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PROMOTING HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ON THE EASTERN PLAINS

COLORADOPREPS.COMSEPTEMBER 2018

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table of contentsBy KEVIN SHAFFERWith an overall record 7-5, the Rocky Ford softball team may be a surprise choice for our first Southeast Power Player of the Month. But we’ve se-lected the Meloneers for the award due to their ability of raise their play against some of the top programs in Class 3A softball.

The Meloneers opened the sea-son with a narrow 7-6 victory over defending state champion Strasburg who begin this year ranked #1 in the division. Less than a week later, the Meloneers also outscored Eaton

(12-11) when the Reds were ranked second in the state. Since that high-level win, Coach JC Carrica’s team won just four of their next sev-en but then scored a huge 5-1 win over Lamar last week. The Savages were ranked fourth in the state go-ing into the contest.

“I asked the girls why they play so well against top competition and they said they liked the big stage”, said coach Carrica. “This group of seniors has always embraced the role of underdog” he added. “They actually prefer it and seem to play a lot looser in that role”.

Several players have played a role in pushing Rocky Ford to the victo-ries. Against Strasburg, both Ciara Huckaby and Kelly Long provided two hits and three runs batted in. Sadie Brewer and Chantae Rodri-guez added two hits and two runs apiece. Brewer worked all seven in-nings on the mound and allowed 12 hits but only six runs.

In the win over Eaton, the Mel-oneers trailed 8-7 after five innings but rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh to win it. Long knocked in three runs and also scored four times. Brewer drove in two runs while Baylee Kruger and Alyson Bar-tholomew each scored twice. Fresh-man Abby McElroy earned the win in relief of Lexi Fernandez.

Rocky Ford used four runs in the top of the sixth to upset Lamar 5-1. McElroy went the distance to claim the pitching victory. She had eight strikeouts and allowed just three hits. Fernandez drove in two runs and Kruger collected two hits.

NOTE: Each month, Colorado Preps Magazine will name a Power Player or Team of the Month from Southeast Colorado. It’s presented by Southeast Power Association and SECOM.

Rocky Ford Softball – Southeast Power Player of the Month

ROCKY FORD MELONEERS 2018 SCHEDULE8/18 @ Strasburg Won 7-68/18 Golden Lost 17-28/24 Meeker Lost 9-68/24 @ Eaton Won 12-118/25 @ Northridge Lost 4-18/25 Delta Lost 11-109/4 Limon Won 9-49/7 Florence Won 15-29/7 @ Brush Won 10-89/8 Limon Lost 9-29/8 Wray Won 11-19/11 Lamar Won 5-19/13 @ La Junta

9/22 St Mary’s

9/25 Alamosa

9/27 @ St Mary’s

9/29 La Junta

10/2 @ James Irwin

10/3 Pueblo Centennial

The Rocky Ford Meloneers softball team has picked up wins over Strasburg, Eaton and Lamar this season with those teams ranked #1, #2 and #4 at the time. Photo credit: Van Hollis.

3 Rocky Ford Softball – Southeast Power Player of the Month4 TOP INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES FROM

THE PAST MONTH6 new facilities across the region8 kit carson vs la veta volleyball classic10 TOP FOOTBALL GAMES ACROSS THE REGION12 THE TRADITION OF SMALL TOWN FOOTBALL: HUGO CELEBRATES 50th

ANNIVERSARY OF FOUR-IN-A-ROW16 VOLLEYBALL HEATS UP OVER THE NEXT MONTH18 Spousal support can be the heart of high school athletics20 Granada faces changes for 2018 football season22 CALHAN BACK ON THE FOOTBALL MAP24 back page heroes


LAMAR: Taylor Chavira picked up 38 diggs and matched a season high with four aces as the Savages fell to St Mary’s in five sets.

BENNETT: Faythe McKellip to-taled 85 diggs during three matches at the Bennett Tournament.

SOFTBALLSTERLING: Kiersten Bohler struck out 10 and gave up just one hit in leading the Tigers past Platte Valley 15-0.

BRUSH: Kendall Elliott homered twice and knocked in six runs while leading the ‘Diggers to a 15-5 win over Sterling.

HOLYOKE: Seven was the mag-ic number for Correy Koellner in the Dragons’ doubleheader sweep of Chase County NE. She drove in seven runs on seven hits and also scored seven times.

LIMON: Jenna Jaklich plated five runs on three hits as the Badgers rolled past La Junta 14-2.

STRASBURG: Ashlyn Richardson had four hits including two doubles, and knocked in six runs in the Tigers 17-2 win over Montrose. Alexis Ray-burn struck out 15 batters and al-

lowed just one hit in a 7-0 win over Limon.

SOCCERLAMAR: Juan Canales was second in Class 3A through September in saves with 67 including 22 in an opening loss to Liberal KS.

FORT MORGAN: Chris Sibrian scored two goals and Alexis Ricalday one as the Mustangs beat local rival Sterling in overtime 3-2.

GOLFFOWLER: Andrew Egan captured top medalist honors at the Rocky Ford tournament with an 18-hole score of 83.

FORT MORGAN: Alec Oberg won the Mustang Invitational with an 18-hole total of 85 leading the team to three of the top five finishes on their home course.

LAMAR: Jimmy Clark ended up second at the La Junta Tournament

REGIONALS: All area teams were involved in regional tournament play this week but results were not available before the magazine print deadline. Eads, Fowler, Rocky Ford,

Swink, Lamar, Trinidad and La Junta all competed at the 3A tournament in Rye. Holyoke, Yuma, Brush, Ster-ling, Strasburg, Burlington and Chey-enne Wells were at the 3A bracket in

Greeley and Fort Morgan took part in the 4A regional at the Air Force Academy. State tournaments are set for October 1st and 2nd.

By KEVIN SHAFFERSome of the best individual perfor-mances are listed on the back page of every issue (Back Page Heroes), Colorado Preps also wants to men-tion several other efforts over the past month. The numbers listed below are taken from MaxPreps so we encourage coaches to update their statistics in a timely manner. We would also like fans and par-ents to send us notice of top efforts each week. That information can be emailed to [email protected].

FOOTBALLHOLLY: Jarrett Rushton had 3.5 sacks and Erick Chaparro two inter-ceptions as the Wildcats moved past Dayspring Christian.

PEETZ: Bryson Long ran for 270 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Fleming.

HOEHNE: Trystan Moltrer and Weston Hill each ran for 210 yards and combined for four touchdowns and Dalton Hudson collected 12 tackles in the Farmers win over Day-spring Christian.

LA JUNTA: Jon Nuschy ran for 234 yards, threw for 93 and was in-volved in four of the five touchdowns in a win over Alamosa. n a win over Alamosa.

BRIGGSDALE: Tyler Blickem threw for 408 yards and six touch-downs in a loss to Prairie. Kaleb Brown (10) and Vincent Bauer (9) combined for 19 receptions for 231 yards. Bauer also picked off two passes.

WRAY: Cade Hillman and Javier Arambula each recorded four sacks in the Eagles shutout of Sheridan.

HAXTUN: Braden Anderson had two interceptions in the Bulldogs win over Wiley.

SIMLA: Darias Harms collected 232 yards rushing and four touch-downs as the Cubs blanked Dolores Huerta.

CHEYENNE WELLS: Jade Cozart finished with 229 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Genoa Hugo.

ELBERT: Bryar Morgan caught five passes for 212 yards and two scores in a win over Miami-Yoder.

MANZANOLA: Blake Williams totaled 12 tackles as the Bobcats edged Eads 35-30.

STRATTON/LIBERTY: Trevor Frank had three sacks in a win over Prairie.

AKRON: Derrick Poss recorded 13 tackles in an opening win over Springfield.

VOLLEYBALLBRIGGSDALE: Kimberlyn Krise had 25 kills and 30 diggs in a thrilling five set road win at Fleming. Shelby Hoffman added 38 diggs and was the team leader in that category through September 10th.

WIGGINS: Tanna Hansen nailed down 23 kills in a five-set win over local rival Weldon Valley. Chloe Bak-er added a season best 49 assists; marking the fourth time through seven games the senior had reached at least 40.

LAJUNTA: Bianca Good totaled 25 kills and eight blocks as the Ti-gers rallied from down two sets to stun Salida 3-2.

HOEHNE: Abbigayle Dorenkamp had 32 diggs in a season opening loss to Swink and led Class 2A in the category (163) through September 10th.

HOLYOKE: Taeryn Trumper opened the season with 32 diggs apiece in back-to-back matches with Prairie and Weldon Valley.

TOP INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES FROM THE PAST MONTH

BreeAnn Shaffer picked up 32 diggs, 11 kills, and two aces as Idalia outlasted Caliche in five sets. Photo credit: Idalia Athletics.

Rylyn Nelson had a pair of two home run games against Longmont and Skyview and homered in five of Sterling’s first eight games. She added six RBI’s in a recent win over Platte Valley. Photo credit: Sterling Athletics.

Eli Romero registered a state best six sacks in the Wildcats road shutout of Balko, OK. Photo credit: Holly Athletics.


(and receive) additional grants from organizations like the Daniel’s Fund ($50,000), El Pomar ($50,000), and the Gates Foundation ($55,000).

And of course, there were the hundreds of donations from the community—which will now be en-graved with the donors’ names on six-foot granite pillars that greet fans, parents, and players on the way to the field.

And thus, what started as a sim-ple dream to have bathrooms built near the existing football field even-tually evolved into a state-of-the-art facility that features a six-lane track, new seating, lights, and the whole 100 yards (made of artificial turf).

“It’s just nice to have something new,” Ridennoure said. “I think it just makes people feel a little bit more pride in the community... And the kids in the community deserve it. They really do.”

A Big Screen For Big GamesFurther east along Highway 50, La Junta High School’s football field saw some upgrades of its own. The

Tigers, who won a Class 2A state title in 2016 and finished as run-ners-up in 2017, now have two new ScoreVision scoreboards adorning their facility.

The high-tech boards, one of which measures 14-feet by 10-feet, were also paid for largely by dona-tions school funds. According to La Junta assistant principal/athletic director Scott Goheen, community businesses like Lewis Bolt and Nut, First National Bank, The State Bank, and Colorado Bank and trust helped pay for more than 80 percent of the project.

Across Eastern ColoradoSeveral other schools have spent the past summer or year resurfacing basketball and volleyball courts and repurposing gyms as a whole.

Over the past two years, the Li-mon Badgers have updated all lock-er rooms and the wrestling room. The past summer, school officials re-did almost the entire gym with a new floor, new side padding, new baskets and new backboards.

At Lone Star, they repainted their gym floor over the summer and added the mascot Longhorns to the baseline. The Longhorns played their first volleyball match on the new floor against Wray in August.

Up in Sterling, the new surface was finished last November/Decem-ber as the Tigers ripped up the old tartan surface and replaced with a wood floor. The gym now features a

gray volleyball court which was used for the first time this season. Bas-ketball teams experienced their first game activity on the floor last winter.

In Byers, improvements were made to both the football field and gym. Lights were added to the foot-ball and the Bulldogs can now play on Friday nights while the gym floor was sanded down to the wood and a new paint job was completed.

By KEVIN SHAFFERThere was a time not too long ago when Rocky Ford High School foot-ball players would have to pluck puncturevine stickers (the kids call them goatheads) out of their arms at practice.

There was a time not too long ago that the Meloneer track and cross country teams would have to clear hurdles on their own track that weren’t made for competition—hur-dles like rocks, puddles, holes, and yes, goatheads.

Those times came to an end this fall with the completion of the new Melon Field—a shining, all-weath-er-turf-and-track-coated gem in the heart of the Arkansas Valley.

Located just north of the old foot-ball field (west of the school/gym), the new facility takes the place of the old, barren practice field and

clunky track that stood for decades.The new Melon Field is now a

point of pride for many in the com-munity—most especially among those who got to ring in a new era by playing the first game on the new grounds on Aug. 24.

Though the Meloneers fell to Flor-ence on opening night, it was still a special moment for those involved.

“No, the first game did not go as planned,” Rocky Ford football coach Sean McNames said. “That being said, yes it was pretty sweet to get to play on it. I know the kids were excited to open the season and the field... [and] it also creates excite-ment for the younger players com-ing up, knowing that in a few years they get to play on a new field under new lights.”

The $1.4-million passion project was years in the making, according

to Rocky Ford Junior/Senior High School assistant principal/athletic director Tammy Ridennoure—and at times it was, like a goathead, a thorn in the side of those trying to accom-plish their goal.

“The very first project started about 17 years ago when (commu-nity members) Daleen Munoz and Brian Burney created a parent group that wanted to build bathrooms out on the old football field,” Ridennoure said. “They started fundraising, did some tailgates here and there. But then along came [school] consol-idation. People lost interest. They closed Liberty [Elementary School]. Funding just got pretty slim.”

In 2012, an ever-growing group of parents, faculty, administrators, community members, and support-

ers revitalized the project—which had accumulated about $12,000 from those early days—with a new plan: to build something completely new.

After starting a grassroots fund-raising campaign and learning how to write grants on the fly, the Mel-on Field Project—spearheaded by Ridennoure, Munoz, Burney, Kermit Snyder, Jim and Cindy Von Feldt, and Debbie and Kim Caldwell—received a generous boost from the Rocky Ford School Board that helped that initial $12,000 grow to $250,000.

The group then turned that $250,000 into $700,000 after ap-plying for and receiving a Great Out-doors Colorado (GOCO) grant. They leveraged that $700,000 to apply for

new facilities across the region

La Junta’s football field now features one of the best scoreboards in Colorado. Photo credit: La Junta Athletics.

Over the past two years, the Limon Badgers have updated all locker rooms and the wrestling room and this past summer re-did almost the entire gym with a new floor, new side padding, new baskets and backboards. Photo credit: Sean Mersman.

Lone Star repainted their gym over the summer and added Longhorns to the baseline. They played their first volleyball match on the new floor against Wray in August. Photo credit: Lone Star Athletics.

Rocky Ford unveiled a new football stadium this Fall with a new turf, bleachers and press box. Photo credit: Van Hollis.

The new floor at Sterling High School was finished last November/December and now features a gray volleyball court which was used for the first time this season. The surface was also changed from the old tartan floor to a wood court which the basketball teams used last season. Photo credit: Sterling Athletics.


kit carson vs la veta volleyball classic#1 Kit Carson and #2 La Veta battled through five sets before the defending state champion Wildcats survived for a 3-2 victory. They rallied from down two sets to one to win in five and remain unbeaten on the season. Bob Schechter provides a photo recap of the great match.

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Josie Hornung (14) sets the ball as Olivia Isenbart (23) moves in for a hit in this action against La Veta in the Friday, Sept. 31st, match-up of the 1A Volleyball #1 ranked Wildcats against the #2 ranked Redskins.

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Olivia Isenbart (23) hits at the net against La Veta’s De-sirae Ortivez (11).

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat McKenzie Smith (6) ) receives a serve from La Veta.

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat McKenzie Smith (6) goes to block a hit at net by La Veta’s Kaylee Corsentino (7).

As teammate Olivia Isenbart (23) looks on, Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Hayley John-son (11) receives a serve from La Veta.

As teammates Desirae Ortivez (11) and Aryanna Flores (13) look on, Kaylee Corsentino (7) digs a serve from Kit Carson.

La Veta’s Emalee Ortibez (10) hits at the net against Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Mercede Smith (10).

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Tess Hornung (15) hits at the net against La Veta’s Desirae Ortivez (11).

La Veta’s Nya Sciacca (6) hits at the net against Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Hayley Johnson (11). Others are Josie Hornung (14) and Olivia Isenbart (23).

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat Tess Hornung (15) receives a serve as teammate Tieler Randel (28) looks on in this action against La Veta.

Kit Carson Lady Wildcat’s react to their match point over La Veta in last Friday’s match-up of the 1A Volleyball #1 ranked Wildcats against the #2 ranked Redskins.

SEPTEMBER 2018 | COLORADO PREPSCOLORADOPREPS.COM COLORADOPREPS.COMCOLORADO PREPS | SEPTEMBER 201810 1158-40 victory.

October 26: Stratton/Liberty at Kit CarsonIn what could be a playoff preview, Kit Carson will be looking for its first win over Stratton/Liberty in three tries. The Knighted Eagles won the previous two meetings by scores of 62-35 and 78-42. Those games were in 2012 and 2013.

Otis will also play host to Chey-enne Wells on the same night. It will be the first meeting between the Bulldogs and Tigers on the gridiron. Both are likely to make the postsea-son, so this will go a long way in the playoff seeding.

8-MANSeptember 21: Holly at FowlerThe Ark Valley Division is loaded and every weekend down the stretch will have top contenders squaring off. Holly visits Fowler, with the win-ner staying at or near the top of the league standings. The two have met three previous times, with Fowler winning the last two by a total of 105 points. The most recent contest was in 2011. Both teams were in the postseason last year.

September 28: Hoehne at FowlerAs members of the Southern Divi-sion, Hoehne and Fowler are very familiar with each other. Hoehne beat the Grizzlies in overtime last year to win the title in that league last season. The Farmers are also part of the new Ark Valley and they will be in the mix for the crown.

October 5: Holly at Hoehne / Me-rino at CalicheThe third leg of the round robin be-tween the top challengers in the Ark Valley has Holly visiting Hoehne. Last year, the Wildcats snapped a six-game losing streak against the Farmers, earning a 33-14 victory. It was the first time they scored more than 20 points against Hoehne in a decade.

The Plains Division is home to some great rivalries and one of the best is Merino and Caliche. Both

teams are chasing the three time defending state champions, Sedg-wick County, in the conference. The division regularly puts four or more teams into the playoff field, so this game is largely about bragging rights. Merino has won 12 of the last 16 meetings, including the last three.

October 26: Sedgwick County at MerinoMerino has won 11 of the last 16 contests with Sedgwick County, but the Cougars have handed them loss-es in each of the last four years. The Rams gave up close to 500 yards of offense last season, falling 57-14 at home.

CLASS 1ASeptember 21: Limon at StrasburgLimon solidified its status as a threat in Class 1A with a 25-16 win over the always tough Meeker Cowboys. The Badgers turn their attention to the two-time defending state cham-pions, Strasburg. The Indians have won the last two meetings with Li-mon, including a thrilling 14-12 de-cision last season. The teams are likely to be ranked #1 and #2 when they play.

October 12: Limon at BurlingtonThe North Central title could be up for grabs when Limon visits Burling-ton. Holyoke and Wray also look to be in the mix, but this game is big even without a league championship not on the line. The Cougars have won the last two games by a total of two points. Last season, Burling-ton scored 15 fourth quarter points to claim a 29-28 victory. The year before, a missed PAT was the differ-ence in a 7-6 Cougar victory.

October 20: Crowley County at PeytonCrowley County and Peyton both have a history of earning league championship honors. Between them, they’ve combined for six con-secutive league titles. Crowley Coun-ty has claimed four straight Santa Fe crowns and has not lost a league

game since 2013. Peyton went un-defeated the last two seasons in the Tri-Peaks, winning the league ti-tle both seasons. The winner likely claims the Santa Fe this time. They have not played since 2011.

CLASS 2AOctober 12: Platte Valley at Ster-lingThe last two Patriot League titles have been decided when Sterling and Platte Valley met. Two years ago, Sterling claimed a 27-19 victo-ry over the Broncos, but Platte Val-ley returned the favor last year with a 42-21 decision. The Broncos led that contest 28-21 heading into the fourth. Platte Valley’s Trevan Wehr-man recorded a combined 558 yards of offense in those two games.

October 19: La Junta at Classical AcademyTwo-time player of the year, Jon

Nuschy, has had big games the last two years when La Junta beat Clas-sical Academy to earn Tri-Peaks championships. He threw for 159 yards and rushed for 121 in a 24-21 victory in 2016, and last year he tallied 111 passing and 112 rushing as the Tigers won 21-11. The senior standout was involved in five of the six touchdowns scored in those two games.

CLASS 3ANovember 2: Erie at Fort MorganErie travels to Fort Morgan for the regular season finale and the North Valley championship could be on the line. The most recent meeting between the two programs was a 13-6 Fort Morgan victory in 2011. Erie made it to the 3A champion-ship game last season as the #5 seed, eventually falling to #2 Palmer Ridge, 46-21.

By KERRY SHERMANDepending on the classification, the regular season has either hit or is nearing its mid-point. That means the schedule is packed with key con-ference match-ups. This is our look at some of the top match-ups com-ing up across the region.

6-MANSeptember 21: Stratton/Liberty at OtisStratton/Liberty entered the season as the favorite in the East Central, with Otis close on their heels. The winner of this contest likely claims

that crown. The Knighted Eagles have won the last four meetings, including two last year. The regu-lar season game was a blow-out, 63-6, but Otis made adjustments the second time around and nearly upended the eventual runners-up. Stratton/Liberty came from behind to win by a 40-32 count.

September 28: Cheyenne Wells at Kit CarsonCheyenne Wells and Kit Carson have been the class of the Southeast Division recently and they’ve played some white knucklers lately. Kit Car-son won the 2016 regular season clash 22-14, but the Tigers got re-venge in the postseason, 56-50 on their way to a second place finish in the state. Last year, it was a 14-8 Cheyenne Wells victory. Both teams reached the semifinals last season.

October 12: Peetz at PrairieLast season, the North Division title was decided in the closing seconds of the Peetz game at Prairie. The home team scored with just a few ticks left on the clock to secure a 44-41 victory. That would be the only loss of the season for the Bulldogs, who would go on to win the state ti-tle. The 44 points were the fewest scored by the winner of the match-up in the last 12 meetings.

October 19: Flagler/Hi Plains at Stratton/LibertyFlagler/Hi-Plains nearly upset Otis earlier in the season, falling in the final seconds 59-55. The Thunder can make things interesting in the East Central if they can knock off their rivals from Stratton/Liberty. The Knighted Eagles rolled up 433 yards on the ground in last season’s

TOP FOOTBALL GAMES ACROSS THE REGION


of his mouth and smashed the lit end into his hand to put it out. Then says, ‘Now, let’s go boys!’ You can bet we got going and had a great second half!”

Fred Stang, who is a four-time state football champion being a freshman on the 1968 team, re-members Coach Kravig as all-busi-ness. “Coach was someone we all had confidence in. We knew he would dial up the right play and put the right people where they were needed. I just don’t ever remember there being a time where there was controversy. Coach just led, and we followed.”

In 2003, the student council at Hugo High School proposed to the community their idea to name the football field after Coach Harry Kravig. The community, many who remembered those glorious 1960’s seasons, were enthusiastically on board with such a proposal. The students’ proposal was printed in the Eastern Colorado Plainsmen on January 9, 2003. The article de-scribed Harry Kravig’s amazing ac-

complishments. Kravig had played high school

football in Karval and then went on to play college football at Pueb-lo Junior College (now CSU-Pueb-lo), Colorado A & M (now Colorado State University in Fort Collins), and Navy. He was offered a professional contract but turned it down.

Kravig taught and coached at Hugo from 1962-1973. During the 11 years coaching football, the Pirates completely dominated the 8-man ranks winning six state championships (1964, 1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971), and one state runner-up (1966). Kravig and his Pi-rates had three undefeated seasons in 1964, 1965 and 1969. In 1966 and 1970 they only lost one game, and between 1964 and 1966 they enjoyed a 34-game winning streak. Kravig was named the Colorado 8-Man Football Coach of the Year many times and was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 1985.

Evidently, a truly dominating foot-ball program requires a coach equal to the legendary Coach Harry Krav-

ig. But a coach can only do so much if he doesn’t have the support of his players, parents, and the communi-ty, as well. There must be a tradition of excellence. The recipe for suc-cess, for becoming the best of the best, requires a number of specific ingredients that when mixed togeth-er becomes something unusual and special.

The Hugo recipe began with the Pirate team of 1930. That team in-cluded many of the fathers and un-cles of the players from the 1960s teams. The 1930 team also includ-ed, as a player, the legendary Limon Coach Lloyd Gaskill who led the Badgers to six straight 11-man foot-ball championships in the 1960s, as well. That 1930’s team set the tradition and the mindset of how football should be played in Lincoln County. They must have been some-thing to fear as they still hold many CHSAA football records to this day. The 1930’s team is 2nd all time in most touchdowns with 105; first all time in scoring with most points in

a season at 748; and most points in a game vs Vona when the score was Hugo – 176 and Vona – 6.

According to Pearson, “The Bearded Beauties, that was the nick-name they gave the 1930’s team, dominated the entire state of Col-

By BETSY BARNETTThroughout the 1960s and into the 1970s there became a social un-rest in this country unlike no other as a generation of Americans began to question authority by protesting the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, Desegregation in our schools, and the role of women in our society. It was a time when bru-tality was at its worst. It was a time where great men like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were gunned down in their prime and stu-dents became so angry at Kent State that on a spring day in May 1970 it exploded into death and violence. It was a time when Americans watched our black and white television sets in fascination as Neil Armstrong took that giant leap for mankind upon the face of the moon. And, ultimately, it was a time of great social unrest among the youth of the nation.

But, in a small town on the plains of Colorado, the 1960s and ear-ly 1970s also represented a pivotal time for the youth and the com-munity as a whole. These were the years that helped to define the town

of Hugo and create memories that will not be forgotten. It’s now been 50 years since the youth of Hugo, specifically the football team, start-ed a march into the annuls of Colo-rado football history. In 1968 Hugo won their first of four-in-a-row state 8-man football championships; and, in so doing, became one of two towns—Stratton being the other—who have won that many champion-ships in a row in the 8-man division.

These farm boys did not wor-ry themselves about issues of the day such as social injustice or equal rights or segregation. Their social responsibility was understood on the football field and their social order was measured on how fast you could run, how hard you could hit, or how skilled you could be. These boys would never consider defying the authority of their legendary coach, Harry Kravig, and never doubted Kravig’s ability as a coach.

Rob Pearson, who was a sopho-more in 1968 and the team’s start-ing running-back when Hugo won their first of four championships, described Coach Kravig as tough

but fair. “Harry was never demean-ing toward a player. I don’t remem-ber him yelling at anyone. But he did demand that we executed correctly and aggressively.”

Pearson, described as extremely fast in his day, is ranked 7th in all-time yards per carry at 11.52, re-members Kravig on many occasions getting in on the blocking drills him-self and being very aggressive with his players over-emphasizing the level of effort it takes to be a good blocker. Pearson laughs, “He was a

great football player in his day. He was a big ole farm boy himself and ended up playing full back for the Colorado State University Rams. We always tried to do our best at those blocking drills because we didn’t want to go up against Harry. He was tough!”

Pearson goes on to describe a particularly memorable halftime speech that Coach Kravig was giv-ing. “When he was finished giving us a pep talk, he spit in his hand and took the cigar he was smoking out

THE TRADITION OF SMALL TOWN FOOTBALL: HUGO CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY OF FOUR-IN-A-ROW

1968 Hugo Pirates — 8-Man State Champions. BACK ROW: LEFT TO RIGHT: D. Kravig, Ass’t Coach; J. Noah, C. Webb, K. Forristall, S. Ravenkamp, B. Bowhan, D. Noah, M. Boetger, Mr. Hardwick, Ass’t Coach; THIRD ROW: Mr. Falls, Ass’t Coach; R. Lane, J. Schoenfeld, T. Timmons, K. Webb, M. Carr, Mr. Kravig, Coach; Mr. Nash, Supt; SECOND ROW: D. Riordan, J. Vassios, J. Belveal, J. Compton, E. Bennett, L. Kelly, R. Pearson, S. Nash, K. Rose; FRONT ROW: D. Hendricks, Mgr., D. Riley, G. Nestor, J. Ball, K. Webb, F. Stang, R. Lane, D. Gossett, S. Noah, G. Lowe, Mgr., not pictured. Photo credit: Fred Stang.

1969 Hugo Pirates — 8-Man State Champions. BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: Mr. Shaw, Ass’t Coach, R. Lane, M. Boetger, M. Carr, C. Welsh, J. Noah, B. Bowhan, D. Noah, Mr. Kravig, Head Coach; THIRD ROW: Mr. Falls, Ass’t Coach, L. Kelly, R. Pearson, N. Sutherland, C. Dutro, K. Rose, J. Vassios, J. Compton, S. Nash, Mr. Nash, Ass’t Coach; SECOND ROW: D. Riordan, R. Lane, K. Webb, E. Bennett, S. Noah, F. Stang, D. Gossett, A. Beitscher, T. Rose, FRONT ROW: R. LaFever, Mgr., M. Falls, B. Nash, J. Ball, D. Riley, C. Riley, M. Jensen, G. Poss, G. Cooper, E. VonSeggern, Mgr. Photo credit: Fred Stang.

ENGLEWOOD, CO - JULY 28: Denver Broncos head athletic trainer Steve Antonopoulos looks on during practice on the first day of training camp at UCHealth Training Facility July 28, 2016 at Dove Valley. Photo credit: John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images.

SEPTEMBER 2018 | COLORADO PREPSCOLORADOPREPS.COM COLORADOPREPS.COMCOLORADO PREPS | SEPTEMBER 201814 15ories of teammates and the fun they had while playing the game of foot-ball.

Antonopoulos remembers the 1965 state championship game against Monument (now Lewis Palm-er), “In the 1965 championship we were behind late in the game when coach (Kravig) called a center-eligi-ble pass play. We’d practiced it, but we’d never ran it in a game. I was on the line with Dick (Reines), our cen-ter, and blocked for him as he broke free. Our quarterback, John Em-merling, one of my best friends, laid the ball perfectly into Dick’s hands for the go-ahead touchdown! I’ll never forget that.”

Stang remembers many big plays, as well. “In the ’68 championship game we were down to Merino, 34-33, after they had scored. The time was running out. On the kick off, Rob (Pearson) received the ball at the 15-yard line and ran it back 85 yards for a touchdown and the lead. I just remember everyone setting massive blocks like their life depended on it.”

Pearson also remembered a lot

of the best plays Hugo had, but his favorite was probably in the 1969 championship game when they eas-ily defeated Merino…again. “Merino had scored and were thinking they were going to come back on us. Coach had probably sent out a play, but Steve Nash, our quarterback, decided to show Merino a little raz-zle-dazzle. We called it 31 Reverse. I recall Nash passed to Mike Boetger who lateraled to me and I had clear sailing to the end zone.”

Now in their late 60s or early 70s the Pirates of 50 years ago still look upon those glory days with thankful-ness in their hearts. They all whole-heartedly agree that growing up in a small, close knit town on the plains of Colorado shaped their successful adult lives.

Steve Antonopoulos, who has been the Denver Broncos trainer for more than 30 years and is the stan-dard bearer of the Broncos organi-zation said, “The values I learned as a kid growing up in Hugo are utilized today with the Broncos. You learn to care for others and you learn that

everyone matters. Through football we learned discipline, honesty, in-tegrity, and to honor our country. We learned what a quality life looks like.”

Today, just as it was in the turbu-lence of the 1960s in the era when these boys became young men, our country finds itself losing its way once again. In these times, all one needs to do is look at the strong tra-ditions of small-town football and there you will find the answers to all the country’s problems.

• 1968 Championship – Hugo 40 Merino - 34

• 1969 Championship – Hugo 49 Merino – 30

• 1970 Championship – Hugo 20 Iliff – 14

• 1971 Championship – Hugo 8 Merino 6

Hugo fans may be interested to know that Steve Nash and Ron Pearson have begun collecting old film from the championship seasons. You can see a preview and get more informa-

tion at this website: https://vimeo.com/285672557.

orado as there was only one clas-sification at the time. In the Vona game, I’m told, Vona scored on the first play when they used a trick play. They stepped an eligible player into the field but he was hidden on the sideline where the Hugo defenders didn’t see him. That trick made the Pirate coach Otto Staub so mad that he then put it to Vona without ever letting up. In those days, an eye for an eye was the norm.”

That tough grit and will to win transferred into the next genera-tion even as young boys. According to Stang, “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t play football. That’s just what we did. By the time we were in junior high we already knew what our role was, we were in our positions that we ended up playing in high school, and we knew all the plays. The junior high coaches were the high school assistant coaches

and they brought Kravig’s system down to us. It’s just all we knew.”

Pearson remembered, “All we did was play football. When I was really little I remember tagging along with my older brother Phil and Steve An-tonopoulos who lived a couple doors down from us. We’d all don our hel-mets and shoulder pads from JC Penney and find a vacant lot to play in. It didn’t matter what the weather was like—we were playing. I remem-ber one time I got hit hard by Steve when we were playing in a snow storm. But, even though I was a lit-tle guy, I didn’t want to be seen as a baby, so I kept playing. One of the best places to play was on the court-house grass, but we weren’t sup-posed to be on it and got chased off of it all the time by Gene Sprolh who was the maintenance man. We’d be playing happily on the grass and then pretty soon someone would yell, ‘Sprolh!’, and we would all scatter. He’d chase us down cussing away,” Pearson adds with a laugh.

The other thing that happens when a tradition for success is pres-ent in the community is that every-one played football. On the champi-onship teams there was always just around 30 boys on each team. An-tonopoulos verified, “We had 30 of

the 33 boys that was in the school on our team.” That is what it takes to be champions. Everyone has to con-tribute. When eligible players make excuses and don’t play it hurts the entire team in these small towns.

The final ingredient for a tradi-tion of such amazing success comes from the community. These were people who were tough, who came from farms, and who were used to hard work and perseverance. And they certainly recognized and cele-brated those attributes in their foot-ball players.

Stang remembers, “It was a won-derful experience growing up in Hugo. The town really got behind our teams and it was thrilling for all of us.”

Antonopoulos concurs, “When we made some of our long trips to plac-es like Merino, the entire town shut down and came too. Although there were probably 700 or 800 people in Hugo there sometimes were as many as 1,500 at the games. It was quite a time.”

Tradition is also maintained when there exist great memories that are passed down to the next generation. The players from the Pirates’ reign throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s all expressed their fond mem-

1970 Hugo Pirates — 8-Man State Champions. BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: A. Beitscher, S. Noah, M.Pharr, R. Lane, J. Wilkins 3RD ROW: F. Stang, J. Ball, D. Riley, D. Gossett, L. Kelly, J. Vassios, K. Webb, K. Rose, R. Pearson, S. Noah, T. Rose, M. Falls, N. Sutherland, D. Riordan 2ND ROW: T. Davis, J. Wilkins, S. McGee, C Riley, B. Nash, G. Cooper, M. Jensen, G. Poss, Mr. H. Kravig, Head Coach; 1ST ROW: Mr. B. Shaw, Ass’t Coach, Mr. J. Hardwick, Ass’t Coach, B. Boetger, R. Freeman, P. Forrestall, G. Ensigh, E. Von Seggern, M. Falls, Mr. Nash, Supt., Managers: R. Webb, R. McGee Photo credit: Fred Stang.

1971 Hugo Pirates — 8-Man State Champions. BACK ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT: F. Stang, G. Nestor, J. Bassett, A Beitscher, M. Falls, K. Webb, R. Lane, D. Riley, J. Ball, 3RD ROW: Mr. Shaw, Mr. Oliver, G. Poss, C Riley, M. Jensen, J. Wilkins, T. Davis, B Nash, 2ND ROW: D. Bassett, S. McGee, J. Wilkins, M. Falls, P Forristall, G. Ensign, E. Von Seggren, 1ST ROW: N. Lofdah, D. Bennett, D. Palmer, F. Siebert, G. Lowe, K. Nash, K. Boetger, Coach Kravig Photo credit: Fred Stang.

Jubilant Pirates hoist Coach Harold Kravig on shoulders. Photo credit: Eastern Colorado Plainsman.

SEPTEMBER 2018 | COLORADO PREPSCOLORADOPREPS.COM COLORADOPREPS.COMCOLORADO PREPS | SEPTEMBER 201816 17The LPAA regular season title will likely be decided when Yuma hosts Wiggins. Both teams made the state field last year, a first for Wiggins in quite some time. It was a breakout season for the Tigers, who posted 20 wins in Michelle Baker’s fourth year running the program. Wiggins has a brutal schedule leading into the match, which could help prepare them as they try to snap a 16-match losing skid against the Indians.

October 20thAs mentioned earlier, Swink steps out of league play for a match with postseason seeding implications. The Lions will host Del Norte, and both should still be in the top-10 in the 2A polls, so major RPI points will be at stake. Swink beat the Ti-gers twice last year, once during the regular season in four sets and the second at regionals in five. The Lions would go 0-2 in pool play at the state tournament, and the senior laden squad is trying to improve upon that

finish. Del Norte has become a fix-ture in the regional round, but is also looking to take things to a new level.

Class 3ASterling has a tough trip through the Patriot League, with five teams ei-ther currently or previously ranked in the top-10. The Tigers will have to compete with Eaton, University, Platte Valley, Valley, and Resurrec-tion Christian. Those five, as well as Sterling, all made the state tourna-ment last season, comprising half of the field.

La Junta and Lamar also have dif-ficult paths through the Tri-Peaks. Colorado Springs Christian School, Manitou Springs, St. Mary’s, and Buena Vista have all been in or near the top-10 during the early portion of the season. Lamar and Buena Vis-ta were the only teams to represent the league in the state field last year.

By KERRY SHERMANThe first month of the volleyball sea-son has given us a number of qual-ity match-ups, but things are just starting to heat up. As teams turn the corner and head down the back-stretch, several huge contests jump off the page.

September 21stTwo big clashes highlight the 1A schedule, with Stratton/Liberty vis-iting Otis and Weldon Valley travel-ing to Briggsdale. The first match-up has the teams potentially entering with a combined record of 15-0 and the winner becomes the favor-ite in District 5. Weldon Valley and Briggsdale meet twice in the span of three weeks, and those contests

will go a long way toward deciding the champion of the North Central League.

Stratton/Liberty is just two sea-sons removed from a 5-15 finish. Last year, in their first under Tom Milligan, the Knighted Eagles went 11-13. They can nearly surpass that win total by the end of September. Otis is no stranger to lofty expecta-tions under Bonnie Wallin-Kuntz, as the Bulldogs won 22 or more match-es last season for the tenth time in the last 11 years. The one time they didn’t was in 2016, and the Bulldogs still went 18-9.

September 29thThe defending 1A state champs from Kit Carson will visit the 2017 2A runner-up, Yuma, with both like-ly being ranked #1 in its respectively class. Kit Carson had its streak of 82 consecutive sets won snapped in its second match of the season, as La Veta won the second and third sets in their match, going up 2-1. The Wildcats rallied back to win the match in 5. Kit Carson is led by a solid senior group that includes big hitters Tess Hornung, Olivia Isen-bart, and McKenzie Smith.

In their first six matches of the season, the Yuma Indians only lost one set. That was the opening set of an outing with Chase County, NE. Jenny Noble also has a good bunch of seniors who are looking to bring the program its second state title in

four seasons. The Indians have won at least 23 matches and reached the championship game in each of their four previous seasons under Noble.

October 4thWith at least four teams slugging it out for command of the 2A Santa Fe, Fowler’s trip to Rye should help shake things out. Hoehne and Swink are also very much in the mix, and

Swink will have a huge match out-side of the league later in the month.

Rye took the first meeting be-tween the two earlier in the season, sweeping the Grizzlies in Fowler. The Thunderbolts raced to an easy 25-12 win in the first set, and then took the next two by identical 25-18 scores.

October 12th

VOLLEYBALL HEATS UP OVER THE NEXT MONTH

Top-ranked Yuma has an upcoming match with fellow #1 Kit Carson (1A) and also battles #3 Wiggins (2A) in a match that could determine the Lower Platte league championship.


The Randels are fortunate in that they’ve both walked in each other’s shoes. It’s a unique situation to say the least and not one that is seen at every school. For years Luann Teck-lenburg watched her husband Dave man the bench for the Lamar volley-ball team.

As they started their marriage 28 years ago, neither one quite knew what was in store for them when it came to Dave getting into education and taking on additional responsibil-ities as a coach. But the result was predictable. Dave became competi-tive and his team dominated the ma-jority of his thoughts.

“He started years ago when our kids were young and that’s all he talked about,” Luann said. “He would pretend when he first got home that he was interested in what was going on around here, but he has a one-track mind. He’s very driven, very focused and his mind was there all the time. He’s better about that now, he’s matured to where he’s given himself some slack there and some time away from the stresses of it.”

She doesn’t speak ill of that be-havior. It helped shape the man that she loves and stands by to this day. He wasn’t always home as much as

either of them might have liked, but perhaps the biggest key in their rela-tionship surviving (and for any Hol-lywood portrayal of a coach’s spouse to be intriguing) there has to be that element of support and, more im-portantly, understanding.

“I raised three daughters and I spent a lot of time away from them,” Dave said. “But if you’re going to have a good program, you have to do it. It’s just a sacrifice you make as a family.”

Eventually Dave made another sacrifice in moving into administra-tion and becoming Lamar’s super-intendent. It took him away from coaching. And while the benefits of a more secure paycheck and the abili-ty to plan for his kids to go to college were welcome for him and his fam-ily, it started the process of pulling him away from the kids.

Even Luann, who wasn’t watching her husband embark on road trips to Buena Vista or Manitou Springs any-more, noticed that in terms of direct contact with kids, he had taken a step backwards.

“It got to the point where he’s been in the superintendent position long enough that he wasn’t even rec-ognizing kids’ names anymore,” Lu-

ann said. “Or if he was, it’s because he’s been in the education game in Lamar long enough that the names are kids of kids that he had as a stu-dent.”

The supportive spouse, she un-derstood when he caved into his desire to return to coaching. A day like that may even come for some-one like Kilee Randel, but for now she’s content to being the mom of two future Akron Rams and the wife of Coach Randel.

There wasn’t a transition period for them when they got married and both got into coaching. But there was a big transition period when she stepped down to focus on the kids.

“That was hard for us because we’ve always ridden the bus togeth-er,” Kilee said. “Our kids have always been managers for our programs, so it was harder because I wasn’t on the bus with them anymore. Last year it

was an adjustment because there was less family time.”

They certainly haven’t it out alto-gether. The benefit of small school coaching and small school living is that they work in the same building. There’s no leaving at 6 a.m. and not seeing each other again until 7 p.m.

“I see her all the time,” Shawn says. “As far as a marriage, I see her probably more than 90 percent of marriages out there. I see her during the school day since we both work in the school system.”

The consistent theme whether it’s the Randels, the Tecklenburgs, or any other family that where coach-ing plays a significant role is that behind every coach there is a signif-icant other in wings providing sup-port and, when needed, comfort.

They’re the heart of every sports story worthy of a Hollywood script.

By DAN MOHRMANNHollywood does an admirable job when it comes to portraying the role of a coach’s spouse. Particular-ly in any movie or television show that deals with high school sports. The spouse often acts as the steady hand. A stable presence in a chaotic event that plays out over the course of an athletic season.

The inspiration had to come from somewhere. And when observing high school sports in person and

understanding the dedication of a coach and their players, it’s not hard to determine that the inspiration comes from reality.

“I grew up in a sports family, Kilee Randel says. “My dad coached when I was younger and my mom was al-ways very supportive, so I grew up very sports-minded. I think that plays a role in how good of a sports spouse you are. If you understand that your spouse is going to be gone a lot and they’re going to have suc-

cessful teams and they’re putting in a lot of time then Hollywood nails it right on the head.”

Kilee is the former girls basket-ball coach at Akron School as she stepped down before the 2017-18 season. Her husband Shawn coach-es the boys team. Both Shawn and Kilee have acted as a head coach and the spouse of a head coach. At times, the challenges that high school athletes can present proved to be nothing compared to the chal-lenge of watching each other go through a season that will always provide an emotional roller coaster ride.

The hard part there is trying to

give advice and yet trying to allow them to define who they are and keeping your mouth shut,” Shawn said. “In sports, there’s always con-troversy and issues that come up. Letting her navigate that herself is way better. The other part is just me coming home and complaining. It’s more of a release factor as far as the head coach coming home and trying to get all that off.”

That can be the hard part of a marriage when coaching is involved. Sports personalities, by nature, are competitive people and often unable to just flip a switch and turn off the mental rigors that come with their teams.

Spousal support can be the heart of high school athletics

Shawn Randel has served in several capacities including a current head, former assistant coach and sometimes coach’s spouse. Photo credit: Shantil Basler.

Kilee Randel is the former girls basketball coach at Akron High School but now supports husband Shawn with his various coaching responsibilities. Photo credit: Shantil Basler.


league play.“From our first game to our sec-

ond game, we made some big strides especially on defense,” said Manuel Jr.

Granada joins a pretty tough Southeast League with the likes of Kit Carson and Cheyenne Wells. The league also includes Eads, Walsh, and Cheraw.

Kit Carson, Cheyenne Wells, and Eads were all state playoff teams a year ago.

Cheyenne Wells reached the state semifinals before they were elimi-nated by Stratton/Liberty, 46-14.

Kit Carson lost to Cheyenne Wells, 14-6, for the league champi-onship. The Wildcats bounced back to win their next six games including a 32-26 upset win over previously unbeaten Prairie in the state quar-terfinals.

The run for Kit Carson ended with a 62-36 state semifinal loss to Peetz, who eventually went on to capture the state championship with a 38-28 win over Stratton/Liberty.

Eads is coming off a 58-8 loss to Peetz in the first round of the state playoffs.

Looking at this year’s team, Man-uel Jr. will be counting on the lead-ership of a handful of seniors to lead

the way for the Bobcats.On offense, the backfield features

senior running backs Josh Baca (5-8, 145) and Devon Jara (5-9, 200). Baca gives the Bobcats some speed while Jara is a power runner.

Granada is young at quarterback with athletic freshman Dominic Coleman (6-0, 145) barking out sig-nals.

Dre Aguilar (5-9, 225 senior) anchors the front line and will be flanked by ends Stefan McGee (5-8, 125 senior), Damien Cebulski (5-7, 155 senior), and Caleb Dorenkamp (6-1, 200 junior).

On the defensive side of the ball, Jara and Dorenkamp line up as de-fensive ends and Jett Harmon (5-8, 155 junior) at nose guard.

The linebackers include Cebuls-ki, Baca, and Trevor Cramblett (6-0, 145 sophomore) who also plays free safety.

A tough schedule lies ahead for Granada.

League play begins on Septem-ber 21st with a home game against #7 Cheyenne Wells but three road games follow.

The Bobcats will play No. 10 ranked Arickaree/Woodlin on Sept. 14 before they start league play with a home game with No. 7 Cheyenne

Wells on the 21st.Granada then plays three straight

away games including trips to #3 Kit

Carson and #1 Stratton/Liberty in back-to-back weeks.

By JOHN CONTRERASHeading into the 2018 season, the storied Granada High School foot-ball program underwent some major changes.

One change saw Granada dropped from 8-man football to the 6-man ranks this year.

Another big change saw long-time head coach Manuel Gonzales Sr. turn the coaching reins over to his son Manuel Jr.

However, the Hall of Fame coach will still be visible on the sideline and serve as an assistant coach.

No question, Manuel Sr. has en-joyed an illustrious coaching career for Granada.

In addition to his 44 years as a football coach, he’s also coached baseball for 43 years and boys’ bas-ketball for 32 years.

His teams won state football titles in 1979, 1988 and 2006, basketball crowns in 1989 and 1991 and base-ball championships in 1991, 1995 and 2009.

His teams have earned numerous state runner-up finishes as well.

As for Manuel Jr., he is no strang-er to 6-man football. He started his coaching career as the head coach at Plainview from 1994-1996. His team made the state playoffs during the team’s third season.

The following year he was hired as the 8-man head coach at Holly where he served in that capacity for seven years.

One of the highlights came in 2003 when Manuel Jr. and his team beat Granada in a regular-season game to end a long string of losses to the Bobcats.

Manuel Jr. was honored as coach of the week by The Denver Post and the Denver Broncos. He received a plaque at halftime of a Broncos game.

In 2004, Manuel Jr. returned to Granada schools where he served as the assistant high school football coach under his dad.

“Being on the sidelines with my dad has been a blessing and I’ve learned a lot from him,” Manuel Jr. said. “Who wouldn’t want a coach by your side with over 40 years of experience. To have that much expe-rience on the sideline, you couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Manuel Jr. said he grew up learn-ing the ropes at a young age.

“I remember being on the sideline

as a manager when Granada won its first state football championship,” he said. “I grew up being around him, playing for him, and just be-ing around the game. My dad loves football and he loves to watch his kids compete and play hard. Foot-ball is in his blood.”

John Hopper is the other assis-tant coach and he’s been around for a number of years as well.

“John has played a big part in our sports programs,” lauded Manuel Jr. “He’s great with the kids and they respect him.”

Manuel Jr. said he’s looking for-ward to the challenge of taking over

the program.“It’s been a change and our kids

are still learning to adapt,” he said. “I told them it’s going to take few games to get some experience and find out what the game is really like. So as coaches we’ve been pretty pa-tient.”

Granada kicked off the 2018 campaign with a tough loss to Ida-lia, 44-40. In that game, the Bobcats held the lead with minutes left be-fore Idalia scored a late touchdown to win it.

The Bobcats rebounded the fol-lowing week to pitch a 45-0 shut-out against the Eads Eagles to start

Granada faces changes for 2018 football season

GRANADA BOBCATS 2018 SCHEDULE8/31 Idalia Lost 44-409/7 @ Eads Won 45-0

9/14Arickaree/Woodlin

9/21Cheyenne Wells

9/28 @ Cheraw

10/5@ Stratton/Liberty

10/12 @ Kit Carson10/19 Walsh

Senior full back, Devon Jara battles to score in the fourth quarter while Idalia Wolves Sam Mcginnis and Jace Juhnke defend. Photo credit: Valeria Aguirre.

Caleb Dorenkamp recovers a fumble against Idalia Wolves Erik Estrada. Photo credit: Valeria Aguirre.

Granada Head Coach Manuel Gonzales Jr. confers with freshman quarterback Dominic Coleman during the fourth quarter. Photo credit: Valeria Aguirre.


By KERRY SHERMANAfter a two-year absence, varsity football made its return in Calhan earlier this season. The return has already been met with success on the field, as the Bulldogs claimed their first victory since week three of the 2015 season.

Calhan was not alone in facing a crossroad regarding their football team. “Football in some parts of ru-ral Colorado is struggling,” Calhan athletic director Donovan Mitchell stated. “It has become increasing-ly common for smaller schools to struggle with putting a football team on the field.”

The decision to not field a pro-gram in 2016 was not an easy one for the administration to make. “In the summer of 2016, the previous administration was forced to make one of the most difficult decisions in the history of our athletic pro-grams,” Mitchell said. “While pre-paring for the football season, it was apparent that roughly 12 students planned on playing football, many of which were freshmen. Out of re-spect for the teams on our schedule, giving them time to find a replace-ment opponent, admin decided to put the football program on a tem-porary hiatus.”

That involved playing a JV sched-ule last year. Luke Billington was brought on during the summer of 2017 and he faced some long odds.

“He was given the tall task of breathing life back into a program that historically was not successful. It was mid-cycle in terms of CH-SAA and schedules, so our best op-tion was to schedule JV opponents who were available and who best matched up to our ability level while

CALHAN BACK ON THE FOOTBALL MAP

CALHAN BULLDOGS 2018 SCHEDULE8/24 @ West Grand Lost 43-08/31 Byers Lost 46-42

9/7@ Dolores Huerta Prep Won 48-28

9/14Pikes Peak Christian

9/21 @ Simla

10/6 Swink

10/12 @ Elbert

10/19 Miami Yoder

10/26 Custer County

PublisherKevin [email protected]

EditorBetsy [email protected]

Layout/DesignWilliam [email protected]

WritersBetsy BarnettJohn ContrerasNick JurneyDan MohrmannKevin ShafferKerry Sherman

PhotographyShantil BaslerVan HollisJesi HolmesDustin PriceSteven VetterBob Schecter

502 Gayle StreetFort Morgan, CO 80701970.542.0862

Volume 1 Edition 2SEPTEMBER 2018Colorado Preps Magazine is published monthly and presented free to the public through distribution at schools and businesses across Eastern Colorado.

Promoting High School Athletics On The Eastern Plains

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After playing a junior varsity schedule for the past two years, Calhan has re-established a varsity football program and recorded their first win of 2018 in beating Dolores Huerta 48-28. Photo credit: Calhan Athletics.

rebuilding the program. Coach Bil-lington and his staff did a great job recruiting enough players to make it through the season and

The Bulldogs went 5-2 during that season, winning their first five games, including two by shutout. The losses were closely contested, with a 13-point defeat by Chatfield and a five-point setback to close out the season against Classical Acade-my. All of that was done with a roster of 18 players.

Even with the success, that par-ticipation number was low for the classification. That prompted Cal-han to look for other options for this season. They found the best one had them playing down, in 8-man.

“We did not want to simply fall back into the same cycle as the pre-vious decade of barely getting by with low numbers, and out of neces-sity playing freshman on the varsity football field that were not athletical-ly ready to play the physical game of football against the varsity athletes of the other schools on our sched-ule. We chose to play down 8-man football in efforts to break the cycle of non-competitive Calhan football teams. We felt this gave us the best chance to create a sustainable and healthy football program at Calhan,” Mitchell noted.

Calhan opened this season by be-ing shutout 43-0 by the defending runners-up, West Grand. That was

followed up by a nail-biting 46-42 loss against Byers, in which Mikey Mikita rushed for 225 yards and three scores. Gage Alexander added 182 yards and three scores on the ground.

The Bulldogs finally broke into the win column in their third game, with Mikita and Alexander combining for 341 yards and three rushing touch-downs. That 48-28 victory over Do-lores Huerta Prep brought the story full circle, as the program’s last win had also come against the Scorpi-ons. Mikey Mikita rushed for 1982 yards and two touchdowns while Gage Alexander added 159 yards and a score. Brayden Dillingham and Brandon Eglinton each added two touchdowns.

The decision to play down also al-lows the Bulldogs and their fans to see some familiar names and faces on the schedule. “This also allowed us to play the same local/rival Black Forest League schools in football that we play in every other sport which would help in terms of game attendance and community excite-ment,” said Mitchell.

The Bulldogs will face those schools as members of the 8-man Southern Division. They opened league play on September 14th against Pikes Peak Christian, but the meat of their division schedule in-cludes the likes of Simla, Elbert, and Miami-Yoder, all schools well known to Calhan.

What the future holds for the Bulldogs on the gridiron is an uncer-tainty. But Mitchell and the coaches will move forward with a clear vision.

“With all decisions pertaining to Calhan Athletics my coaches and I look to do our best to align with our vision for the organization, ‘...to create a cohesive, selfless, and sup-portive community that relentlessly puts “Calhan First” in the pursuit of excellence for our student-athletes.’ Many aspects of our future are out of our hands, but on a daily basis we are working toward our vision and our mission to make Calhan High School the best that it can be for ev-ery student and family that calls Cal-han home,” Mitchell proudly stated.

SEPTEMBER 2018 | COLORADO PREPSCOLORADOPREPS.COM24Through two games, Davis has rushed for 502 yards on just 32 attempts for an aver-age of 15.7 yards per carry. He’s also scored eight touch-downs on the ground. In ad-dition, Davis has caught five passes for 152 yards and a ninth score. In the wild 46-42 season opening win over Calhan, the Bulldogs running back amassed 415 yards of offense and also completed a pass for six yards. He was also involved in ten tackles on defense.

The senior opened the 2018 season with 321 yards and six touchdowns rushing in a high scoring 64-43 win over de-fending state champion. He followed up the game with five touchdowns and 230 yards on the ground in a 69-18 win over Genoa Hugo in week three. Miracle has also completed two of four passes for 103 yards and a touch-down and has also scored on a 20-yard touchdown recep-tion. Defensively, Miracle re-corded 17 tackles with a sack in the first two games.

After winning just two match-es in 2017, the Akron Rams have already won six matches on the season and this soph-omore setter is playing an important role in the resur-gence. She picked up a career best 52 assists in a four-set win over Heritage Christian as part of the Northeastern Junior College Tournament this month. She posted 327 assists in her freshman sea-son but is already halfway past that mark this season. Demers added seven kills and 14 diggs in the win.

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