Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Paonia senior guard Trevor Walters shoots a three against Hotchkiss in an earlier season game. Walters shot a season-high five threes in the Eagles’ 65-55 win over Rangely on Tuesday.
Last Tuesday's pigtail game against Rangely was a win-or-go-home situation for Paonia. They were ranked fifth in the league and needed to defeat the No. 4 Panthers in order to stay alive in league playoffs.
After ending the season with a four-game losing streak, including a 70-58 loss to the Panthers just three days earlier, the Eagles reached deep and pulled out a 65-55 win over Rangely — a win that not only gave them a slot in the 2A District 5 playoffs, but guaranteed them a regional game.
Senior guard Trevor Walters opened the game with a three against Rangely, and that set the tone for the team, said head coach Chase Roeber. "Trevor caught on fire," and scored a career-high five threes before the game was over.
Walters said at last week's practice that he knew from the tip-off that the team wouldn't lose this time. Walters said he kept looking to pass inside to his posts — where most of this year's points came from, and they just kept dishing it back to him. His confidence grew after he hit the first two.
Sophomores Ben Linnell and Jason Sturgis were key to the win, particularly on defense, said Roeber. While neither scored big, Linnell pulled down some good rebounds, and Sturgis contributed at both ends of the court. "You don't have to score a bunch of points to help the team," said Roeber.
Post Daniel Ford, who is averaging a team-high 12 points per game, said the win definitely lightened the mood at practice, but the team knows that they have a hard road ahead.
With a guaranteed seeding in this coming weekend's regional tournament, it wasn't win-or-go-home for Paonia. Despite having played them close in both regular-season games, the Eagles lost 62-43 in their opening game against first-seeded Meeker on Friday. The Eagles fell to Hayden 73-67 Saturday to place fourth. Meeker claimed the district championship after defeating West Grand Saturday.
With the field narrowed to 32 teams, Paonia will face Region 4's Denver Christian (21-0) Friday at Metro State College in Denver. The Crusaders, who were seventh at state in 2011, defeated Lutheran Parker (13-9) 61-46 to win the district title. The winner will face the winner of the Holyoke (11-11) vs Heritage Christian (17-5) game.
