If there’s one thing Allan Dyer will remember from his Cherokee Trail Cougars’ Class 5A championship season, it’s how his team battled.
“Resilience,” said the 48-year-old coach.
They won only two of their first five games. They had their out-of-state trip canceled, so they had to play Mountain Vista three times in nonleague to complete their regular-season schedule. They weren’t playing well even when they finally got on a roll.
But they got it together in the Centennial League, tying Mullen for the title.
“It helped us,” Dyer said of the league schedule. “We beat up on one another, but in a good way. It helped prepare us for the grind. We had seen pretty much what we had to see.”
Cherokee Trail won 14 of its final 15 games, including seven of eight in the postseason.
Dyer is a sparkling 204-71 as the Cougars’ coach. The former Arapahoe player didn’t know he would end up opening the program in 2003, but he isn’t complaining.
“It was meant to be,” he said.
2016 All-Colorado Baseball Team
1B Ryan Sullivan Cherokee Trail Sr.
INF Matt Burkart Eaton Sr.
INF Tommy Gillman Columbine Sr.
INF John Sorensen Rocky Mountain Jr.
OF Quin Cotton Regis Jesuit Sr.
OF Tanner O’Tremba Cherry Creek So.
OF Jadon Uhrich Rocky Mountain Jr.
C Maverick Handley Mullen Sr.
U Jerome Bohannon Cherokee Trail Sr.
U Austin Wood Silver Creek Sr.
DH Austin Alarid Rocky Mountain Sr.
P Jake Greenwalt Windsor Sr.
P Conner Nantkes Cherokee Trail Jr.
P Paul Tillotson Lewis-Palmer Sr.
P Bo Weiss Regis Jesuit Sr.
Honorable mention
C Mike Berg Thompson Valley Jr.
1B-C Cuba Bess Fruita Monument Sr.
INF-P Peter Carlson Ralston Valley Sr.
OF-P Bailey Collins Dakota Ridge Sr.
OF Blake Donels Valor Christian Jr.
P Jake Eissler ThunderRidge Sr.
OF Wyatt Featherston Green Mountain Sr.
P-F Bailey Hansen Air Academy Sr.
C Tyson Hays Grandview Jr.
P-INF Travis Marr Regis Jesuit Sr.
INF Cole McKissock Air Academy Sr.
P-OF Jay Onken Pine Creek So.
P-INF Rocco Porreco Mullen Jr.
P Preston Snavely Fort Collins Sr.
INF-P Nate Sweeney Cherry Creek Sr.
