Colorado Preps Weekly

After a near two-week lay-off, volleyball will crown its State champions on Thursday. All five classes took the court at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs on Wednesday, with semifinals and finals to be held on Thursday.

Fleming leads the pack in Class 1A, with the Wildcats looking for their eighth state title in program history. They are the defending champions and top seed in the bracket. The Wildcats won their first title in 2007.

The 1A field also includes Merino, Wiley, Simla, Stratton/Liberty, Sangre de Cristo, Briggsdale and Otis. Merino is third all-time in State history with 10 championships, but it's been 20 years since the Rams last hoisted the trophy. Otis owns five championships, the most recent coming in 2015. Simla has two titles to their credit, in 1994 and 1996. The Cubs were a semifinalist in 2A last year. All of the other programs are looking for their first championship.

Denver Christian is the defending 2A champion and they are in as the #2 seed. However, the top spot belongs to Wiggins, who fell to the Thunder in last year's semifinals. The Tigers took a six-match winning streak into Wednesday's quarterfinals, as they seek their first title in program history.

Sedgwick County, Fowler, Vail Christian, Dayspring Christian, Holyoke and Yuma round out the field. Prior to forming the Sedgwick County coop, Julesburg won a pair of titles in 2004 and 2005. Fowler is the most storied program in the bracket, as the Grizzlies enter with 13 championships, one off the State record held by Platte Valley. They haven't won a title since 2010. Yuma is a multi-time titlist, winning three. Dayspring Christian took its only crown in 2016.

The biggest story in Class 3A broke over the weekend, involving #4 Lamar. Word came down that the Savages had a positive COVID case in/around the program and they would not be allowed to compete in the tournament. As of Monday morning, Lamar was still exhausting all options. They are 16-0, with a set record of 48-0.

Eaton is the top seed in the 3A bracket and the Reds are looking for championship #10. The Reds won five straight titles between 2013 and 2017 and are tied for fourth most in State history. Chasing Eaton is a group that includes #3 Sterling, the defending champ in the class. The 2019 championship was the first in history for the Tigers.

Montezuma-Cortez, University, Lutheran, Prospect Ridge Academy and Resurrection Christian complete the 3A field. If Lamar is removed from the bracket, University would advance to the semifinals. Of that group, only Lutheran and Resurrection Christian have won championships. Lutheran owns three, while Rez has two.

Hoehne has a chance to add hardware to its trophy case, with the Farmers playing for the eight-man spring football crown on Thursday night. The Farmers won eight-man championships in 2010 and 2012 and a Class A title in 1980. They were the top seed in the spring football bracket and earned their way to the title game by beating Plateau Valley 68-12 last week. The Farmers led 50-12 at the half.

The Farmers will be facing John Mall in the finals at the CSU-Pueblo Thunderbowl on Thursday. John Mall blasted #6 Custer County 56-0 in the opening round and then upset #2 Front Range Christian 44-20 last week. Hoehne won the regular season meeting with the Panthers 66-34.

Baseball is underway and special performances are already being turned in. Last Friday saw a couple of those outings.

Burlington senior Michael Gutierrez threw a five inning perfect game against County Line, recording 14 straight strike outs to finish the game. His first pitch was lined into the outfield, but was snagged for what would be the only out recorded behind him. Gutierrez only needed 58 pitches to go the distance in the 11-0 victory for the Cougars.

Holly picked up a combined no-hitter at Stratton/Liberty, with Dakota Eaton going the first three innings and Jose Magallanes and Nick Vasquez each working an inning in relief. The Wildcats won the contest 2-0. Stratton/Liberty bounced back to take the nightcap 5-4 over Granada. The winning run scored on wild pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Fort Morgan has felt heartbreak twice in the first week of Class 4A play. The Mustangs dropped their opener to Northridge (12-11) in extra innings and then suffered the same fate against Mountain View (8-6) on Saturday.

Lamar and Sterling both find themselves in the upper half of Class 3A after the first week of the season, while Brush and La Junta both entered week two looking for their first win of the season. La Junta had been outscored 45-11 in its first four games, while the Beetdiggers dropped a pair to Eaton by 3-0 and 2-0 scores. They were no-hit by the Reds last Thursday.

Limon is among the unbeatens in 2A after the Badgers beat Byers (7-6) and Denver Christian (11-3) in the opening week. Brady Rockwell picked up the win in relief against Byers, working 4.1 innings and striking out 11. Byers led 5-3 after three innings, but Limon rallied for the win.

Swink had the big bats working in the first week of the season, beating Simla (12-2), Fowler (10-4) and Crowley County (18-8). Nate Paolucci recorded eight hits in those three wins, including three doubles.

Eads jumped right out of the chute with a huge doubleheader sweep of preseason #1 Granada, 5-2 and 16-8 last Tuesday. The Eagles trailed 2-0 heading to the fifth in game one, before scoring five in the top of the frame. They trailed 7-6 through three innings in game two, but then scored 10 runs over the next two innings to secure the win.

Otis is another 1A squad making noise early in the season. The Bulldogs are 4-0 and have outscored their opponents 91-22. They have scored at least 17 runs in each contest and have scored 25 against Peetz and 30 against Briggsdale.

Cheyenne Wells has had some good success early in the season. The Tigers doubled up Stratton/Liberty 12-6 last Tuesday and then followed that up with 26-0 and 15-7 wins over Manzanola on Friday. Ty Scheler drove in seven runs during the week, while Cade Mitchek, Evan Worley and Brett Mayhan each knocked in six.