The regular season has ended for all classifications but 3A, and playoffs will begin for eight local teams this weekend. While Erie and Broomfield earned first-round byes in Class 4A, four teams will hit the road and two will host in week one.
Class 5A
No. 15 Fairview vs. No. 18 Fountain-Fort Carson
Game details: Friday, 7 p.m., at Christian Recht Field
The scouting report: The Knights enter the postseason with a 9-1 record and will face off with a 7-3 Trojans team that ended its season with a 45-7 beating from No. 6 Regis Jesuit.
The Knights welcomed back junior quarterback Bekkem Kritza midseason, who wasted no time flexing his muscles with 1,451 passing yards off of 104 completions and 18 touchdowns through a mere five games. He’s provided quite a boon to an offense that has also accumulated 1,678 rushing yards, the grand majority of which belong to junior Jordan Rechel (828 yards, 20 touchdowns).
The Trojans, on the other hand, rely much more on the run as they’ve amassed 1,678 rushing yards, the grand majority of which belong to Mathias Price, who has 1,579 yards on the ground with 20 scores. Shutting him down may be the key to victory if the Knights hope to advance.
No. 17 Legacy at No. 16 Eaglecrest
Game details: Friday night, 7 p.m., at Stutler Bowl
The scouting report: The Lightning brushed off four early-season losses to win five straight in convincing fashion and earn their ticket to the postseason. In doing so, they’ll spar with a 7-3 Raptors team in their playoff debut.
The Lightning have spent the season testing the waters with three different quarterbacks who, together, make up a bigger chunk of the offense than the team’s run game.
Sophomore Devan Kirchhevel leads that category with 809 passing yards and 14 touchdowns, followed by 472 yards from senior Kullen Lerma and 281 more from senior Tyler Madden. Junior running back Tyler Anderson holds 1,081 of the team’s 1,465 rushing yards.
Eaglecrest, likewise, relies more on the pass with 1,876 passing yards and 23 touchdowns from Joe Steiner, but isn’t afraid to run the ball when necessary. Josh Wiley owns that statistic with 688 of the team’s 1,658 rushing yards. The Lightning will have to find a way to out-gun the Raptor offense.
Class 4A
No. 2 Erie, first-round bye
The scouting report: The Tigers earned the second-highest seed in the 4A bracket, no doubt a testament to their flawless record against Colorado opponents and their history-making quarterback Blake Barnett.
Montrose provided the closest competition for the Tigers in week three of the regular season, but still lost, 38-28. To date, Barnett has thrown 23 touchdowns with 1,605 yards and run for another 16 scores and 695 yards. Erie’s other leading man, junior running back Gavin Lusk, has amassed 766 rushing yards and nine touchdowns.
Erie will face either No. 15 Rampart or No. 18 Grand Junction Central in the second round.
No. 4 Broomfield, first-round bye
The scouting report: The Eagles shook off a few growing pains in losses to Holy Family (30-29 final) and Erie (30-7 final), but have found ways to win in their eight remaining contests. They’ll take a breather this week before facing off with either No. 14 Fruita Monument or No. 20 Falcon.
Broomfield traded in its throwing ace, Wisconsin freshman Cole LaCrue, for a junior quarterback who can do a little bit of everything. While CT Worley has excelled more on the run with 11 touchdowns and 567 yards, he’s proven he can throw the ball well too, with 834 air yards and four more scores.
When fellow junior Darien Jackson steps into the quarterback position, he’s just as lethal with 507 yards and seven touchdowns on 32 completions. Junior Joseph Larsen and senior Caleb Meehan join Worley atop the run game with 649 and 551 yards, respectively. Meehan has doubled up on defense with six sacks to his name.
No. 19 Longmont at No. 14 Pueblo West
Game details: Friday, 6 p.m., at Pueblo West
The scouting report: The Trojans shook off three early losses to win five straight, but ended the season with a 5-5 record thanks to brick walls named Erie and Loveland. Still, they proved themselves worthy of the postseason, but will have to try to tame the Cyclones without senior star Cole Gaddis, who’s out the rest of the season with a lacerated kidney.
He alone amassed 1,408 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns, which will leave the Trojans looking elsewhere for their run game. Junior quarterback Kolby Holmes ranks second in that category with 538 yards and 11 touchdowns and has doubled up with 1,715 passing yards with an additional 13 TDs.
The 6-4 Cyclones, likewise, do a little bit of everything on offense. Quarterback Gavin Lockett owns 1,209 passing yards with 10 touchdowns and 19 scores on the run, a category he also dominates with 924 rushing yards. Rodolfo Gutierrez Gonzales provides the next-highest yardage with 302, meaning the Trojans’ key to success could boil down to stopping Lockett.
No. 22 Centaurus at No. 11 Windsor
Game details: Saturday, 3 p.m., at Windsor
The scouting report: The Warriors shook off two early losses to Mountain Range and Monarch to win seven straight for an 8-2 record, and will travel north to take on a Wizards team that boasts a similar mark.
Senior quarterback Chance Wood has contributed to much of that success via his 1,900 yards passing and 24 touchdowns, all while senior Ben Mischke (885 yards, 10 touchdowns), junior Addisu McCormick (505 yards, six touchdowns) and Wood (318 yards, five touchdowns) have taken the reins of the run game.
Windsor enters the contest with a five-game winning streak, all while relying on the run game to make up the brunt of its offense. Brady Lichtenberg owns that facet of the game with 1,240 yards and 10 scores while quarterback Kyle Phelps has added another 842 yards and seven scores through the air.
The Warriors will have to try to make him throw more if they hope to pull off the upset.
No. 24 Monarch at No. 9 Golden
Game details: Friday, 7 p.m., at the North Area Athletic Complex
The scouting report: The Coyotes entered the season with a bang, but a four-game lull brought their overall record to 5-5. Golden, in contrast, holds an 8-2 record.
The Coyotes have relied almost exclusively on junior quarterback Riley Montemayor, who through 10 games accumulated 1,696 passing yards and 13 touchdowns, to take the helm of the offense. He, along with senior Brody Grady, have made up the bulk of the run game with 401 and 586 rushing yards, respectively, with seven scores apiece.
Golden, likewise, poses a versatile offense with 1,123 passing yards and 12 touchdowns from quarterback Kalin Hufford as well as 1,524 cumulative rushing yards, most of which belong to Luc Chevalier (709 yards). The Coyotes will have to find a way to shut down both.
8-man
No. 4 Lyons vs. No. 14 Akron
Game details: Saturday, 1 p.m., at Lyons
The scouting report: The undefeated Lions have proven themselves to be one of 8-man’s biggest and baddest teams through each passing weekend. Akron, on the other hand, holds three losses.
Senior Miles Dumbauld has proven his affinity for throwing the ball with 1,089 passing yards and 15 touchdowns to his name, but those numbers still pale in comparison to the 2,293 and 36 touchdowns the team has put up on the run, thanks to guys like Malik Sigg-Brown (1,043 yards, 17 touchdowns) and Dumbauld (765 yards, 14 touchdowns).
The Lions’ defense, likewise, has been a dominant force with 16 interceptions for 385 yards. Akron relies far more on the run with 2,155 yards and 32 touchdowns, and Anderson Filla makes up the biggest chunk of that number with 23 touchdowns and 1,501 yards. That makes Lyons’ defense’s job simple.
![Fairview lacrosse’s first win over Monarch in three years was tailored in the narrative the Knights have been pushing for a while now. A young attacking core took another step forward in its growth process, a veteran defense remained strong, and Fairview coach Matthew Kelley’s team picked up a critical win for its postseason hopes, beating the Coyotes 13-8 on its home turf Wednesday night. “There’s still a lot of work to be done but moving in (the right) direction is exciting,” Kelley said. “It’s why we do this.” On paper, a third straight win on the season for the […]](https://www.coloradohometownweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BCC-L-LAX_1MJ2273.jpg?w=525 "Fairview lacrosse’s first win over Monarch in three years was tailored in the narrative the Knights have been pushing for a while now. A young attacking core took another step forward in its growth process, a veteran defense remained strong, and Fairview coach Matthew Kelley’s team picked up a critical win for its postseason hopes, beating the Coyotes 13-8 on its home turf Wednesday night. “There’s still a lot of work to be done but moving in (the right) direction is exciting,” Kelley said. “It’s why we do this.” On paper, a third straight win on the season for the […]")
