In one moment, Mike Schmitt was coaching for a Class 5A state championship at the Broncos’ stadium after building Eaglecrest from a middling program into a prep football force.
Then, in his next game as head coach, Schmitt found himself on the sidelines in rural Pennsylvania, coaching a tiny school that had lost 15 games in a row and played at a converted pastureland where cows would moo a fence away.
How Schmitt made his way from Colorado’s football primetime to small-town Cowanesque Valley High in Westfield, Penn., and how he found his way back to Eaglecrest this year, is a journey driven by family. And it was a humbling experience for Schmitt, who led Eaglecrest to five playoff appearances from 2010-17, culminating with the Raptors’ 56-49 loss to Pomona in the 2017 title game shootout.
“You think you’ve got all the answers, then you get in that (small-school) environment, and I coached every position and really had to re-learn who I was as a coach,” Schmitt said. “When we got there they hadn’t won in almost two years. We were able to win three games the first year, then we won six last year, which is the most they’ve won since 1975.
“It kind of reminded me of when I started at Eaglecrest — it wasn’t what it was when I left. It took a lot, then all of a sudden we had (football riches). We had D-I athletes everywhere. We had big, huge players. We were playing for a state championship. Going back and starting over again (at Cowanesque Valley), that’s how it humbles you, because it makes you remember all the work that you did to build a program. It also helped me remember why I’m a coach, and why I do this in the first place.”
Now, Schmitt has Eaglecrest (7-3) back in the Class 5A playoffs after the team went 1-9 last year, the nadir of the program’s decline since Schmitt left town. Eaglecrest went through three coaches in four seasons. Now, the Raptors are relevant again as they take on Fountain-Fort Carson at 7 p.m. Friday at Guy R. Barickman Stadium.
Schmitt and his family originally moved to Pennsylvania to be close to his wife’s family, and so the coach could spend more time with his wife, Lenore, and four kids. Out east, they had an 80-acre property with a lake and a boat that helped them get through the pandemic. Schmitt also spent time as a pheasant hunting guide on a nearby 1,000-acre preserve, where he helped harvest corn.
The reason Schmitt left Colorado is similar to the reason for his return — family. Only this time, it was his desire to get his kids back in the Cherry Creek School District, while also feeling the pull of the black-and-red-clad community in southeast Aurora.
“Seeing Eaglecrest drop, for a variety of reasons, and go 1-9, really hurt my heart because I love this place,” Schmitt said. “I fit Eaglecrest, and Eaglecrest fits me in how I do things and the type of kids and families that are here. When the (job) opening came up, I knew it was good timing for us.”
Schmitt, 48, is back at Eaglecrest as a math teacher, and Lenore, who also previously taught at the school, is a dean. Their oldest son, Jacob, is a senior quarterback for the Raptors, and the couple also has three younger kids, including a fifth-grade son whom Schmitt seems determined to coach one day on South Picadilly Street.
After being re-hired in December, Eaglecrest athletic director Vince Orlando said his old/new coach wasted no time building the program.
“Going back to the last couple years he was here, the bond between him and the Eaglecrest community really got elevated because the program was so much fun to be a part of,” Orlando said. “When he came back, he had that instant credibility because players and families knew what he did before. That was key to him establishing those relationships quickly with our current players, and that created an immediate buy-in from them.”
Still, Schmitt knows he’s got work to do to get the Raptors to where they were in 2017. Eaglecrest was 24-2 over the coach’s final two years before he moved as the Raptors recorded consecutive undefeated regular seasons.
Getting back to that level is going to take time, as evidenced by Eaglecrest’s three losses to top-eight teams this year. The Raptors fell 34-23 to rival Grandview on Oct. 1, then were blown out by three-time defending state champion Cherry Creek (42-7 on Oct. 14) and fellow league foe Arapahoe (38-0 on Oct. 28), all three of whom have first-round playoff byes.
Jacob Schmitt said the losses “helped us grow together.”
“The Grandview game, we didn’t do well the first quarter, but quarters two through three showed us that we can compete and we do belong here on the big stage against these top teams,” the quarterback said. “Then the next game, we went and won our first league game in two years.”
In addition to Jacob Schmitt, the Raptors feature senior tailback Diego Cearns, who ranks third in Class 5A with 1,315 rushing yards. Eaglecrest’s attack has been balanced, with seven different receivers having caught a touchdown and an offensive line that overcame early-season growing pains.
“Eaglecrest got a little bit spoiled with some singularly great athletes that came through here,” Schmitt said. “You get spoiled with that, because when the crap hits the fan, you know you can always throw the ball to an explosive playmaker, or run the ball (with the same guy). I wanted to get back to the everybody-gets-involved kind of offense and that’s what we’ve done.”
The defense is headlined by senior linebackers Brennen Stagner and Zach Mueller, plus junior safety Cam Chapa. As for the man leading the Raptors, Schmitt insisted his second chapter at Eaglecrest isn’t about making up for an opportunity lost in the woods of Pennsylvania or in the last playoff game he coached for the Raptors.
“Some people may think I’m full of it, but I’ve coached in two state championships and played in one in high school, and I’ve never won one, and I’m (at peace) with it,” Schmitt said. “I never second-guessed my decision to leave. And I didn’t come back because I had unfinished business.
“I really am just a high school football coach who enjoys building programs in a community.”
