Baseball used to be the sport for Parker Hammond. But he didn’t stop growing.
The senior at Pine Creek, a pillar at offensive tackle for the Class 4A defending state football champion, certainly loved baseball enough. But when he began filling out, he chose football.
Hammond is now 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds.
“He just kind of grew out of (baseball), with his body and demeanor,” Eagles football coach Todd Miller said. “It’s not so much that he chose it; his genetics made him choose it.”
Hammond said he simply got bigger over the past couple of years and decided he was better suited to play football.
Good decision.
The Eagles (11-0), who host Windsor in the state quarterfinals Friday night at District 20 Football Stadium in Colorado Springs, have rushed for 3,020 yards this season behind Hammond and his up-front mates. Plus, his 4.14 grade-point average is going to land him at the Air Force Academy. Becoming a doctor is a long-term goal.
“He’s one of those wait-and-see guys, to see if he can put on the weight,” Miller said.
Consider Hammond’s bloodlines. Scott Lockwood is his uncle. Lockwood was an all-state running back at Fairview in Boulder and played for USC before having brief NFL stops with Detroit and New England.
“He’s been down once this season with his kids to see me play and is planning to be at (the state title game) if we make it,” Hammond said. “For the semifinals too.”
Among 19 playoff games this weekend, Class 5A still has three undefeated teams in its final eight as well as Valor Christian, the owner of five consecutive state titles over three classes and 24 consecutive postseason victories.
And in 6-man football, Arickaree/Woodlin is 45 points from tying the 1930 Hugo team’s record for most points scored in a season (748).
Neil H. Devlin: ndevlin@denverpost.com or
