Delta High School swept, what could be, the final Delta County basketball tournament known as the First Colorado National Bank Basketball Tournament.

When it comes to who’s got spirit, there’s not many spirit teams better than the Hotchkiss Bulldogs. In fact, there’s only one team that can boast being better after Hotchkiss finished the recent 2A State Pom competition with a second-place trophy. The Bulldogs were a mere 66-one hundredth o…

A number of talented football players from Delta, Cedaredge, Hotchkiss and Paonia high schools were recognized for their accomplishments throughout the past football season.

Delta County has reason to be proud of its high school wrestling squads. Grapplers from Cedaredge, Delta, Hotchkiss and Paonia high schools participated in the Western Slope’s most challenging tournament of the regular season, the Warrior Classic hosted by Grand Junction-Central High School.

The Cedaredge High School Bruins boys basketball team ran into a buzzsaw of a team in the No. 9 ranked Centauri High School Falcons on Dec. 20. It’s safe to say that the Centauri High School Falcons boys basketball team is a quality Class 3A team. It wasn’t long before the Bruins found thems…

Delta High School had plenty of exposure to teams playing in the 2018 Class 3A state basketball playoffs a year ago when they traveled to both Alamosa and Centauri high schools on the same weekend. This year found those same two teams visiting the Panther Den Dec. 20 and 21. Having already f…

Competition began in the 160-pound division at the Dec. 19 wrestling dual in Hotchkiss between the Hotchkiss High School Bulldogs and the Delta High School Panthers. The first three matches were pins in less than 2:00 for the Bulldogs. Ethan Guy began the night with a pin over Delta’s Royce …

Hotchkiss High School’s basketball teams played two games last week prior to taking a few days off for Christmas. The Bulldogs hosted the DeBeque High School Dragons on Dec. 18 with the girls posting a 52-45 decision over the Dragons and the boys losing, 64-58, to the No. 1 ranked 1A DeBeque…

The Cedaredge High School Bruins girls basketball team engaged in a highly competitive contest on Dec. 20 with the Centauri High School Falcons squad. The No. 6 Class 3A Falcons were clearly in town to prove they are deserving of their top 10 ranking.

Both Delta High School varsity basketball teams were on their games last Tuesday, Dec. 10. The girls got off to a 14-2 start in the first quarter and then used an aggressive defense to force a continuous string of Olathe High School turnovers on their way to a 57-16 win at home. The Panther …

The Cedaredge High School Bruins boys basketball team learned from its early season losses. The squad came out on top 50-45 in another tight game, this time against the Rangely High School Panthers on Dec. 10. The win was Cedaredge’s eighth straight over the Panthers.

Coming off a successful weekend, the Cedaredge High School Bruins girls basketball team faced the Class 2A Rangely High School Panthers on Dec. 10. The flow of the contest wasn’t exactly what Cedaredge head coach Russell Coleman had planned on. At the end of the first quarter the Bruins had …

Paonia High School worked hard this past Saturday nabbing fourth place in the Delta Invitational.

The Hotchkiss High School Bulldogs finished second in a field of 14 teams at the Dec. 14 Delta Invitational wrestling tournament. Cedaredge High School ran away with the team title with 207 points that included two individual titles, three runner-up finishes and three third-place finishes.

This past week was a busy one for the Cedaredge High School Bruins wrestling team. To begin, the Bruins won a dual 47-29 over the Palisade High School Bulldogs on Dec. 12.

The Delta High School Panthers continue to improve and a fifth-place finish in last Saturday’s Delta Invitational confirms the growth made by the team. Delta scored 114 points, with senior Gauge Lockhart’s 6-1 win in the 195 pound division leading the way. Lockhart (8-0) still appears to be …

For the second straight season, the Cedaredge High School Bruins girls basketball team opened its season by winning the Vail Christian High School Tournament. On Dec. 6-7, the team earned victories over the Class 3A Lake County High School Panthers and the Class 4A Battle Mountain High Schoo…

Ranked No. 4 by Tim Yount’s On the Mat, the Class 2A Cedaredge High School Bruins wrestling team had an outstanding 2019-20 debut as it went undefeated at the Maverick Duals Dec. 7. The team outscored the high schools of Grand Junction-Central (37-36), Bayfield (60-21), Durango (48-33), Mont…

A long and illustrious career in sports has paid dividends for Paonia High School’s Scott Rienks. Rienks, who has paved a golden road to a memorable legacy, will be inducted into Colorado’s coaches Hall of Fame March 20, 2020 at the Radisson Hotel Denver Southwest. Joining Rienks in inductio…

Led by head coach Craig Cerise, the Cedaredge High School Bruins football program had six players earn postseason honors. Dusty Emig and Jacob Brown made the All-Conference First Team roster while Brody Wagner, Derek Sanchez, Colby Rupp and Sterling Brown earned All-Conference Honorable Ment…

The Cedaredge High School Bruins volleyball team, guided by head coach Heather Dunbar, saw six players earn postseason honors. The 3A Western Slope League (WSL) head coaches recognized Dunbar as Coach of the Year after she led the Bruins to a 20-5 record. Cedaredge High School Athletic Direc…

The Hotchkiss High School girls basketball team is off to a great start following its 2-0 run through the Hotchkiss Shootout Dec. 6-7. On Friday night the Bulldogs had plenty of defense to stymie Ridgway High School’s offense in a 48-10 win on opening night. Saturday afternoon’s contest was …

Cedaredge High School Bruins head boys basketball coach Craig Cerise found his team in a pair of tight games at the Vail Christian High School tournament, Dec. 6-7. Although it was on the losing end of both contests, the team played tough and is bound to learn a great deal from competing in …

A 15-4 run in the first quarter was one of the big reason’s the Paonia High School Eagles were able to outlast Nucla in an opening round game for boys in last weekend’s Hotchkiss Shootout. Nucla High School took advantage of miscues by the Eagles in the second quarter to shave three points o…

The thought of winning a race is often on the minds of most cross country runners, or any other athlete for that matter. For Paonia High School senior Katya Schwieterman, if the thought of winning crosses her mind at all, it’s not there for long. Schwietterman has been a premier runner for P…

It’s taken almost 50 years for Delta High School’s football team to return to a state title game, but this time around the team wasn’t as lucky.

Delta High School senior Gauge Lockhart has, like his sister did two years ago, signed a letter of intent to become an Ivy Leaguer at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Delta High School had a successful soccer season with the Panthers reaching the round of eight before falling to Atlas Preparatory School and bowing out of the title chase for a Class 3A soccer title.

From the fall of 1986 to the winter of 1990, Tonya Stites (MacKendrick) of Cedaredge High School developed into one of Colorado’s best basketball players. Her skills on the court were a result of a number of factors and carried her to a storied career at Mesa State College of Grand Junction,…

A collective sigh of relief wafted through the brisk air in Basalt as shadows covered a damp playing field last Saturday. That sigh came from the visiting Delta High School Panthers’ side of the field after an exciting 17-6 victory over a determined Basalt High School Longhorn football team.…

Delta High School senior Sara Geddes signed a letter of intent to attend Colorado Mesa University in the fall of 2020. Geddes, the daughter of Jeremy Geddes and Amy Frazier, will pursue a degree in exercise science while she participates as a Maverick teammate as a member of the CMU women’s …

For Sara Geddes, the thought of not being able to play basketball was more than a thought. While attending a basketball camp early last summer in Las Vegas, Geddes suffered an injury that put a grinding halt to sports of any kind for the multi-talented athlete. In an effort to improve her ga…

With the recent volleyball campaign completed for Delta High School’s Panthers, coach Beth Nelson has submitted the names of four student-athletes who were selected for the 2019 3A WSL all-conference volleyball team.

It hasn’t been all that long ago Delta High School has been part of the state playoffs in football. In fact, the Panthers, since 2009, will have made an appearance in a state football playoff eight times, and will have played in a semi final round game four times when they travel to Basalt t…

The pain and agony of an ugly leg injury in the last game of the football season in 2018 still lingers in the mind of Delta High School senior Skyler Kraai. Initially, the injury wasn’t thought to be too serious by Kraai. After all he had endured in his previous seasons in sports there was n…

With a successful season comes postseason honors, and that’s just what the Cedaredge High School Bruins softball team received. Following a trip to the Class 3A Colorado High School State Softball Championships, the Bruins had several student-athletes who were recognized for their play. Earn…

A grinding, but successful season, ended in early November with the playing of the final tournament of the year for the Delta County Force Girls Soccer Team in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A near-perfect evening for soccer made the Nov. 5 second round of the Class 3A State Soccer Championships at Panther Stadium a delight for a raucous crowd of Delta High School fans. The visiting Lutheran High School Lions brought a modest crowd to Delta to support the No. 11 ranked team. Wit…

An atmosphere of high energy filled the Cedaredge gymnasium on Nov. 9 when the Cedaredge High School Bruins volleyball team competed in the Region 11 tournament. Fellow participants were the Bayfield High School Wolverines and the Buena Vista High School Demons.

Delta High School’s defense put together another stifling effort against an opponent in 2019. This time, the final result, 44-0, came during the first round of the Colorado 2A State Football Playoffs. The Panthers, hosting No. 13 Pagosa Springs High School (5-5), showed no mercy by limiting …

The end to a great football season came last weekend for Hotchkiss’ Bulldogs with a 14-7 overtime loss to Highland in Class 2A state playoffs. Neither team was able to pull away from the other for the first 48 minutes of action of the opening round game. Highland did put up the first points …

The No. 1 and 2 teams from the 1A WSL met Nov. 1 in Meeker to determine the league champion. Meeker High School, sitting atop the standings at 4-0, hosted the Hotchkiss High School Bulldogs (4-0) to settle who would carry the best record into this year’s 1A state football playoffs.

On Oct. 29, the Cedaredge High School Bruins made the long trip to face the Aspen High School Skiers for their final league contest of the season. The Skiers were fired up and took the first set 26-24 from Cedaredge despite a well-played set by the Bruins. After finally settling in, Cedaredg…

Last week’s year-ending volleyball tournament in New Castle was a bust for Delta High School’s Panthers. Delta played four games, beginning Nov. 1, and suffered losses in all of them. Delta started tournament play against host Coal Ridge High School and lost in straight sets, 2-0. Game two w…

It was cold and the visiting team was good. As temperatures hovered near the 20s, No. 6 Delta High School had to warm up quickly to hold off the No. 27 seeded Strive Prep-Smart Academy soccer team to earn a 2-0 win in the first round of Class 3A state soccer playoffs.

Delta High School Panthers used a fierce attack in the air and on the ground to chalk up their eighth win against one loss on Nov. 1 in New Castle. The Panthers posted 20 points in the game’s first quarter on their way to a 47-8 WSL win over Coal Ridge High School’s Titans. Delta (4-1, 8-1 i…

By standards of seasons past, the 2019 gridiron campaign was not the usual norm for play from Paonia High School’s and Cedaredge High School’s football teams. The Eagles finished the year at 2-3 in 1A WSL standings and were 4-5 overall. Cedaredge was winless in league play and was 2-7 overall.

The 2019 Fifth and Sixth Grade Super Bowl title belongs to Olathe’s Marauders. With a 39-6 score, the Marauders cruised to the 2019 Super Bowl Title for fifth and sixth grade teams from Montrose and Delta counties.

Play in the first quarter against visiting Moffat County High School was an uphill struggle for the Delta High School Panthers on Oct. 24. Neither team showed decisive play as to whether or not they had knowledge of the sport of football at times in the game’s first 12 minutes.