GREELEY — There was football, banging heads, lots of testosterone not usually seen in June and surprisingly sloppy, colder weather.
It was a perfect cap to a week of male bonding for seniors in the Colorado High School Coaches Association’s all-state football game.
At the University of Northern Colorado’s Nottingham Field on Saturday, the North held off the South 18-13, but there were few non-winners.
“We love each other,” said Golden quarterback Ryan Stokes, who threw two touchdown passes for the North. “It only took a week, but now it seems like we’ve known each other for years.”
Said Heritage’s Mitch Griebel, who lined up at multiple offensive positions for the North: “I liked it, had fun . . . had Stokes out there slinging it around. I got a ‘W’ for my last high school game. What’s not to like?”
Color the Class of 2010 officially done with high school sports. The 54th annual series of games, which continues to battle assorted apathy from parts of the state — notably within Denver and throughout the high end of Class 5A — loses conflicts with club and summer play, and frequently is termed a no-no by college officials for fear of injury to several top-flight competitors, nevertheless goes on.
The gatherings are mostly carried by schools on lower levels, although football arguably attracts the best group of talent as opposed to those in other all-state sports offered at the end of the school year — basketball, softball, volleyball and wrestling.
For instance, Griebel, headed to the Air Force Academy, also was the Class 4A player of the year in a championship run. The South’s Matt Brown, 2009 Gold Helmet winner by The Denver Post out of 1A Limon who will try two sports at Colorado School of Mines, led a late South comeback. And North two-way end Matt Oesterle of 5A Doherty has been invited to walk on at Colorado.
“It was fun and just the whole week . . . it’s like these guys are my family,” Oesterle said. “We walked into a room the first time, and we just clicked. Everybody knew everybody else.”
Stokes, bound for Occidental, was named offensive MVP; Oesterle earned top defensive honors. Berthoud’s Kent Flynn had three interceptions for the North and may have had a fourth in the end zone before it was ruled a dual possession and touchdown reception by the South’s Trent Thompson of Pueblo Central.
A wet, bundled-up crowd also was treated to an interception and a fumble recovery by the North’s Max Morgan, who will play at Colorado State.
Said Stokes, “It was a great one to end your career on.”
South 0 7 0 6 — 13
North 6 12 0 0 — 18
N — Shannon (Wheat Ridge) 2 pass from Stokes (Golden) (kick failed). N — Taylor (Northridge) 2 run (kick failed). N — Griebel (Heritage) 7 pass from Stokes (pass failed). S — Sandoval (Pueblo East) 23 pass from Gillis (Cherokee Trail) (M. Brown, Limon, kick). S — Thompson (Pueblo Central) 12 pass from M. Brown (pass failed).
