Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1995
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the Rocky Mountain News
It is a different year and a different Kennedy football team, but the results are still the same.
Last season, Kennedy went 10-0 behind standout halfback Shayne Blakey. This season, senior fullback Derrick Dixon has picked up where Blakey left off.
Dixon rushed for 273 yards on 19 carries Thursday night to lead Kennedy to a 37-9 victory over George Washington at All City Stadium.
The victory gives the Commanders (2-0) a strong hold on first place in the Denver Prep League. George Washington falls to 0-2.
Dixon, who played behind Blakey last year, emerged as the key player in the Kennedy offense, even though he was prone to fumbles last season.
“Derrick just needed to get some experience under his belt,” Kennedy coach Bruce Abeyta said. “He’s getting most of the reps in practice, and he is a lot more sure of himself.”
Dixon scored on runs of 71, 29 and 86 yards for Kennedy.
“What I am doing is not a surprise to me,” Dixon said. “I let my speed take over for me because I’m not that big, and I got some great blocking from my line.”
Kennedy dominated the first half, scoring on four of its seven drives and getting a safety off a blocked punt by defensive back Elmer Hill to take a 30-0 lead.
Dixon scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, and halfback Steve Campos scored on a 17-yard run and a 24-yard reception from quarterback Kurt Enzminger. Enzminger completed the pass to Campos after almost being sacked by four George Washington linemen and scrambling to the line of scrimmage.
The Patriots held Kennedy scoreless in the third and scored their only points. Running back Johnnie Coleman scored on an 11-yard run with 2:58 left in the period.
“These guys are young, but they grew up a bit in the second half and they will grow up some more next week,” George Washington coach Steve Finesilver said.
Dixon scored Kennedy’s last touchdown on an 86-yard run after shaking five Patriot defenders.
Kennedy now faces a tough DPL schedule with Denver East next week and Montbello the following week.
“We by no means drew an easy schedule,” Abeyta said. “I’m not surprised by what we are doing. We only lost four players to graduation.”
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1995
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the Rocky Mountain News
LAKEWOOD – Bear Creek played catch-up in the first half, but a 19-point third period gave the Bears their first lead of the game and a 55-49 girls basketball victory over Standley Lake on Friday night at Bear Creek High School.
Center Jenny Hodges and forward Lindsay Eddleman took over in the second half, combining for 19 points to lead Bear Creek (1-0 Jefferson County League, 5-2 overall) to the win.
“We just need to come out more intense, the first half we seem to lack the intensity,” Hodges said. “Coach (Tammy) Weatherly told us we can’t lose in our house, and we shouldn’t.”
Weatherly said she keyed on one thing at halftime — pride.
“I think (Standley Lake) did outplay us in the first half and in the locker room we appealed to their pride and told them this is our house; we don’t want people to come in here to embarrass us,” Weatherly said.
Standley Lake (0-1, 5-2) led 24-19 at the half, thanks to six points from Katrina Franzen and four from Jolene Keel and Amanda Davis. Franzen led all scorers with 23.
Bear Creek tied the score at 33-33 on a three-point shot by freshman point guard Jennifer Mendez with 1:02 left in the third period and took the lead on a layup by Hodges.
Eddleman hit three crucial baskets in the fourth period, and hot free throw shooting from Hodges and Amy Grull sealed the victory. Hodges finished with 15, followed by Eddleman with 13 and Grull with 11.
“I consider us pretty much third-quarter players. I know we need to change that, but it was a good comeback,” Grull said. “We seem to be known as a comeback team because we always do that.”
Stnadley Lake coach Jeff Gomer said his team showed its youth in the second half.
“We were able to control the tempo in the first half and the second half we just showed how young we were. I had a lot of sophomores and freshmen on the floor,” Gomer said. “We wanted to use this as a gauge of how far we had come or needed to go and I think we did pretty well.”
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1994
16-2 run at start of game helps Light shoot down No. 1-ranked Demons
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the Rocky Mountain News
Ninth-ranked Lutheran went on a 16-2 run in the opening 3 minutes and coasted to a 78-59 upset of top-ranked Buena Vista in a battle of Class 3A powers Saturday night at Lutheran High School.
The Lights came out with an aggressive defense that stymied Buena Vista’s passing game and shut down the lane, causing numerous Demons turnovers.
Lutheran coach Loren Otte said he was a little surprised at his team’s defensive effort.
“I knew offensively we would do well, but we came out solid on defense and shut them down,” Otte said. “We got excellent play off our bench early on and that helped us.”
Simon Martinez, just back from a knee injury, came off the bench to give Lutheran an outside threat. He hit three three-pointers and finished with 14 points.
“Our team came in ready to win,” Martinez said. “We played aggressive on defense and focused on offense and did what we had to.”
Point guard Carlos Martinez led Lutheran scorers with 17 points, including four three-pointers and 14 points.
Lutheran did a good job of containing the Demons Coby Vidakovich, holding him to 14 points.
Buena Vista coach Robert Crowther said his team has had some easy games and knew it could expect a fight from Lutheran.
“This is what we needed to bring us down to earth,” Crowther said. “I think if you erase the first 3 minutes we can play with (Lutheran). I don’t feel that we were ready at the start of the game to play the physical game we could here.”
Lutheran started its first-period run with a 12-foot jumper by Carlos Martinez. Chris Fields followed with two baskets, and Marty Senechal hit two more.
The Demons finally responded with 3:02 left in the first period when Jake Jeschke hit two short jumpers.
Buena Vista came out in the second half looking to erase a 12-point deficit and pulled within four, but that was as close as the Demons could get.
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1994
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the News
PARKER – Littleton battled back from a nine-point halftime deficit to overcome Ponderosa 49-45 in overtime Friday night at Ponderosa High School.
Littleton, ranked No. 3 in Class 4A, overcame a crucial mistake in the final seconds of regulation and outscored the Mustangs, ranked ninth in Class 5A, 6-2 in overtime to take the victory.
Senior Missy Dougherty made five free throws to tie the game 37-37 for Ponderosa with 4:37 left to go, but a putback by Littleton’s Kelly Lytton and a layup by Jennifer Hardy with only 4 seconds left in regulation tied the score for the Lions.
But Stephanie Allen, who led all the scorers with 16 points, called timeout with 2 seconds left but Littleton had no timeouts remaining. Allen said she thought she had lost the game for the Lions.
“It was stupid of me for calling the timeout. So right there I lost a lot of my poise,” Allen said. “I thought we were going to lose because of that, but we came out and knew we could take them in overtime if we watched our fouls.”
Ponderosa had a chance to seal a victory with the technical foul shots but Dougherty, and 80% free-throw shooter, missed both attempts.
Littleton coach Mark Drury said an overtime game last week against Boulder might have given the Lions an edge in the extra period.
“We have been in this situation already this season so it may have helped,” Drury said.
Allen scored 11 of the Littleton Lions’ 19 points in the key third period to help her team take a one-point lead into the final period.
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1994
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the Rocky Mountain News
Sixth-ranked Arvada West took quick control of its Class 5A first round playoff game against Manual Saturday afternoon, scoring 22 points in the first quarter and coasting to a 43-7 victory at All City Stadium.
But Arvada West coach Dave Logan was less than happy with his team’s play.
“We were so sloppy in the first half it was as if we were sleepwalking,” Logan said. “I look at this win as we played well enough to win, but we will have to play much, much better to have any kind of chance next week (against No. 1 Boulder).”
Arvada West’s standout running back Kevin McDougal scored three touchdowns for the Wildcats and rushed for 167 yards on 17 carries.
McDougal got Arvada West on the board with a 2-yard run with 7:41 left in the first period and a 39-yard dash with just under 3 minutes left in the period. Quarterback Jason Pacheco completed a pass to Jason Siggs for the two-point conversion.
Sigg fell on a blocked punt in the end zone to put Arvada West up 22-0 at the end of the first period.
McDougal completed his scoring 7 seconds into the second period.
Manual, which last season had a 0-10 record, surprised many people with its 7-3 record and spot in the playoffs.
“First thing I want to do is congratulate (Manual coach) Nate Howard because I don’t think you ever take an 0-10 team and turn them around and have them believe they can win. That’s a credit to Nate,” Logan said. “They played hard, and we knew they would play hard.”
Howard said the only thing his team had to be sorry about was the loss. “We’re not just happy to have made the playoffs. We are excited to have completed a successful season.”
Manual’s only score came off a 26-yard punt return by defensive back Damon McNeal in the second period.
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1994
Overtime victory against East gives Commanders lead
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the News
Sixth-ranked Kennedy put itself in position to secure a No. 1 seed from the Denver Prep League, defeating Denver East 13-6 in overtime Friday afternoon at All City Stadium.
Kennedy held onto first place in the league standings with an 8-yard touchdown run in overtime by tailback Shayne Blakey. He led his team in rushing with 121 yards on 28 carries.
“We made a bunch of mistakes, but our defense took over and worked fr us,” Blakey said. “Our defense finally kicked in and did what we needed in overtime.”
The defensive play of both teams was outstanding throughout the contest.
“Their defense played tough, but we knew we had to keep him (East quarterback Brian Phelan) from passing,” middle linebacker Jesus Escobedo said. “We had to flush the quarterback out of the pocket and sack him every chance we got.”
Escobedo was a key player in overtime. He sacked Phelan twice for a total loss of 17 yards and prevented a “Hail Mary” pass on the Angels’ last down from materializing.
“We came in No. 1 in the state (in scoring defense) and we wanted to keep it that way,” Escobedo said.
East coach Larry Tarver said his team’s inexperience on offense made it difficult to move the ball against the stingy Kennedy defense, which has allowed only 28 points in six games (4.4 average).
“We have a real young team; I started (offensive lineman Brandon) Jackson and (running back Sam) Lyons, who are both freshmen,” Tarver said.
Tarver said the Commanders killed them with the option play.
“Blakey just ran over everybody and we couldn’t help out offensively, but we have got to learn to take it,” Tarver said.
Kennedy struck first after East’s Lyons fumbled the ball on the Commanders’ 20. The ball was recovered by linebacker Greg Gonzales, who ran the ball back to the Kennedy 34.
With the help of a 27-yard run by Blakey and a 17-yard pass from quarterback Franco Martinez to wide receiver Greg Sewell, Kennedy took the ball to the East 2. Halfback Steve Campos ran the ball in to put Kennedy up 6-0.
East got on the board with 3:15 left in the third period with a 9-yard pass from Phelan to split end Jason Craft. The extra point was blocked.
East’s short touchdown drive started after defensive end Willie Wortham sacked Martinez and linebacker Jamil McCowain recovered the ball and ran it back 58 yards, to the Kennedy 10.
East now has to fight to earn a spot in the playoffs.
“I told my team from the beginning it didn’t matter if we took one loss or two or three, we were going to make it to the playoffs,” Tarver said.
Printed in the Rocky Mountain News - 1994
By Tiffany Trott
Special to the Rocky Mountain News
LAKEWOOD – Not many people expected Columbine to beat No. 3 Pomona — except those on the Rebels sideline.
Columbine stunned Pomona 28-20 Friday afternoon at Jefferson County Stadium in the first class 5A Jeffco League game of the season.
“(In) high school football anything can happen,” Columbine coach Andy Lowry said. “These kids have found a will to win. It’s down in that heart and we just have to keep getting it. No one expects anything.”
Even though Pomona (4-2, 0-1) gained 509 yards offense to Columbine’s 332, key defensive plays by the Rebels made the difference.
Running back Paul Boykin also was a hero for Columbine, scoring twice on long runs (78 and 73 yards) and making a key special teams play late in the game.
After taking a 28-6 third-quarter lead, Columbine held on in the final period with two goal line stands. The key play came with 5:16 left after Boykin booted a 60-yard quick kick on third-and-7 to put the Panthers back at their 32.
“We were down buried (at the 8-yard line) and I didn’t want a return so it worked out great,” Lowry said.
Boykin got Columbine of to a fast start, taking the Rebels first play from scrimmage 78 yards for a touchdown with 4 minutes gone in the game.
Boykin, who sat out last week against Highlands Ranch because he was ineligible, ran for 179 yards on 11 carries and two touchdowns to lead Columbine rushers. “Boykin had a challenge to face after sitting out last week, so he was hungry to play,” Lowry said.
Boykin struck quickly again to open the second half, bolting 73 yards for a score to give the Rebels a 21-6 lead 52 seconds into the third quarter.
After Boykin’s first TD, Pomona scored its first points of the game.
Jeremy Close scored on a 3-yard run and capped an 11-play, 84-yard drive with 3:08 left in the first half.
Columbine took only 1 minute to extend its lead to 14-6 after a 61-yard run by running back Mike Schmidt.
Columbine’s defense came up with a big play after Boykin’s burst to open the second half.
The Rebels recovered a fumble by Pomona quarterback Matt Smiley at the Panthers’ 30, and Schmidt ran the ball in on Columbine’s first play to put the Rebels ahead 28-6 with 8:58 left in the third period.
Schmidt ran for 102 yards on only four carries. But the tide started to turn with Pomona’s next possession.
Running back Scott Schaefer completed a 5-yard scoring pas to tight end Brad Gomer.
Then Columbine’s Bryan O’Neill fumbled the ball at the Rebels’ 45 and Pomona recovered. With 9 seconds left in the third period, Smiley connected with wide receiver Mike DiGiosio on a 28-yard touchdown pass to pull Pomona within eight.
But the Rebels defense held in the final period, stopping the Panthers on downs at the Columbine 6 and 12 to preserve the victory.