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's Lady Eagles are on top of their game, and on top of the 2A WSL with an impressive 18-1 record. The Lady Eagles remained on top of the 2A WSL with a 10-0 league mark and 18-1 overall.
Second place Meeker is 9-1 and 14-4 and Hayden is 9-3 and 12-5.
Photo by Wayne Crick
Paonia’s Abby Campbell awaits the arrival of the ball from the baseline wing as two Rangely defenders take positions to try and stop a shot. Campbell, and her Lady Eagles’ teammates, established their dominance early in a 63-39 rout.
The Lady Eagles posted two big wins over the weekend to earn the number one seed in this weekend's district tournament in West Grand. Paonia romped past Plateau Valley 69-40 on Friday (Feb. 17) and smothered Rangely 63-39 in Paonia on Saturday.
Paonia 69, PV 40
Plateau Valley managed to keep the game semi-close in the first half as the Lady Eagles were prone to miscues in the opening half. Paonia got nine points from Ce'rra Carsten in the first quarter as the Lady Eagles took a 16-11 lead after one period of action. The Lady Cowboys' Bess Hill had seven of her team's points.
The Paonia press forced numerous turnovers in the second quarter that translated into a 24-16 run for the Lady Eagles. Chelsy Reed fueled the offense for Paonia with nine points and Abby Campbell contributed six more to the run. Campbell was four of five from the charity stripe to account for four of her six counters.
Paonia led 40-27 at the break.
In the second half, the Lady Eagles began with a 19-5 third quarter with Campbell and Braiden Clement scoring six and five points respectively to lead the charge.
The game's pace slowed in fourth-quarter play with Paonia taking a 10-8 edge for the game's final score of 69-40.
The Lady Eagles had four players in double figures including Campbell with 12, Reed with 11, and Carson and Carsten with 10 points each. Plateau Valley's Bess Hill was the game's leading scorer with 16 points.
Paonia 63, Rangely 39
On Saturday afternoon, Paonia started fast, and stayed that way, until the final quarter.
The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 17-6 first-quarter lead before putting up even bigger numbers in a 24-12 run in the second period for a 41-18 halftime lead. Four players scored four or more points for Paonia in the second stanza.
After the break, Paonia was five points better in the third quarter with an 11-6 advantage.
Rangely battled the Lady Eagles' bench in fourth-quarter play to forge a 15-11 edge to make the final score 63-39.
Pipher and Carsten scored 13 points each to lead the Paonia offense with Campbell contributing another 10 counters to the win.
Quincey Thacker had 17 points for Rangely to lead all scorers in the game.
Paonia won the league title and drew a bye in the first round of play. Other teams played pigtail games early in the week with the 2A WSL tournament beginning on Friday in West Grand. The Lady Eagles will face the league's number four team while numbers 2 and 3 square off in the other semifinal game.
