
1
1
0
2
7
Cherokee Trail
1
1
0
2
7
Cherry Creek
1
1
0
2
7
Eaton
2
0
0
2
7
Fairview
2
0
0
2
7
Grandview
2
0
0
2
7
Heritage Christian
1
1
0
2
7
Lutheran
1
1
0
2
7
Mountain Vista
1
1
0
2
7
Yuma
2
0
0
2
17
Air Academy
1
0
0
1
17
Alamosa
0
1
0
1
17
Aspen
1
0
0
1
17
Battle Mountain
0
1
0
1
17
Bayfield
0
1
0
1
17
Bennett
1
0
0
1
17
Buena Vista
0
1
0
1
17
Castle View
0
0
1
1
17
Cedaredge
0
1
0
1
17
Cheyenne Wells
1
0
0
1
17
Colorado Springs Christian
0
1
0
1
17
Dawson School
0
1
0
1
17
Durango
0
1
0
1
17
Eads
0
1
0
1
17
Eaglecrest
1
0
0
1
17
Evergreen
0
1
0
1
17
Faith Christian
0
1
0
1
17
Fleming
0
1
0
1
17
Fort Collins
1
0
0
1
17
Fossil Ridge
0
1
0
1
17
Holly
0
1
0
1
17
Idalia
1
0
0
1
17
Lewis-Palmer
1
0
0
1
17
Lyons
0
1
0
1
17
Meeker
0
1
0
1
17
Monarch
1
0
0
1
17
Mountain Range
1
0
0
1
17
Mountain View
0
1
0
1
17
Niwot
1
0
0
1
17
Otis
1
0
0
1
17
Overland
0
1
0
1
17
Palmer Ridge
1
0
0
1
17
Paonia
1
0
0
1
17
Peak to Peak
0
1
0
1
17
Ponderosa
1
0
0
1
17
Pueblo County
0
1
0
1
17
Pueblo East
0
1
0
1
17
Pueblo West
0
1
0
1
17
Salida
1
0
0
1
17
Sanford
0
1
0
1
17
Sedgwick County
0
1
0
1
17
St. Mary’s
0
0
1
1
17
Strasburg
1
0
0
1
17
Telluride
1
0
0
1
17
The Classical Academy
1
0
0
1
17
ThunderRidge
1
0
0
1
17
University
1
0
0
1
17
Vail Christian
1
0
0
1
17
Vail Mountain
1
0
0
1
17
Valley
0
1
0
1
17
Windsor
0
1
0
1
[divider]
Individual Championships
Cheyenne Mountain had a state-best 11 individual champions in 2015-16. (Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)
Cheyenne Mountain also had an outstanding year in terms of individual titles, leading the state with 11 championships. The program was well balanced: Six championships came from its girls teams, and five came from the boys.
Lutheran’s 10 individual championships were the second-most in the state, including a state-best nine boys titles. Regis Jesuit was third with nine individual titles, and Air Academy and Pomona tied for fourth with eight apiece.
A total of 135 schools had at least one individual champion, and 82 had multiple champions. Of those, 21 schools had at least five individual champions.
Under CHSAA Legislative Council approval of the Baseball Committee Report, teams were ranked by RPI, keeping only District opponents separated in the first round.
The higher-seeded team is the home team through the semifinals. Home team will be determined by coin toss for the championship.
In order to separate the District 3 teams, No. 5 Nucla moved to No. 6; No. 6 Cornerstone Christian moved to No. 7; No. 7 Manzanola moved to No. 5. This also kept the two District 1 teams apart should they advance to the semifinals.
The Granada Bobcats fell one game short of a Class 1A state baseball championship last year. This year, they come in as the No. 1 overall seed in the regional/state bracket — which was released Monday — and they get an early chance to knock out the team that toppled them in the 2015 championship game.
Granada drew Dove Creek in the first round of the tournament, which is a rematch of last year’s title game. Dove Creek drew the No. 8 seed.
The Bobcats come into the tournament with a 5-0 record against teams that also qualified. They beat Holly (No. 3) and Manzanola (No. 5) twice each and also beat Eads (No. 2) early in the season.
Eads was riding a three-game winning streak heading into 1A districts, but fell to Holly on May 6. They had just come of a regular win over the Wildcats prior to the loss.
The Wildcats won a total of two district games before falling to Granada.
Fleming lands at a dangerous No. 4 seed. The Wildcats have rattled off eight-straight wins and have not dropped a game in nearly a month.
In order to get to the semifinals for the second-straight year, No. 6 Nucla will have to get through Holly. In the regular season, the Mustangs only faced one team that qualified for this year’s tournament. They faced Dove Creek four times and went 3-1 in those games.
Cornerstone Christian Academy comes in at No. 7 and will face Eads in the first round. The Bulldogs went 9-6 on the year and did not play any teams that advanced to the 1A state tournament.
Eads, Manzanola and Cornerstone Christian are the three teams who did not play in last year’s state tournament.
For the third time this season, Silver Creek sits atop the Class 4A CHSAANow.com baseball rankings.
The Raptors came away with two key wins last week, one against Northridge and one against Greeley Central. They’ll finish their regular with one game against Greeley Central and two against Mountain View this week.
Mountain View was the No. 1 team in last week’s poll and sits at No. 2 this week.
Denver North is the only new team in the poll, landing at No. 8.
Pine Creek holds on to their No. 1 spot in 5A. The Eagles will see action every day this week as they close out the regular season.
Ralston Valley (No. 6) and Rocky Mountain (No. 8) are the new additions to the 5A poll this week.
Eaton remains the unanimous No. 1 team in 3A.
La Junta jumped four spots this week to land at No. 6 ahead of the Tri-Peaks League crossover games this weekend.
Brush is back in the 3A poll, taking the No. 10 spot this week.
Paonia is still undefeated and as a result, still the No. 1 team in 2A.
County Line (McClave/Wiley) jumped a couple of spots to land at No. 3 and even snagged two first-place votes along the way.
Crowley County is the only new addition to the 2A poll as the Chargers land at No. 9.
Granada hung on to the No. 1 spot in 1A.
Gilpin County broke into that poll, taking the No. 10 spot this week.
The rankings, voted upon by coaches and select media members, are the official polls of the Association.
With some regular seasons already over, and others winding down, these will serve as the final rankings of the regular season in all classes. Postseason brackets will be released on CHSAANow.com when they become available.
