Win or lose, Jordan Colson realizes he has only a limited number of games remaining with the powerhouse Faith Christian boys basketball team.
It has been a long road, and a remarkably successful one, for Colson and his fellow seniors. When that run concludes this week, starting with the Class 3A Great 8 at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colson and the rest of the Eagles’ seniors might be in the enviable position of being part of a program that won state championships in all four of their seasons at the school.
Not that any of the Eagles are looking that far ahead. Faith Christian, the top seed in the Class 3A tournament, is seeking its fourth consecutive state title. For the upperclassmen who have successfully navigated the postseason grind time and time again, the warning message is look ahead at your own risk.
“You definitely need to take it one step at a time,” Colson said. “Everyone is always reminding me how cool it is to be going for a four-peat.
“I’ve known Coach (Andrew) Hasz since I was in the fourth grade, and I have loved everything about coming through this program. We know we can’t win the whole thing on the first day.”
That combination of patience, shortsighted focus and perseverance has helped make the Eagles the dominant boys program in Class 3A, a run of success Faith Christian has sustained despite constant roster turnover that included a potentially debilitating transfer in the middle of the program’s remarkable title run.
Faith Christian enters today’s Great 8 opener against Metro League rival Kent Denver with a 23-1 record, winning 21 consecutive games after a loss to Class 5A power Fossil Ridge. The Eagles have not lost more than one game in each of the past five seasons, going 126-5 since the beginning of the 2006-07 season.
The Eagles’ streak has survived a couple of scares, including a victory in an overtime thriller against Kent Denver in the state semifinals last year and a buzzer-beating shot from then-freshman Nathan Rindels to defeat Peyton in the 2009 championship game.
The 2009 title team appeared set in the backcourt for years with Rindels and Riley Grabau, a first-team 3A all-state selection that year. Yet even though Grabau transferred to Boulder — Grabau, now a senior, will lead the Panthers in the 5A semifinals today — the Faith Christian juggernaut did not skip a beat. Weathering such a departure has been a testament to the feeder program and rugged defensive system developed by Hasz.
“The players all get a sense of what we want to do and what we expect from an early age,” Hasz said. “Obviously, it is great to have all these good kids who are very coachable. We graduated five starters from last year. So in many ways, this has been very satisfying. If you’d have said we’d be in this position with the wins and losses, I’d have called it optimistic.”
A remarkable run
The Faith Christian boys basketball team has compiled a 126-5 record over the past five seasons and is aiming for its fourth consecutive Class 3A state championship. A look at the Eagles’ dominance:
2006-07 season, 26-1 record: Undefeated season ruined in the semifinals. Defeated C.S. Christian in the third-place game.
2007-08, 25-1: Beat C.S. Christian 54-42 in the title game.
2008-09, 26-1: Defeated Peyton 64-62 in the title game.
2009-10, 26-1: Defeated Aspen 57-47 in the title game.
2010-11, 23-1: Plays in Great 8 today against Kent Denver.
