“How much does that thing weigh?” a reporter asked victorious Rams quarterback Hauss Hejny as he carried the Bronze Boot, the spoils of the 2026 Border War, beneath the bowels of Canvas Stadium.

“Kinda hefty,” Hejny replied with a smile, loving every step.

If Saturday was any harbinger of what’s to come, CSU might turn into one heck of a load in the new Pac-12.

The Rams have played 10 openers at Canvas Stadium. They’ve never kicked a party off quite the way CSU 35, Cowboys 13 did.

When Mora put down a marker, he aimed right for Pistol Pete’s thorax. The former UCLA and UConn coach introduced himself to FoCo by becoming the first CSU coach to open 1-0 since Mike Bobo in 2015.  His defense forced four turnovers, three on interceptions. His transfer quarterback, former Oklahoma State/TCU slinger Hejny, threw for five scores, each twist of the dagger saltier than the last.

“Hell of a job, Hauss,” Mora told him after the game.

Sure as heck was. While the Cowboys were getting the boot, Hauss ran around like the Bo Nix of the North, capping his line with 215 passing yards, 39 rush yards on seven attempts and a wacky tipped catch for another 28 yards receiving.

“Just a lucky catch,” the Aledo, Texas, native cracked.

Fortune favors the bold, baby. And speaking of bold, fans by the thousands ignored the public-address system’s warning not to storm the field, as players and patrons in green danced the night away.

Then, in another twist, that same P.A. system blasted ” over the stadium speakers. Another playful poke at the Pokes, who suffered their worst margin of defeat ever at Canvas, which opened in 2017, and their worst in the historic rivalry series since 2013, when the Rams raced to a 52-22 victory.

Of Hejny’s five scores, the third might’ve been his sweetest. After the Rams’ third pick of the evening set the offense up at midfield, the kid let ‘er rip.

On second-and-7 from the CSU 43 with 4:00 left in the quarter, No. 8 dropped back and found wideout RJ Vick racing all alone between the hash marks. Hejny waited and fired — the only question was whether the rainbow coming from the Rams’ QB had enough air under it for a sure six. There was. Canvas roared again as CSU went up 20-13 before the extra point.

No. 8 started in Oklahoma State’s opener a year ago, breaking a bone in his foot that ended his season after one game. Fast forward to September 2026, and the kid looked like a Power-4 quarterback dicing a Group of Five defense. Hejny had it all working in the second half. Arm. Legs. Eyes. And is there a more Texas moniker than Hauss? Hejny was a tough, ornery little sucker, a cowboy who’s listed at 6-foot but plays with a 6-foot-4 swagger.

The Rams outscored Wyoming 21-7 in the second half, including two touchdowns in the final 12 minutes, to blow open a contest that’d been nip-and-tuck at halftime. Wyoming was ripping off yardage in chunks, but CSU bowed up against the Pokes in the Rams’ red zone. Half of Wyoming’s first six first-half drives made it inside the Rams’ 30-yard-line. The visitors also came away with only two field goals to show for it.

Coordinator Tyson Summers’ D snuffed two of those drives with picks. The second came with 4:32 left in the half, on a third-and-4 throw as the Pokes’ Eric Richardson fell along the right boundary on a timing route. Wyoming QB Tyler Hughes let it go anyway, and cornerback CJ Blocker stepped in front of the ball for the hosts’ second pick of the tilt.

CSU took over at its own 49, and Mora went back to the ground. On second-and-1, Mel Brown bounced to his left and rambled 37 yards before being dragged down at the Wyoming 13. The hosts converted a third-and-1 on a toss to the right to bring up a fresh set of downs at the Pokes’ 3.

Old Hauss wasn’t waiting around. Hejny took the play fake, rolled right, and found Reginald Vick Jr. open in the end zone, extending the hosts’ lead to 13-3 before the extra point.

Rams QBs in the Canvas Stadium Era have tended to be either pure throwers or run-first types. Hauss seemed comfortable with both—and whenever he took off, CSU faithful held their collective breath.

Hejny scampered around in the first half like a mini-Nix, radar in the pocket always scanning for danger, elusive as quicksilver in the open field. The Texan completed 16 of his first 21 throws for 105 yards and two scores, getting it out quick and favoring the safe over the sorry.

Mora’s first two gambles, on the other hand, paid off handsomely. CSU’s opening drive stumbled at the Wyoming 42. On a fourth-and-2 with 12:27 left in the first quarter, the new coach and QB didn’t hesitate. Hejny hit another UConn import, wideout Jackson Harper, for a 7-yard gain, and a sleepy stadium began to stir in the summer heat.

Turns out Gamblin’ Jim was only just getting warmed up. On the first down that followed, another former UConn wideout, Terence Smith Jr., took a handoff from Hejny, effectively trading spots with his usual target. Smith then faded to his right, reared back and fired a wounded duck across the field, a jump ball up the left boundary. After dangling in the air for what felt like forever, just waiting to be picked off, the ball somehow bounced off two Cowboys defenders. Hejny, who didn’t give up on the play, reached over and snared it off the carom, the way a fan catches a home run blasted into an empty row of bleachers. The Texan turned a whole lot of nothing into a 28-yard gain at the Wyoming 8.

“I saw the ball in the air, and I saw two defenders on me, so I was like, ‘I’m going to try and draw a (pass interference call), if I can,'” the Rams QB recalled later. “Football gods are on our side right there.”

The throw, even for a guy wearing gloves, looked terrible. The roar that followed it was thunderous. The hosts scored two plays later when Hejny rolled right and flipped it in the flat to a wide-open Cedric Ross. The tailback outraced everybody to the pylon and put the hosts up 6-0.

It was the first time CSU scored a touchdown on its very first offensive drive of the season at Canvas Stadium. And the first time they scored on the first drive of a home opener since 2015 at old Hughes Stadium. Three coaches and one building ago.

Mora’s opener had some warts, to be sure, but the Cowboys’ concerns were louder. Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel hosts UNC next weekend. As we learned last year in Fort Collins, the Bears aren’t exactly the team a mid-major FBS coach wants coming into their house when they’re starting to feel some heat. Just ask Jay Norvell.

That was then.

This is wow.

“This is a message for the rest of the Pac-12,” linebacker Oumar Diamonde said. “We’re coming.”

Coming? They’re here. For one September night, at least, the Rams, to a man, have their Hauss in order.

When/where: 4 p.m. Saturday/Canvas Stadium

TV/Radio: USA Network/Rams Radio Network

CSU -3, 46.5 over/under

71 degrees, partly cloudy and possible thunderstorm

Series history: CSU leads series 59-52-5; Wyoming won last year in Laramie, 28-0

Three storylines

New Era in FoCo: Jim Mora makes his CSU debut as the 25th head coach in program history, and with his arrival, the Rams turned over two-thirds of their roster. There are with 41 being transfers. This is also the first year of the Rams being in the revamped Pac-12 after CSU left the Mountain West. Thus, CSU’s stakes are high for the 118th edition of the Border War and the 59th time the programs have played for the storied Bronze Boot. A Wyoming upset would be a rough harbinger for the Rams.

Mystery at QB. Mora on Saturday. The decision is between Hauss Hejny and K’Saan Farrar. Hejny is a transfer from Oklahoma State, where he started the 2025 opener but broke his foot and didn’t play the rest of the season. Farrar is coming off a redshirt season at UConn, where Mora was. Those two are the headliners of the only QB room in the country without a fourth-year or older player on scholarship. Meanwhile, Wyoming will start William and Mary dual-threat transfer

Influence from UConn, Colorado preps. Will Mora’s success in Storrs translate to wins in Fort Collins? We’re about to start finding out. Mora was 27-23 over four seasons with the Huskies, including consecutive nine-win campaigns and bowl appearances in 2024 and ’25. This year’s CSU team features 18 transfers from UConn who followed Mora here. Additionally, CSU’s roster features 16 players from Colorado, seven more than both Air Force and CU. Freshman tailback Jayden Fox, a Cherry Creek alum who was the state Gatorade Player of the Year last year and was previously committed to UConn and then UCLA, is the most intriguing local name.

Predictions

Kyle Newman, sportswriter: Wyoming 21, CSU 17

With so many new players and an inexperienced QB, no matter who’s under center, it’s hard to know what to make of the Rams. But as we’ve seen in Boulder, it’s difficult to piece together winning football teams composed of mostly new faces, as CSU has this year. This will be a tight one, but the brown and gold prevail behind a big performance on the ground by tailback Samuel “Tote” Harris that is complemented by some crafty play-calling by who out-schemes Rams DC Tyson Summers.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist: CSU 23, Wyoming 21

The little voices in my head worry about Hauss Hejny’s size and Tyson Summer’s defense. But then a louder voice remembers who the head coach is. You know how many home debuts Jim Mora’s lost as a head man since 2004? That would be none, my friends. Perfect in college (UCLA, UConn). Perfect in the NFL (Atlanta, Seattle). You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Or to make a mark in your only true rivalry game of the season. Whatever you think of Mora — pro, con or otherwise — the man gets it. He’ll get the Boot, too.

Troy Renck, sports columnist: CSU 23, Wyoming 17

Win at UCONN and UCANN win at CSU. Jim Mora is a strong hire for the Rams, especially as they move into the Pac-12. After an embarrassing showing in The Border War last season, the Rams will exact revenge. Who will be the difference? Hard to predict given the roster overhaul, but the safe bet is a running back. Why will the Rams win? Mora is known for playing a physical brand of football, winning in the trenches. Conservative, mistake-free football will provide Mora a successful debut against a scoring-challenged Cowboys offense.

Nate Peterson, sports editor: CSU 21, Wyoming 14

Everything is new at CSU: New conference, new coach, new quarterback and, count ’em, 76 new players, including 41 transfers. Those 76 new Rams weren’t in Laramie last year and couldn’t care less about the butt-kicking the Pokes put on CSU. Neither does Mora, who hasn’t named his starting QB and has the element of surprise entering Week 1, when it’s hard to make heads or tails of how a team will do the rest of the way. Mora’s teams have played disciplined, hard-nosed football. That’ll be their calling card in this one to get a new era off to a strong start in Fort Collins.

Joshua Robert Douglass, 33, died of blunt force injuries, the coroner’s office announced Tuesday.

Douglass and at least four other pedestrians were struck Saturday when the pickup reversed out of a parking spot, hit another vehicle and drove onto a sidewalk. Douglass, the driver of the pickup and the four other pedestrians were taken to a hospital.

Detectives are investigating the crash, including whether impairment was a factor, police said. It does not appear any of the pedestrians was targeted, they said Saturday.

Then their second child was born, and things got a lot harder.

“He had some medical things, and the job I was at before having him couldn’t hold my place while I was trying to take care of him,” Kildahl-Brooks said. “That put me out of a job.”

Without work, she couldn’t afford childcare. Without childcare, she couldn’t take a new job.

“It all boiled down to: I couldn’t find a job because I couldn’t get childcare,” she said. “And that was one of the biggest reasons why we couldn’t afford rent.”

The family was evicted from their home in Fort Collins in the fall of 2025.

Kildahl-Brooks’ story is not unusual in Colorado, where childcare costs, housing prices and stagnant wages have collided into a crisis that’s pushing families out of the state or out of the decision to have children at all.

Affordability challenges are compounded by a freeze on the state’s main childcare subsidy program, making things far worse for families and providers.

It costs $28,922 a year to raise a child in Colorado, the 10th-highest price tag in the country, according to an annual LendingTree study. For many families, that cost alone is enough to push them into poverty. Unaffordable housing, food and childcare compound, trapping families in cycles like the one that cost Kildahl-Brooks her home.

Nowhere is that bind more visible than in childcare. Families across the state are caught in an impossible situation, unable to work without care, and unable to afford care without work, while a patchwork of state and local funding programs attempt to provide support.

The childcare-employment dependency

Kildahl-Brooks, her husband and their two children, ages 2 and 5, eventually pieced things together to find a new place to live in Fort Collins.

After months of searching, Kildahl-Brooks found a job, and they secured childcare with help from , a nonprofit in northern Colorado that supports families facing homelessness, poverty and housing instability.

But affording that care remains a month-to-month struggle. The family qualifies for the , the state’s primary subsidy for low-income families, but can’t access it. Larimer County froze new enrollments in February 2024, when pandemic-era federal funding ran out.

Instead, the childcare center offered them a discounted rate of $200 a week, nearly a third of their household income. They’re covering the cost with temporary support from a program that helps military veterans and their families with rent and daycare costs. That support runs out next month, leaving them to find another solution to pay for the care that lets them keep working.

Kildahl-Brooks worries about what that instability means for her kids.

“As much as my husband and I try to shield our kids from it, it’s going to affect them,” she said. “Poverty is horrible on kids. It robs them of a wonderful childhood.”

Interconnected crises create instability

Affordability pressures are interconnected. Addressing one crisis, like housing, without considering its ripple effects on childcare, which influences workforce participation, misses the full picture of the economic vulnerability that people face. Traditional measures of poverty also miss the full scope of who is impacted.

When policymakers consider how many people need support, they rely on the . According to this measure, Colorado’s official poverty rate is 9.6%. That rate is slightly higher in Larimer County, where 10.5% of residents are experiencing poverty, while Weld County matches the state average.

Yet according to alternative measures of poverty like the , the statewide share of households whose income is insufficient to meet basic needs rose from 24.9% in 2022 to 26.8% in 2024.

The Self Sufficiency Standard calculates the income a working family needs to cover the basics such as housing, childcare, food, healthcare, transportation and taxes, without public or private assistance. It����ap maintained by the and distributed by the . The measure offers an alternative to the federal poverty measure, which many criticize for being outdated.

The 2024 Self Sufficiency Standard report will be released this fall. Charles Brennan, the director of income and housing policy at the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, noted a particular concern around childcare.

“Comparing 2022 to 2001,” he said, “childcare costs were among the fastest-growing expenses over the period and likely continues to be a major driver of cost increases.”

While there has been a focus on the increased cost of living and inflation occurring post-pandemic, Brennan said Colorado had affordability issues long before COVID-19. “Really, we were seeing the cost of living increase faster than wages throughout the 2000s and 2010s.”

Cost pressures extend to providers

As the state’s budget tightens and public funds for childcare support are frozen, 14,000 children who qualify for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program and are eligible to receive childcare subsidies can’t get them.

New enrollments are frozen across 25 counties in Colorado, including Larimer and Weld, due to funding issues. This doesn’t just impact families, but also the providers who rely on the funding to offer care for children whose families can’t afford the true cost.

State Sen. Scott Bright, a Platteville Republican, runs , a multi-site childcare center in Greeley and surrounding areas. The business was started by his grandmother in the 1960s; he bought the company from his mom about 10 years ago.

Since the Child Care Assistance Program freeze, Bright has become increasingly worried about his business and ability to keep the doors open.

“Our challenge is we don’t have new families stepping in our front door unless they’re transferring from another center,” he said. “So that’s what’s causing us to go from 90% (occupied) down to 50%.”

In addition to strain caused by fewer families with Child Care Assistance Program funding, providers also experience the pressure of operating cost increases, which Bright said is mostly labor, “as the total cost pushes the cost of childcare to families, it just has become increasingly unaffordable.”

Solutions are being proposed across the state and in northern Colorado, but Bright said they fall short.

“The state doesn’t have the budget to prop (the industry) up, and it’s way too big of an issue for the counties to carry on their own,” he said. “We’re in a situation right now where there aren’t solutions unless they come from some new idea, new source.”

Bright proposed one of these new ideas in the 2026 legislative session. was inspired by the universal childcare program in New Mexico that uses surplus oil and natural gas severance taxes to fund childcare.

“If the government has funds in the treasury that are not immediately needed within the next six to 12 months, can we reinvest those funds, get a little bit higher rate of return and use that to help fund low-income childcare?” he said.

The bill didn’t pass, but Bright intends to introduce a similar bill in the 2027 session.

Regional funding fills some gaps

Regional funding in areas of Larimer County provides some support for local families.

Estes Park is one of the first cities in the state to use lodging taxes to address affordability issues in their community. After residents voted yes on the 6E ballot initiative in 2022, the was established to provide tuition assistance to families. The city raised the lodging tax from 2% to 5.5%, and the extra 3.5% is dedicated to subsidies for both housing and childcare.

The program launched in 2023. Carlie Speedlin, the housing and childcare manager for the town of Estes Park, said that much of the childcare funding has gone to tuition assistance to fill the gap created by the freeze of the state’s assistance program. The funding also provides middle-income tuition so households aren’t paying more than 10% of their income on childcare and supports licensed childcare providers with annual grants that cover operating costs.

Even with a holistic program like the one in Estes, Speedlin said affordability challenges still plague the industry in the area.

“We lost a lot of families during COVID … and then real estate exponentially increased,” she said.  As a result, the community is seeing lower enrollment at schools, including childcare centers.

Speedlin is taking the current challenges of enrollment and population seriously, but she’s taking a long view. The 6E funds have contributed to the development of 109 workforce housing units. Speedlin hopes this will put the town in a proactive position to help future families.

“We don’t have a 300-kid waitlist right now, but we still need to be investing in things,” Speedlin said.

In broader Larimer County, a 2025 ballot initiative established a new 0.25% sales and use tax increase that will go into the Kids Thrive Fund, administered by , a nonprofit organization that provides support and resources to childcare providers and families.

The Kids Thrive Fund will give financial support to families to cover care, increase workforce compensation and improve childcare facilities. Families will be able to apply for support in early 2027, but the money will only go so far.

The initiative was expected to create $28 million in annual funding for Larimer County families — below the estimated $40 million to $60 million required to make childcare free for the county’s 18,000 children aged 5 and under.

Julie Malmberg Grawe, the chief impact officer at Northern Colorado Kids Thrive, said the tax will bring in just close to $20 million in its first year because spending has come in below projections.

With the funding they have, Malmberg Grawe estimates about 1,000 families will be supported. The financial assistance will be distributed so the families with the most need will receive the most support and applications will be processed in the order they are received.

“Long story short, that money, it’s going to run out,” Malmberg Grawe said. “There’s an incentive to get your application in sooner because it is first-come, first-served.”

Univesral preschool only covers a small portion

The program provides 4-year-olds with up to 15 hours per week of tuition-free preschool. The state spends roughly $349 million annually to fund universal preschool, which only covers about a third of a standard work week, and only for the single year before kindergarten.

Colorado had 380,794 children aged 5 and under in 2024, according to , a census by the , a nonprofit advocacy and research organization. Center-based childcare in the state costs an average of $20,978 a year, according to data from the — meaning universal care for all children 5 and under would cost the state nearly $8 billion, far more than current funding sources provide.

While there are initiatives on the 2026 ballot that could provide more funding in some communities, the costs will still exceed what any of the current or proposed future programs could cover altogether.

These include the , a proposed 2.579-mill property tax increase to support childcare costs in the area, and a statewide , which would raise Colorado’s flat 4.4% income tax rate for individuals and businesses earning more than $500,000 annually. If passed, that measure would raise $2 billion a year for child care, healthcare, and K-12 education.

Additionally, will be on the ballot, which asks voters whether to raise the cap, letting Colorado keep an extra $4.6 billion for K-12 education, childcare and school readiness across the state.

Current programs might stop the bleeding caused by the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program freeze, but they cannot fix the issue of how expensive it is to have a family in Colorado.

For now, families like the Kildahl-Brookss are left navigating a system of expiring grants, frozen subsidies and first-come, first-served funds, a patchwork built to manage a crisis, not solve it.

What that patchwork looks like in practice, for the families living inside it, is a narrowing set of options. Bright, the state senator and owner of a childcare facility, has watched that narrowing happen firsthand as enrollment freezes push families out of programs and centers out of business.

“Zero choices is not a choice. One choice is not really a choice,” Bright said. “They have to take whatever is there and that’s not a fun thing for a parent.”

The Front Range Passenger Rail District’s Board of Directors voted 14-1 to refer the during a board meeting Friday morning at the Transportation Technology Center, a federal rail testing facility near Pueblo, after hearing mostly supportive public comments from community members.

If voters approve the tax, the measure will expand service for the Colorado Connector, or CoCo, a rail line funded in part by the Regional Transportation District and Colorado Department of Transportation that is set to link Denver’s Union Station to Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins through three daily trips starting in 2029.

The 0.333% sales tax – equivalent to 33 cents on every $100 spent – would extend the Colorado Connector south, adding two daily trips between Union Station and Sterling Ranch, Littleton, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. It would also add a fourth daily trip to the northern section of the line.

The tax won’t apply to items exempt under state law, including food, gasoline, residential electricity and gas, prescription drugs and medical supplies.

Community leaders and residents from across the region spoke in favor of the measure before the board vote Friday morning.

Larimer County Commissioner Kristin Stephens told the board that Fort Collins has been waiting for the train to become a reality for decades.

“I’ve heard some comments that this is not a good economic driver for Colorado and I think that is absolutely wrong,” she said. “States that have done this have thrived, and we need to do this for our state.”

Denver resident Gable Patterson also spoke in support of the measure and said he hopes people can see across party lines to see the benefit of the measure.

“We have already seen what happens when we just endlessly expand highways, and it is time to do something different,” he said.

Natalie Menten, a former RTD director from Jefferson County, spoke in opposition to the measure and said she could not see herself using the train. She also rarely uses RTD, she added.

Before the vote, Director Claire Levy — a Boulder County commissioner who represents a FasTracks community on the board — said the rail expansion should be looked at in the context of all of the transit expansion across Colorado, including more Bustang service and efforts to revive the Mountain Rail between Denver and Grand County, and eventually to the Western Slope.

“We shouldn’t overlook the transformative potential of this project to change how people get around Colorado for the better,” Levy said. “This couldn’t come at a better time with climate change and the impacts that’s having on everyday life.”

Rail district officials estimate the train will have the same environmental effect as permanently taking 29,000 cars off the road by saving an estimated 233 million vehicle miles a year.

El Paso County Commissioner Cory Applegate, who represents the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments on the board, was the sole no vote.

In a statement to The Denver Post, Applegate said while he supports investing in transportation, there are still “significant questions” about project costs, how many people will likely ride the train and how it will benefit El Paso County and the Pikes Peak region.

“At a time when families and businesses are already dealing with higher costs, I did not believe this proposal provided the financial certainty or accountability necessary to justify such a substantial new tax burden,” he said.

No. 2 Valor Christian (1-0) vs. Faith Lutheran, Las Vegas (1-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Valor Stadium

Last meeting: Valor Christian 49, Faith Lutheran 21, Sept. 6, 2025

The Eagles, led by junior QB Titus Huard, handled business in Week 0 against The Kincaid School from Houston. Huard threw for 286 yards and a touchdown while Jackson Coleman, a Notre Dame commit, caught seven passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Roger Garey scored three touchdowns and ground out 104 rushing yards. Next up on the early-season slate of out-of-state powers: a showdown with Faith Lutheran (Las Vegas), the No. 8 team in Nevada, which stuffed a late 2-point conversion to survive Bakersfield Christian 28-27 last week.

No. 3 Legend (0-0) vs. No. 6 Grandview (1-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at EchoPark Stadium

Last meeting: Legend 28, Grandview 16, Aug. 28, 2025

The third-ranked Titans kick off their season on Friday against the No. 6 Wolves, who held Riverdale Ridge to zero points in Week 0 while scoring 36. Wolves’ quarterback Landon Wise threw for a TD and also ran for one, while highly recruited tight end Matthew Schimberg added a TD.

No. 9 Regis Jesuit (0-0) vs. Eaglecrest (1-0)

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Kellogg Stadium

QB Luke Rubley and the Raiders kick off their season at home against the Raptors, who devoured Rocky Mountain in their Week 0 opener, 36-0. Rubley is the state’s third-ranked recruiting prospect in the Class of 2028, behind Valor’s Huard and Cherry Creek’s Elijah Cromwell.

Mullen (0-0) at 4A No. 3 Columbine (0-1)

When/where: 7 p.m., Jeffco Stadium

Last meeting: Columbine 56, Mullen 6, Aug. 25, 2023

Two storied Colorado programs, now in different classifications, square off in an intriguing early-season showdown. The Rebels, after years of punching up in 5A while facing declining enrollment, are primed to make noise in 4A. But not before playing some bigger schools in non-league slates. The Rebels lost by a point at Fort Collins in Week 0. Now they’ll play host to the Mustangs, who boast edge Troy Mailo, a Stanford commit who is the third-ranked senior recruit in Colorado.

Arvada West (0-0) vs. Cherokee Trail (0-0)

When/where: North Area Athletic Complex, 4 p.m.

Both teams are looking to break into the top 10 in 5A. A-West is coming off a 10-2 season where it lost to Mountain Vista in the playoffs, while Cherokee Trail is looking to rebound after going 4-7 last season.

Class 4A

No. 9 Broomfield (0-0) at 3A No. 3 Holy Family (0-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. at Mike G. Gabriel Athletic Stadium

Last meeting: Holy Family 30, Broomfield 29, Sept. 1, 2023

Throw out the classifications in this battle for Broomfield bragging rights that pits the 4A public high school against the 3A private school. The last time these two met, in 2023, Holy Family pulled out a 1-point squeaker.

No. 5 Mead (0-0) vs. Roosevelt (0-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. at Mead Maverick Field

Last meeting: Roosevelt 37, Mead 7, Oct. 8, 2021

Another rivalry for area bragging rights. Mead is coming off a 9-3 season when it lost in the playoffs to Holy Family, while Roosevelt was 8-4 in 2025 before bowing out against Palisade.

Then he looked at his family. At his dad. At Todd Helton. At Fergie Jenkins. At Bob Gebhard. At hundreds of strangers surrounding his black lectern, packed into a tiny purple street corner on a blessed Sunday summer morning, smiling back like old friends. And he lost it.

“I’m way too humble of a person to really just think, ‘Yeah, I deserve that (honor),’ ” Walker, the Rockies icon and National Baseball Hall-of-Famer, said of his statue unveiling at Coors Field Sunday, the preamble to a 7-2 Colorado defeat at the hands of Cleveland.

“I’m more comfortable saying, ‘I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.’ It’s just easier for me to do all that stuff. But I’m fortunate and grateful that people think that I deserve it, and they put (that statue) up there for me.”

So he wept. A hockey goalie, the toughest son of a gun to ever patrol right field at 20th & Blake, was both a 15-foot bronze statue with a bat pointed at the heavens, and a blubbering mess.

You won’t remember any of this, Griffin. But you were there, kid. Your father drove you down from Fort Collins to make darn sure of it.

“Our plan on being here was so that we could tell him he was here when he’s an adult,” Garrett Reese, your dad, told me as cannons shot purple and white confetti into an azure sky. “(So) he could see the statue, and could tell him that he was here that day.”

Sure was. Sixty yards or so from legend, resting on your mom Lauren’s “33” Walker home replica jersey.

Sometimes, history rhymes. Your grandma took your dad to the first Rockies Opening Day when he was a baby. He doesn’t really remember it, either, yet they’ve got the goods.

“It’s one of those situations,” Garrett explained, “where we just want to continue that in the family.”

Your family’s had season tickets since Coors opened in 1995. Your first game was spring training a few months ago.

“This place is my favorite place on the planet,” Garrett said.

You’ll get that a lot, Griffin. Even though the Rox celebrated Larry Walker Day by getting swept for the third straight series at home, even though they fell to 30 games under .500 (50-80). Even though this is one of those lost seasons where every homestand for owner Dick Monfort has to feel like calling people to help him move into a new apartment. The Rockies are finding out who their real friends are.

“There was always a spot in right field where the grass wasn’t growing quite as much (at Coors) because of where Larry always stood,” Garrett Reese recalled of happier days. “I don’t know why that wouldn’t be the case with other right fielders. But I remember that with Larry specifically.”

It’s weird what sticks with you, Griffin. Dad harkened back to the ovation Walker got in June 2005, less than a year after No. 33 was traded to St. Louis.

And that arm, kid. That. Arm. As the Rockies would remind us again Sunday, if you take a lousy angle chasing a ball in the Coors outfield, it can roll for what feels like forever and stick to the warning track the way gum sticks to the bottom of your shoe.

For nearly a decade, from 1995-2004, Walker’s legs shortened Major League Baseball’s most charitable gaps. Larry’s right shoulder was a cannon that shrunk the distance from the lush green to the infield dirt.

“I remember just epic defense in right field,” Garrett gushed.

“And his song,” Lauren said.

“Yeah, his song.” Dad added. “Every time that song plays, I think of Larry Walker.”

Look that one up when you get older. It’s a banger.

“I got a little teary listening to his speech when he did, too,” Lauren noted. “It’s just a really special thing. And we love him here in Colorado.”

No kidding. They came in waves to Gate D Sunday, where the joys of the past have become gilded by the pain of the present. The purple tarp fought hard before finally giving way to the giant bronze man with the bat, a walk-off Walker home run that now stands for eternity through wind, rain, sleet and snow. And in May, Coors will see all four over a given hour.

“I typically never showed up a pitcher,” Walker reflected later. “I wouldn’t pimp any of my home runs — today, it’s a little different. They do the ‘Macarena’ going around (the bases). So things have changed a little bit so …

“But John Rocker, he can get under your skin. And he’s nasty, too. Just to get a hit off him, you’re happy from the left side. So to hit one out, to win the game, I guess I felt that a little bit. So it caused a little pose for a second.”

See that swing, Griffin? The statue’s follow-through? Aug. 18, 1999. Uncle Larry blasted one off Rocker, a nasty lefty on several fronts. Look him up, dude.

Actually, don’t. Never mind.

“I feel like (Walker) was probably one of the best 5-tool players around that time when he played,” a graying Denny Neagle, one of several former and current Rockies on hand to celebrate the statue, told me. “Because he ran like a gazelle.

“The way he ran, it just didn’t look like he was moving — I mean, he would hit triples like they were nothing in this park. So it was just so fun to watch him, to be a teammate with him.”

The statue came south from Loveland, where it was lovingly crafted . It made its final journey down I-25 while laid on its side and strapped to a trailer, as unassuming as the man it celebrates.

Now it’s a landmark. A history lesson. A talking point. I asked Walker what he’d like fathers to tell their sons about him, long after all of us have gone.

“I must have done something right,” Walker said, “for a father to bring his children and have my jersey on and everything.”

You won’t remember Sunday’s score, Griffin. Just as well. But like bronze, fathers and sons at Coors are forever.

“You brought a tear to my eye, brother,” Neagle told Walker later.

But that’s how it goes.

The include more than a foot of water on roads near Cherry Creek Reservoir, golf ball-sized hail in Centennial and water up to the street curb in Brighton. Another spotter reported a vehicle stranded in 5 feet of water near U.S. 36 and Bradbury Road in Byers.

Flooding also washed out Arapahoe County Road 2 between Byers and Strasburg, according to a post from the

Update 3:40 p.m.:  is ongoing in metro Denver, including near the intersections of Chambers Road and Iliff Avenue in Aurora and East Mississippi Avenue and Havana Street, according to NWS.

Between 1.5 and 3 inches of rain have fallen and an additional quarter-inch is possible, forecasters said.

Update 3:25 p.m.: Flooding in south metro Denver stranded drivers on Saturday afternoon as ongoing rain caused “dangerous and life-threatening” conditions, law enforcement officials said.

South Metro Fire Rescue and Douglas County Sheriff’s Office crews are responding to stranded drivers at multiple flooded intersection in Meridian Village, agency officials said just after 3 p.m.

“Avoid all areas with standing water immediately,” South Metro officials said on social media. “Never attempt to drive through flooded roadways under any circumstance.”

SMFR and are actively responding to stranded motorists in Meridian Village at multiple flooded intersections. These conditions are dangerous and life-threatening.

Avoid all areas with standing water immediately. Never attempt to drive through flooded roadways under…

— South Metro Fire Rescue (@SouthMetroPIO)

Update 2:45 p.m.: Colorado forecasters issued a flurry of as storms moved across metro Denver on Saturday afternoon.

A is active for Adams, western Arapahoe and Denver counties, with 60 mph wind gusts and small hail expected to damage roofs, siding and trees, officials with the National Weather Service’s Boulder office said.

There is a in effect for east Denver, southwest Adams and west Arapahoe counties until 5:45 p.m. because of heavy rain moving through the area, with another .5 to 1.5 inches expected to fall.

Drivers should not try to pass through , which is a leading cause of deaths from thunderstorms, according to federal officials.

Original story: Colorado’s Front Range and can expect to see another round of heavy rain, hail and thunderstorms starting Saturday afternoon, along with the potential for more flash flooding, National Weather Service forecasters said.

A is in effect for most of the region starting at 2 p.m., including Arvada, Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Broomfield, Castle Rock, Centennial, Colorado Springs, Commerce City, Denver, Englewood, Evergreen, Federal Heights, Fort Collins, Georgetown, Golden, Greeley, Highlands Ranch, Idaho Springs, Lakewood, Larkspur, Littleton, Longmont, Loveland, Northglenn, Parker, Pueblo, Thornton, Westminster and Wheat Ridge.

More storms are on the way this afternoon & evening. A few storms today could become strong to severe, w/ heavy rain, hail, & strong winds possible. Areas that have seen heavy rain over the past few days will be more prone to flash flooding today. Turn around, don't drown!

— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder)

It’s unlikely everywhere in the advisory area will see heavy rain, but it’s “extremely difficult” to say exactly where the heaviest rain will fall, agency officials said Saturday morning.

“With the rain the past three days and the moisture we still have available, anywhere in the watch (area) if one of the stronger storms moves over that area,” forecasters said.

That could look like flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and low-lying areas or areas with poor drainage. NWS officials also issued a flash flood watch over the

Scattered to numerous afternoon & evening showers/t-storms will continue tdy across srn CO, with storms likely again on Sun/Mon. Storms may produce heavy rain/flash flooding in a short period of time, along with frequent lightning, quarter size hail & wind gusts to 60 mph.

— NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo)

The flood watch is active until 10 p.m., when the storms are expected to move away from the Eastern Plains.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Nearly the entire state is in some level of drought, according to , but the aridity is especially intense over the highly populated urban corridor and the mountains that are the source of much of Colorado’s water. The winter’s record-low snowpack translated into this summer’s anemic streamflows, moisture-sucking soil and drained reservoirs. Federal authorities describe the drought frying the Front Range with sobering words: severe, extreme, exceptional.

Despite widespread severe drought, 13 of the 25 largest cities and towns in Colorado have not implemented additional mandatory water use restrictions. The 13 communities — including the cities of Fort Collins, Pueblo and Boulder — are home to more than 1.5 million people, which is about a quarter of the state’s population. Water managers in many of the communities without additional drought restrictions have asked customers to voluntarily cut back water use, to varying degrees of success.

Individual water providers set drought restrictions depending on their own portfolio of water sources and reservoirs. Communities that draw from multiple water sources, own powerful water rights and maintain large reservoir systems are best poised to ride out drought.

“Every district and provider is different; they have different water rights and storage rights, so you’re going to see vast differences from community to community,” said John Thornhill, Windsor’s director of community development.

Those differences can be confusing to customers who see headlines about extreme drought, shrinking reservoirs, other cities’ mandatory restrictions and the imperiled Colorado River system, said Kim Hutton, Boulder’s water resources manager. Denver Water and Aurora Water — along with many towns across the Western Slope — have implemented mandatory drought rules to curb water use. Pueblo, meanwhile, has in place.

Boulder is and city leaders have asked customers to voluntarily conserve water and irrigate outdoors only twice a week. Hutton doesn’t expect to implement mandatory restrictions this year based on the amount of water they have stored.

“We’ve gotten questions from community members asking, ‘Why aren’t you doing more?’” Hutton said. “It����ap a hard message to say, ‘Well, we planned for this and we don’t need to do more.’”

Despite the planning, water managers are keeping a close eye on reservoir storage levels, water use and streamflows. One year of extreme drought can be withstood, managers said, but multiple years will test water supply systems.

“I do think it����ap important for all of us to recognize that this drought is not a normal drought year,” said Pieter Van Ry, Englewood’s director of utilities. “This is unique and something that hasn’t been seen in decades, if ever, in the modern era of water supply.”

Different portfolios, different stances

Several Front Range water managers who have not imposed mandatory drought restrictions thanked previous community leaders for planning for drought and growth.

Fort Collins from the Colorado River via the Colorado Big Thompson Project, the Cache la Poudre River and the Michigan River, which is part of the North Platte River basin.

“Our predecessors planned well,” said Katie Collins, water conservation specialist with Fort Collins Utilities. “Even in this hot and dry year, our supply is enough to meet demand.”

Colorado Springs Utilities leaders have not implemented additional drought restrictions this year, though their customers are , regardless of drought status. The state’s second-largest city draws 70% of its water from the Colorado River, 25% from the Arkansas River and 5% from the South Platte River.

The utility issued a water supply watch warning customers about drought impacts, but will not implement further restrictions until it has less than 1.5 years’ worth of water in its reservoirs, water conservation supervisor Julia Gallucci said. The city currently has 2.7 years’ worth of water in storage.

“Plan for the worst, hope for best,” Gallucci said. “We’re already planning that we might have to do something far more restrictive next year.”

Many Front Range communities draw large portions of their water from across the Continental Divide. Major cities like Denver, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins draw significant portions of their supply from the Colorado River, which winds from the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park to the Utah border near Grand Junction.

The lack of watering restrictions in some Front Range communities irked Andy Mueller, general manager of the , a taxpayer-funded agency that works to protect Western Slope water. Western Slope water users are working hard to conserve, he said, and farmers are fallowing fields because there is not enough to meet all the needs.

It’s difficult to know that some of that conserved water ends up on the other side of the Continental Divide watering lawns in towns without any mandatory restrictions, he said.

“Folks on the west side of the divide know we’re in a drought, they know we have conservation efforts in place and most people are doing their best to comply with that,” Mueller said. “Frankly, we’re not seeing that in the majority of the smaller cities on the Front Range.”

Even some Front Range water providers with powerful water rights are starting to feel the strain.

For months, Englewood was the only community in the southern Denver metro without mandatory water restrictions. Although the town of approximately 35,000 does not have much water stored in reservoirs, it owns some of the most senior water rights on the South Platte River, meaning they get first dibs, even when the flow is low.

“Typically our rights are so senior that even in dry years or a normal drought year they’re able to be fulfilled,” said utilities director Van Ry.

But this is not a normal drought year, he said, and even some of their most senior water rights are being curtailed for the first time in the town’s history.

Englewood’s city council on Monday will decide whether to impose mandatory watering restrictions, at . The restrictions will limit outdoor watering to two days a week.

There’s no record of the town ever imposing mandatory drought restrictions, Van Ry said.

“That����ap the piece we can control – the demand side. We can’t control whether it rains or whether it snows,” Van Ry said. “The more we can do, the better we’ll be if this persists.”

Variable conservation results

The voluntary conservation metrics implemented by many communities have seen varying levels of success.

Water use is 10% below the 5-year average in Erie, which .

“We trusted that our community would respond and they did,” said Todd Fessenden, the town’s utilities director.

In Fort Collins, water use is up slightly above average, Collins said. In Boulder, use is tracking just at or below the 5-year average, Hutton said. Colorado Springs’ water use is up about 7% over the five-year average, Gallucci said.

All three water managers said they would have expected use to be much higher than average during such a long, hot and dry summer.

Denver Water, the state’s largest water provider, said at the end of July that water use across its 1.5 million customers had dropped 5% below the five-year average under its mandatory twice-a-week watering restrictions. In Aurora, from last year under similar mandatory restrictions.

Water managers across the Front Range touted years of water conservation efforts aimed at reducing use across the board, regardless of drought status. Municipal water use across the entire state is dwarfed by agricultural use, which .

While water use is up in Windsor this year over last year, Thornhill said, per capita water use in the booming town of approximately 44,000 is down 20% since 2012. Much of that increased water use occurred during the unusually warm spring, when dry and hot weather made people begin watering weeks earlier than normal.

Water use in the town of approximately 40,000 has been higher this year than in 2025 and 2023 — relatively wet years that required less watering — but lower than the dry year of 2024.

While this year’s drought is manageable, water leaders said subsequent years of dryness will cause exponentially dire problems.

“You can usually ride out the first year pretty well; it����ap the second and third and fourth year that become a problem,” Thornhill said.