Year III of Colorado’s upper-end football championships at Invesco Field at Mile High will have three first-timers on NFL ground.
Which schoolboy or prep coach wouldn’t want to wrap up the season by winning a championship at the place where millionaire pros, coaches and owners roam the sidelines in front of tens of thousands of fans and nationwide audiences?
“This is the venue, the site that every kid dreams of — myself as a coach, too,” Monarch coach Phil Bravo said.
His Coyotes, who won the 2002 Class 4A title, will meet newbie Pueblo West at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The Grandview-Douglas County 5A matchup follows with a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.
Of the four, Douglas County is the lone returnee to Invesco Field. The Huskies won it all in 2005, in the prep championships’ debut at Invesco Field, for their first title in 109 years. The title capped a storybook season in which Douglas County finished 13-1, after going 23-38 in coach Jeff Ketron’s first six seasons.
“The overall foundation’s the same, although the names have changed,” Ketron said.
On a three-year roll of 35-5, Douglas County has a following that travels well and a program that is indicative of the Castle Rock area’s booming growth. When Ketron began as coach, there were 82 players in grades 9-12. This season, there are 182, including 110 on varsity and junior varsity.
Whenever Ketron drives to work and sees yet another new home under construction, he envisions “maybe another quarterback” moving in, or a top-flight linebacker.
As for Grandview, its only other semifinals appearance was a 38-12 loss to the Huskies in 2005, which coach John Schultz said he mostly remembers as being “38-0.”
However, this year’s Wolves, who began 1-2 and didn’t win a game in Colorado until Week 4, have won 10 games in succession, and their quick, athletic defense has been on a steady climb.
Early on, Schultz said, “We tried to tell the team that it will be the one who improves” over the course of the season that will play for a title.
Abilities to run the football and maintain strong defense remain the themes of all four teams, perhaps most relevantly in 4A.
And television had better be prepared to fill in time between games — the opener may not take that long.
“It should be a short game for the referees, too,” Bravo said.
Expectant fathers in hospital waiting rooms wish they could kill time like Monarch’s double-wing attack.
The biggest newbie is Pueblo West, in just its second season in 4A and its first finale, but it hopes to put up more stop signs than public works.
“It’s the way we make our living,” coach Monte Pinkerton said. “Defense, defense and a little more defense.”
Of the Coyotes, Pinkerton said, “I get tired of seeing the same thing over and over and over, but that’s their offense.”
Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, the Colorado High School Activities Association and the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame organized the two title games at Invesco and have lined up eight sponsors, including the Denver Newspaper Agency.
Hall of Fame CEO Tom Lawrence said 25 percent of the royalties will go to 10 youth groups, including Special Olympics.
Titles on tap
What: Class 5A-4A football championships
Where: Invesco Field at Mile High
When: Saturday
Who: 4A, Pueblo West (11-2) vs. Monarch (12-1), 11:30 a.m.; 5A, Grandview (11-2) vs. Douglas County (11-2), 2:30 p.m.
Tickets: Adults $12; students 18 and under $9
Parking: Free
3A championship
Saturday at District 20 Stadium, Colorado Springs
Berthoud vs. Falcon, 1 p.m.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
