Colorado Preps Weekly

The final football championships of the season were earned over the weekend and the fall campaign officially comes to a close this weekend, when State spirit wraps up the slate.

Fort Morgan ended a drought of more than 20 years, when the Mustangs claimed the 3A football crown last Saturday. The Mustangs, who had not hoisted the top trophy in the sport since 1999, claimed the championship with a 21-17 victory over Mead in Pueblo.

The Mustangs got a pair of rushing scores from Frank Ortega, but found themselves trailing 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter. They went on a march that was punctuated by a short rushing TD from Briggs Wheatley. As had been the case throughout the season, the Mustang defense came up huge, sealing the victory with an interception in the closing seconds.

The first weekend of the wrestling season saw a number of big events on the docket, including tournaments in Akron, Fowler and Rocky Ford for the boys.

Brush cruised to the team title of the Chuck Annand Invitational in Akron over the weekend, recording 153 points. The Beetdiggers got individual titles from Nick Dardanes (113), Diego Hernandez (132) and Dominic Ontiveros (220). Other local champions from the event included Merino's Coen Schmidt (120), Rhonnel Akele of Fort Morgan (126), Hayden Burr of Sedgwick County/Fleming (170) and Wiggins' Laith Ibrahim (285).

County Line edged Crowley County and Fowler to win the Grizzly Invitational team title. The Rivals recorded 159 points, while Crowley County tallied 148.5 and Fowler came up with 142.5. Chase Stolzenberger (285) was the lone individual champion for County Line.

Fowler saw Traven Sharon win the title at 106 pounds, while Waitley Sharon took the top honor at 113. Crowley County got championships from Tach Brewer (152), Aiden Halloran (160), Skeeter Baker (170) and Robert San Juan (182). Eddie Bowman of Trinidad took home the crown at 132, and Alex Torres of Las Animas got the win at 138.

Lamar and La Junta hit the Pueblo Central Lady Wildcat Invite on Saturday and Lamar earned a top three finish with 184 points. La Junta claimed 10th with 43.5 points. Delorin Bellamy (118) and Crystalyn Felan (127) took individual titles for Lamar.

Several top basketball squads made statements in the opening weekend of play. In a match-up of ranked teams in 1A, Fleming's girls outlasted Haxtun 47-43 on Friday. Haxtun also came up short the following night against another highly ranked opponent, 37-36 against Merino. Those three teams are expected to slug it out in District 4, along with Briggsdale, who beat up 2A Sedgwick County (49-25) and Idalia (70-25) over the weekend.

Moving to the southeast corner of the State in Class 1A, Kim/Branson went 3-0 in the opening week, winning the Trinidad State JuCo tournament in the process. The Mustangs allowed a total of 68 points in those three games, with two of the wins coming by three points each. Springfield and South Baca both went 2-0 in the R.L. Ballard tournament and both should be in the mix come postseason time.

In 2A girls, Swink used a 13-3 fourth quarter to get an important Santa Fe win over Rocky Ford, 36-35. Sidney Larew had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Lions. Wray, Limon, Rye and Holyoke also made it through the first week of action without a loss.

Brush jumped out of the gates with a 43-16 win over Weld Central in 3A play, as Bailey Link and Kashlynn Tadolini each pumped in 12 points for the Beetdiggers.

In 1A boys, Genoa-Hugo/Karval won the title of the Jeff Sherman Memorial at Woodlin over the weekend, picking up wins over Arickaree/Woodlin and North Park. Prairie beat Caliche and Otis to win the Carlile Classic in Peetz and Cheraw took home the title from the Thunderbird Classic at Sangre de Cristo, going 3-0 in the event.

Haxtun also got a pair of big wins over Fleming and Merino, despite only having a couple of practices after winning the 8-man championship a week earlier. Briggsdale, who will also be in the mix up north, earned lopsided wins over Sedgwick County and Idalia.

Yuma outlasted rival Wray 68-58, sending the defending 2A champs to an 0-1 start. Limon won its own tournament over the weekend, while Las Animas picked up a pair of wins in the R.L. Ballard tournament in Springfield. Holyoke also got through the opening week unscathed.

La Junta and Sterling both went 2-1 in the opening week of 3A play. Brush went 1-1, while Lamar began the season with a win, but dropped its next two to finish the week 1-2.