Sr. | G/F | 6-foot-3

Stats: 28.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 blocks, 3.2 steals, Class 6A Great Eight

The blue-chip Texas signee led the state in scoring in the final chapter of a historic career. She finished as with 3,073 points; the McDonald’s All-American could play any position and is a two-time Ms. Colorado Basketball.

Sr. | SG | 5-foot-11

Stats: 17.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 steals, Class 6A Final Four

The Wichita State commit has been the centerpiece of the Cougars’ rise to prominence over the past few seasons. A multiple-level scorer who could take over a game at a moment’s notice, Broadus’ leadership was also key for Cherokee Trail’s prominent freshmen.

Sr. | PG | 5-foot-11

Stats: 25.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 4.4 steals, Class 5A Great Eight

Asp could do it all for the Kadets, consistently stuffing the stat sheet as she did as an underclassman at Colorado Springs Christian. A shutdown defender, too. She was committed to Boston College, but reopened her recruitment earlier this week.

Sr. | G/F | 6-foot-2

Stats: 27.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 2.0 steals, Class 5A Sweet 16

The CSU signee was second in the state in scoring to Crittendon and has been a four-year force for the Roughriders, a run that included two state titles. Dominant in the paint while averaging a double-double, Hollier was also a threat from beyond the arc.

Soph. | F | 6-foot-4

Stats: 17.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 4.2 blocks, 3.0 steals, Class 6A Sweet 16

She’s uncommitted, but not for long. Colorado’s next phenom and the early frontrunner for 2027 Ms. Colorado Basketball, Gilpatrick already has a stack of offers from Division I powers. She won gold last summer with the USA Basketball U16 team.

Sr. | SG | 5-foot-11

Stats: 23.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.0 blocks, 3.5 steals, Class 6A Great Eight

The Utah commit has been unstoppable the last three seasons for the Eagles. Jones is an elite defender who can score through doubles and junk defenses, and is lethal from 3, shooting 41% from distance in her career. Lengthy, athletic, smart baller.

Soph. | PG/SG | 5-foot-8

Stats: 17.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.5 steals, Class 6A state champion

The centerpiece of a young Falcons squad that ran the table to the title in a classification defined by parity, Banks-Thomas was equal parts dynamic scorer and flashy facilitator. The upside of being a pillar in more titles as the Falcons move to 5A is high.

Sr. | F | 6-foot-3

Stats: 16.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 blocks, 1.8 steals, Class 6A Final 4

The San Diego State commit led the Angels to their first Final Four in 16 years, and her leadership and play also accelerated the progression of Serbian sophomore Mia Avramovic. She consistently dominated the paint and boards and shot 57% from 3-point range.

Coach Caryn Jarocki, Highlands Ranch

Record: 25-3, Continental League champion, Class 6A state champion

The 30th-year Falcons boss and Colorado’s all-time winningest girls coach won her eighth title, but first since 2011. This season was probably her best coaching job yet — the Falcons were young and inexperienced, but Jarocki got the most out of their talent.

Honorable Mention

Delaney Dennis, Jr. F, Northfield; London Taylor, Jr. G, Northfield; Jojo Martin, Fr. G, Standley Lake; Grace Worsley, Jr. F, Windsor; Jayda Rogers, Soph. G, Highlands Ranch; Courtlynn Yaussi, Jr. PG, Loveland; Lauren Thompson, Sr. G, Chaparral; Kennedy Spellman, Sr. G, Eaglecrest; Kiarra Spellman, Jr. G, Eaglecrest; Makenzie Jones, Jr. G, Mullen; Addie Evans, Jr. G, Green Mountain; Austin Duncan, Sr. F, Kent Denver; Berkeley Schenider, Sr. G, Lutheran; Jaya White, Jr. G, Arapahoe; Grace Hall, Jr. G, Denver East; Kantyn Pearson, Sr. G, Green Mountain; Mayce Oberg, Sr. F, Montrose; Izzy Johnston, Sr. G, Arapahoe; Chloe Parker, Sr. G, Riverdale Ridge.

Caryn Jarocki, the architect of the Falcons’ girls basketball dynasty that ripped off seven state titles in the first dozen seasons of this century, hadn’t been to the pinnacle

So in the fall, Jarocki assigned her team some reading: “What It Takes to Win Championships” by Jeff Janssen. Once a week at the start of the Falcons’ open gym, players would sit in a circle on the floor to discuss the book and its relevance to Highlands Ranch’s goals for this winter.

“The book talks about how unselfish you have to be to win a championship, and how you have to be a servant leader and look out for the people on the team, not just yourself,” Jarocki said.

“It’s really kind of an interactive book because there’s questions at the end of every chapter that make them reflect upon themselves and their teammates. The cool thing was that they were really honest with each other about themselves and about their teammates, and they were really good at discussing it.”

The book was a launchpad for the Falcons’ season, which culminated in a Class 6A championship victory over Northfield, earning Jarocki the title of All-Colorado girls’ hoops Coach of the Year.

It was Jarocki’s youngest title team, considering the Falcons had just one major senior contributor in Kniyah Dumas. Highlands Ranch saw four freshmen play significant minutes. Its leading scorer was All-Colorado sophomore guard Kimora Banks-Thomas, and its two main veterans, besides Dumas, were junior twin sisters Addie and Katie Moon.

Getting young Falcons to soar

Jarocki molded that talent and got it to gel at the perfect time with decisive wins over Arapahoe in the Great 8 and Denver East in the Final 4 before beating Northfield 54-51 in a back-and-forth championship. That victory left Highlands Ranch as the last team standing in a parity-laden 6A field with as many as 10 teams that could make a run at the title when the playoffs started. The Falcons ended up winning it as the No. 7 seed.

“At the end of the day, our freshmen didn’t see themselves as freshmen,” Banks-Thomas said. “They saw themselves as contenders, and that’s a credit to Coach J continuing to tell us, ‘Even though you’re young, you can do this. You can win the title.’

“She kept instilling that in us and didn’t stop until we were all dousing each other with water in the locker room (after the championship).”

Kniyah Dumas and freshman Na’Ziah Newbins split the point guard duties this season. Freshman guard Kaze Dumas, as well as freshman forwards Kennedi Toliver and Kylah Murdock, also played important roles. Fittingly, for a team that had to grow up as  it went, it was Newbins who sank two free throws in the waning seconds of the championship to clinch the trophy.

Prior to Newbins stepping to the line, Jarocki pulled Kniyah Dumas aside and told her to pump up her fellow point guard.

“Coach J told me to go over to Newbins and (breathe some) confidence into her,” Kniyah Dumas said. “Basically, calm her down, make sure she wasn’t worried about the crowd. I told her to knock them down and that this was the moment she’s been waiting for all season. It worked, and I think Coach J knew that message would be more effective coming from a fellow player, and not her.”

The Falcons also overcame key injuries en route to the crown. That included being without sophomore guard Jayda Rogers (ankle) and Addie Moon (knee) for about the first month of the season. Then Katie Moon injured her knee late in the regular season but returned in the playoffs and contributed 15 points off the bench in the championship game.

Katie Moon had played just nine combined minutes across the Great 8 and Final 4, but a side chat with Jarocki following those games enabled the junior to finally find her rhythm when the Falcons needed it most.

“(Katie) was forcing things offensively and making a ton of mistakes, so her and I talked after (the Great 8) about that,” Jarocki. “She recognized she was forcing things. I told her to just let the game come to her.

“She had been out for weeks with her injury and she just wanted to be where she was when she left, which was in a great place. But after we talked, she figured it out. And she had a whale of a game in the championship.”

A softer side of Coach J

While Jarocki was pressing all the right buttons, the Falcons coming into their own before her 64-year-old eyes unveiled a different side of the seasoned, usually serious coach. That was evident when she came into the Highlands Ranch locker room following the team’s Great 8 victory.

“We had the Final 4 plaque in the middle and we were all sitting around it, chanting, ‘Final 4! Final 4!’ and Coach J walked in and started chanting it with us,” Banks-Thomas said. “That was a family moment for this team, because we definitely tapped into a side of Coach J that I’ve never seen before. We tapped into her happy side. We saw so many smiles.”

And tears, too, which was a first for Kniyah Dumas.

“She actually cried when she talked to me and another senior after the championship,” Kniyah Dumas said. “It was sort of a medium cry, but still — I thought was pretty awesome because everybody could see that sometimes she could be pretty tough, but it showed her vulnerability and how she really cared for everyone like we knew all along.”

If the dominance by the Continental League champs this season is any indication, there’s probably more smiles and happy tears in Jarocki’s immediate future.

Because of Highlands Ranch’s ongoing, dwindling enrollment affecting program numbers — the Falcons had only 19 total players this year and no JV team — the Falcons are moving down to Class 5A for the next cycle.

The returners are disappointed about it, even though they’ve known about it for a couple of years now. Jarocki maintains it’s “the appropriate move for us.” With every primary contributor minus Kniyah Dumas coming back, the Falcons are the immediate heavy 5A championship favorite in 2026-27.

Entering her fourth decade as the Falcons’ boss — and with 10 championship games, 19 Final Fours and 27 Great Eights on her blue-and-white resume — Jarocki’s trophy case probably isn’t complete quite yet.

“Our mentality going into next year is just the only person in the way of another championship is ourselves,” Banks-Thomas said. “And I don’t think Coach J is going to let ourselves get in the way.”

“They’re a ton of fun,” the venerated Highlands Ranch girls basketball coach, who won her eighth Colorado state title on Saturday, told me when I brought up the Falcons’ Moon twins. “They’re crazy. But they’re fun. They’re good, clean fun.”

More than that, though, they’re good. Like, really, really good. Katie Moon and her twin sister, Addie, don’t just finish each other’s sentences. They finish each other’s passes.

Addie got into foul trouble (two rebounds, one point in 19 minutes) early in the second half. So Katie came off the bench and put up 15 points in a 54-51 win over scrappy Northfield with a brace, having dinged her kneecap about a month ago.

“(Katie) just knew in the back of her mind that she just wanted to be here for her team,” the twins’ father, TK Moon, said during the postgame celebration. “The fact that she had to step up because her sister was in foul trouble — that’s sisterhood. And that’s teamwork.”

That’s kind of bonkers, considering just how young this team actually is.

The Falcons won the 6A title Saturday with just one senior contributor among their top eight in their rotation. The Moons? Juniors. Star guard Kimora Banks-Thomas (20 points)? Sophomore.

Backcourt mate Jayda Rogers (11 points, 12 rebounds), whose ball-handling and board work steadied Highlands Ranch against a tenacious Northfield defense? Sophomore. who knocked down two clutch free throws, including one after a Northfield timeout that put the Falcons up three with 4.7 seconds remaining? Freshman.

How can that many underclassmen have that much ice flowing through them?

“We told (Newbins), ‘Knock these down just like in practice,'” Addie recalled. “We’ll distract each other, and we’ll make it funny in practice. But we know when it’s game time, and we need to knock down shots, we’ll knock them down.

“We have such good chemistry that we created over the summer that we all trust each other, no matter if you’re a freshman or a senior. Everyone can (help) with whatever we need. Everyone can have a night. That’s just how we roll.”

They’re rolling down to 5A next year. And Jarocki’s seen that look in her kids’ eyes before. Her Falcons teams won seven state titles from 2000 to 2011, becoming one of Colorado’s first hoops dynasties of the 21st century.

“I mean, 5A better watch out,” Addie said. “We’re a little frustrated that we’re moving down (a class), but our schedule is still going to be challenging … but it’s going to be great next year. And the next couple years after that.”

Jarocki, savvy to the last, is a little more careful when it comes to throwing around the ‘D’ word. But when you play the kind of defense her Falcons did Saturday — Northfield shot 41.7% from the floor and was 0-for-9 on 3-pointers — it’s not hard to set the bar a Mile High.

“One year doesn’t make a dynasty, but we’ll see what they do next year,” Jarocki said. “I think they’ll be hungry again … They don’t like losing. Neither do I.”

Losing? The Moons? Oh, they hate it. Completely. Unflinchingly. Even if it’s losing to each other in drills.

“Oh, we fight all the time,” Addie chuckled. “When we have workouts, I’ll have a bloody nose. We’ll get into it with each other.

“I mean, we’re the most competitive. We always push each other on the court. But we always also get (one another) better. And it’s so fun having like a person in the gym always rebounding for you and passing for you. It’s like a built-in best friend.”

“So who wins the fights?” I asked.

Addie leaned in with a whisper.

“I’m going to say, ‘me,’ but she’s definitely going to (disagree),” she continued.  “I mean, it’s me. Let’s be honest. It’s going to be me.”

Addie grinned.

“Don’t tell her I said that.”

Addie was born first, by about a minute. They’ve been hooping it up together since the second grade. Time flies.

“How do we tell who’s who?” I wondered.

“I have more of a narrower face,” Katie said.

“She is totally calling my face fat!” Addie interjected.

“And she has highlights in her hair,” Katie continued.

It’s even harder to separate them than it is to tell them apart. The twins last fall committed to play collegiately at Colgate University in upstate New York, two time zones and about 1,725 miles east.

“It just felt like home to us,” Katie explained. “It’s kind of in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, the basketball is really good there. I know they kind of struggled this year, but we’re hoping to make a really good impact freshman year.”

As for next year, 5A, best of luck. The Falcons outrebounded a taller Nighthawks roster 30-28, with 23 defensive boards on the day, limiting a fast, flowing Northfield offense to a series of one-shot possessions.

With 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Highlands Ranch up 34-28, Jarocki cupped a hand to her mouth.

“We need to get the ball!” she shouted. “We need to get the ball!”

They got it. And eventually ate enough clock late, in the face of a furious Northfield press, to put the Nighthawks away.

“It’s so surreal,” Katie said. “I’m just trying to be in this role of leadership, and everyone’s been calling me the spark when I go in for two minutes or one minute. I’m in just to make a huge impact.”

At one point, the twins danced up to their father, cradling the championship trophy between their arms. Then they puckered up, each kissing it on the side while cellular cameras in the crowd sparkled and flashed.

Good, clean fun, all right. And it’s only just getting started.

For Kent Denver, that they have.

Under the direction of head coach Ann Abromaitis (née Strother), a former Highlands Ranch star who won two national championships at UConn before playing professionally, the Sun Devils are headed to their first state title game.

In Abromaitis’ first two seasons, Kent Denver lost in the Sweet 16, but the Sun Devils broke through to a deep playoff run this year. They beat Timnath 53-46 on Friday in the Class 4A Final Four at the Denver Coliseum, avenging a narrow loss in the season opener on Dec. 2.

“I think we were all (a little starstruck) when she got hired,” said Kent Denver senior post Austin Duncan, a Washburn commit. “Knowing where she’s been and what she’s done, we thought good things were going to come of it — and here we are.

“She runs with us all the time (in practice). There’s dimes all over when she plays — behind-the-back passing, and she can shoot the ball from anywhere still. She’s still got it, and that rubs off on us.”

Coupled with the Kent Denver boys also beating Timnath in Friday’s Final Four, the Sun Devils join Class 5A Lutheran in going for a rare championship double-dip on Saturday at the Coliseum.

The Kent Denver girls were led by 15 points and 8 rebounds from Duncan, their senior stalwart on a team heavy in youth. The Sun Devils start three freshmen in point guard Elise Drogin-Tundermann, guard Emerson Hamman and forward London Barry. But that trio played beyond their years, with Drogin-Tundermann dropping 14 points and Barry adding 9.

“We have just the right combo — some young players who don’t know any better, who have never been here on a stage like this,” Abromaitis said. “They’ve worked hard and put in the time for this and know how compete. Then we’ve also got a senior leader (Duncan) who doesn’t want to go out. That’s a pretty good recipe.”

As a player, Abromaitis has experience at the Coliseum, and she won a pair of Class 5A titles (then the biggest classification) with Highlands Ranch as a junior and senior.

In her senior year in 2001-02, the CHSAA Hall of Famer was named the  one of only two Colorado females to earn that honor, along with ThunderRidge’s Abby Bartolotta (née Waner), who earned it in 2005. Abromaitis says she’s had conversations with this year’s team about competing at the Coliseum, which is notoriously unfriendly to shooters.

“I remember what it felt like to be here, and I’ve talked about that with them,” Abromaitis said. “I know we’re probably going to come out, shoot a couple airballs, get those nerves out. We’ve just got to play through it, work through it, and they really did that to win Wednesday (in a Great 8 matchup against D’Evelyn) and then again against Timnath.”

The Sun Devils led for the majority of the game against the Cubs, and used an early 8-0 run to create separation plus strong 3-point shooting (9-for-19) to cement the win.

‘Run Devils’

In the boys game, the game started the opposite way, with top-seeded Kent Denver quickly going down 8-0. But the Sun Devils ripped off a 15-2 run in the second quarter to reassert control, then didn’t step off the gas en route to an 82-72 victory.

Senior guard Sam Glynn paced Kent Denver with 23 points, while sophomore forward Henry Czaja added 19 points and star senior guard Caleb Fay (an Air Force commit) also showed up in critical moments despite dealing with some foul trouble. Fay finished with 15 points, and junior guard Liam Ash had 14.

A 13-2 run in the fourth quarter all but put the game on ice for Kent Denver, as the Cubs failed to match the Sun Devils’ depth and also had issues with Kent Denver’s ball pressure. Even when Timnath made a run late in the fourth quarter, Kent Denver was unfazed.

The team still has the same “Run Devils” identity of a season ago, even though they lost four starters to graduation.

“Everyone talks about Caleb, which they should, but it¶¶Òõap not a one-man show,” 33rd-year head coach Todd Schayes said. “No one worries about who scores. We play fast, we sub a lot. I really think we can be as many as 16 deep.”

The Sun Devil boys have only lost to Class 6A opponents this season, with defeats to Northfield, Fruita Monument and Eaglecrest. Like the girls, a stacked schedule prepared them for the tense moments at the Coliseum as the boys are now one win away from a repeat championship following a dominant run through the tournament in 2025.

Schayes, who has taught sixth-grade history and English at Kent Denver for over three decades alongside his coaching career, notes that Abromaitis’s “fantastic coaching” enabled the girls’ program to catch up with the boys.

“She can’t be (longtime, intense UConn coach) Geno (Auriemma) — she found that out that first year,” Schayes said with a laugh. “So over the last two years, it¶¶Òõap been less Geno’s coaching style and more her’s. She’s smiling more. The girls have bought in, and the moment is never too big for them.

“Her players and my players are each other’s biggest cheerleaders. We are screaming for them, they are screaming for us. I’m so happy for them and it¶¶Òõap a phenomenal thing for our community to have both teams playing for the title.â€�

The girls take on Holy Family in Saturday’s championship at the Coliseum, while the boys play University.

Denver East and Northfield are playing in opposite sides of the bracket of the Class 6A Final Four on Thursday. If both win, it will set up the first all-DPS championship game in the half-century since girls basketball became a sanctioned CHSAA sport.

There is no love lost between the programs, who have played a handful of physical, tense games over the last two seasons. That includes three showdowns this year and last year, over which the re-established old guard Denver East owns a 5-1 record against upstart, relatively new Northfield.

“It’s been a really competitive rivalry between the top teams in the DPS,” said Denver East head coach Carl Mattei, “and this has been brewing for the last couple of years for bragging rights in the city.”

The Angels have seen a resurgence under Mattei, who is in his fourth season on City Park Esplanade. Denver East is the last DPS girls team to win a hoops title, accomplishing the feat in 2010, and is one of only two DPS programs to do so, along with Montbello in 1997.

Mattei, who built Regis Jesuit into a powerhouse, went to eight title games and won three of them in his He was initially talked into applying for the Denver East job by a couple key DPS stakeholders, including Angels boys coach Rudy Carey and ex-longtime district athletic director John Andrew.

‘They don’t need to go play in the suburbs’

Mattei said he took the job because “when I looked at what Denver East could be, I thought it could be the Cherry Creek of DPS (girls basketball).” The Angels were successful under the prior coach, Dwight Berry, who led them to the 2010 title. But Denver East struggled to consistently make deep tournament runs.

“I had to get the kids to believe that they could compete with the Grandviews, the Cherry Creeks, the Regis Jesuits, the Highlands Ranches,” Mattei said. “Players in (the Denver East neighborhood) can actually stay in the city and represent our city, and be part of being the jewel of the city that is the Denver East Angels. They don’t need to go play in (the suburbs).

“That’s what Rudy and (Denver East principal) Terita Walker wanted for this program, and I think that’s where we’re at right now.”

The Angels are headlined by senior forward Mairead Hearty, a San Diego State commit who is averaging 16.9 points a game. Junior guard Grace Hall, a Division I recruit, is averaging 12.3 points. And senior sharpshooter Liana Valdez, a Western Nebraska commit who is a four-year starter like Hearty, can make teams pay from beyond the arc.

Hearty, who lives a couple blocks from Denver East, is jazzed with the ascension of the program at the school she walks to. The Angels went from a first-round playoff exit in Mattei’s first season, to the Sweet 16 the next, to the Great 8 last year and now the Final Four.

“I’ve been in this neighborhood my whole life, watching games (when I was little), so I’m so excited to be in this situation with this team,” Hearty said. “I couldn’t have dreamed it up any better what we’ve been able to accomplish the last four years.”

While much of Denver East’s roster is homegrown, the Angels’ other X-factor is an import.

Sophomore Mia Avramovic is averaging almost a triple-double with 10.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 9.0 blocks, a swat rate which ranks second in the nation. The 6-foot-6 center moved to Colorado from Serbia, where she’s played on her country’s before the school year began.

She’s still extremely raw, but Mattei says Avramovic “has made tremendous strides this season.”

“At home (in Serbia), she just had to be a shot blocker — she wasn’t really allowed to shoot or dribble,” Mattei said. “But she’s developed her game so much that she has offers from Oregon State and Utah. She’s been invited to the Nike Elite Camp in June. She’ll be playing with (a high-level club) this summer. All this after she came in and initially really struggled with her ball skills.”

Driving Avramovic’s development is Mattei’s coaching staff stacked with his former players.

That includes , a two-time Ms. Colorado Basketball for Mattei at Regis Jesuit who is his lead assistant; Celena Miller, who played for Mattei’s club team and then at DU, and is a rising R&B star ; , who played for Mattei at Douglas County before going on to CSU; and , who played club for Mattei and later at Arizona State.

“Forget the state — I’ve got the best staff in the country,” Mattei said. “It’s incredible what I have as coaches and how they are working to develop our talent.”

With those familiar faces behind Mattei on the bench, he’ll take on an old foe in Thursday’s Final Four to set up a possible shot against Northfield in the title.

Mattei and Highlands Ranch boss Caryn Jarocki, the state’s all-time winningest girls coach, developed a rivalry when Mattei was at Regis Jesuit. The Raiders and the Falcons met in the title game three times, with Highlands Ranch winning in 2008 and ’11 and Regis Jesuit triumphing in 2013.

Denver East and Highlands Ranch played earlier this season, a 51-49 win by the Angels on Dec. 9. Both teams had key players injured in that game, including Hearty. Mattei believes his team’s tough out-of-state schedule, which included trips to New York and California, has prepared the Angels for the rematch.

“We have to keep an eye on (Falcons leading scorer) Kimora Banks-Thomas, because she can light it up from anywhere,” Mattei said. “And we can’t get into a run-and-gun game with them. We play two different types of basketball, and when we beat them at their place, we tried to control tempo.”

Northfield a program on the rise

Meanwhile, Northfield faces top-seeded Cherokee Trail. The Nighthawks are trying to get back to the championship after losing in the Class 5A title game to Roosevelt two years ago.

Northfield’s heart and soul is junior guard Madison Bethel, the daughter of head coach Sydney Price. The Nighthawks also feature a trio of transfers who have accelerated their status as a Class 6A force despite the program only being eight years old. Junior forward Delaney Dennis transferred from Denver East prior to last school year, while junior twin guards London Taylor and Paris Taylor transferred from Cherry Creek before this school year. The Taylors were granted immediate eligibility by CHSAA.

London Taylor is the team’s leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, while Bethel, Dennis and Paris Taylor are also averaging double figures. Price declined an interview request for this story, saying she wanted to “remain focused on the game plan during this pivotal and important time.”

Cherokee Trail head coach Tammi Statewright says her Cougars “have to be able to handle the physicality of the DPS way of play” as CT vies to make its first title game.

“I feel like (the Centennial League) is pretty physical, but in a different way,” Statewright said. “We got to be able to handle Northfield’s ball pressure because they’re tough, they’re strong. If we don’t handle that well, we’re not going to make it through.”

Northfield takes on Cherokee Trail on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. , with Denver East and Highlands Ranch following at 7:15 p.m.

Statewright coached at Gateway for nine seasons, but was given a pink slip after going 4-18 in 2017-18. When that happened, she was ready to be done with coaching. Some within her circle encouraged her to apply for the Cherokee Trail job, but the listing had closed.

Then, the listing reopened.

“Sometimes you don’t know what’s best for you,” Statewright said. “So getting fired at Gateway, it was a blessing in disguise. I was devastated because I loved that community and I love those kids. I was heartbroken, and I was just going to be a mom and do my own thing.”

The Cougar faithful should be glad it didn’t pan out that way.

Since Statewright took the job eight years ago, Cherokee Trail has emerged as a perennial Class 6A contender. That included a first-ever Final Four berth two seasons ago. This season, the top-seeded Cougars return to the Denver Coliseaum on Thursday for a showdown against Northfield.

Statewright, a 1990 Montbello graduate, has a team capable of raising its first banner.

Cherokee Trail is headlined by Wichita State commit Aaliyah Broadus, a senior guard who can score at all three levels. Broadus’ surrounding cast is dangerous, too, with senior guard Karson Chaney (CSU-Pueblo), freshman guard Chloe Cain, sophomore guard Milania Gutierrez and senior guard Hannah Hazim (Bethany College).

Broadus and Chaney were on the floor two years ago when Cherokee Trail was up at halftime against Valor Christian in the Final Four, only for the Eagles to emerge with a 71-59 victory en route to winning the state title.

“We were up in that game and then we decided to start taking a bunch of hero shots and wanting to be superstars, and it cost us,” Statewright said. “So I think this group is a little bit more understanding of not caring about (individual stats), and only caring about the win at the end.

“This team can overcome obstacles better with each other than teams I’ve had in the past. We know how to rely on the team aspect, as opposed to one person trying to carry us.”

In addition to No. 1 Cherokee Trail aiming for program history, here are more storylines and players to watch at the 2026 CHSAA Class 6A and Class 5A Final Four on Thursday and Friday at the Denver Coliseum. The Class 4A Final Four pairings will be decided during Wednesday’s Great 8, which is also at the Coliseum.

Chaparral’s Takeover Dude. The Wolverines have an array of weapons, but there might not be a better pure scorer in the state than Christian Williams. The junior guard already holds offers from Stanford, CSU, and Cal, with surely more to come. He has 1,397 career points with still a full season left, and has improved drastically in his defense, passing and rebounding.

Rock Canyon’s due. This is the Jaguars’ third Final Four in Kent Grams’ 14 seasons as head coach, but will this be the time the Jaguars finally break through to the championship? They’ll have to avenge recent defeats to Chaparral (last year’s Sweet 16, this year in a game that decided the Continental League champion) to get there. Junior forward Jacob David will be critical.

Ralston Valley’s dynamic duo. The Mustangs won their first and only crown behind all-time preps great Nick Fazekas, who went on to star at Nevada and then play professionally. To get back to the mountaintop, the Mustangs will need big performances by the senior trio of Caiden Braketa, Zeke Andrews and Frank Psaute. All three average double digits.

Rangeview’s stout defense. The Raiders have several scorers who can dominate, and they can pile up buckets in transition and the half-court. But what has really set Rangeview apart is its commitment to defense. The lanky, athletic Raiders (who have six players who are 6-foot-3 or taller) completely shut down Cherry Creek in the Great 8 by allowing only 12 first-half points.

Coaching icons on center stage. Two of the most renowned coaches in Colorado high school girls basketball history face off in Thursday night’s Final Four when Highlands Ranch’s Caryn Jarocki takes on Denver East’s Carl Mattei. The two had many great showdowns in the first decade of this century when Mattei was at Regis Jesuit and Jarocki’s Falcons were mid-dynasty.

Northfield’s mother-daughter duo.  are coached by Sydney Price, whose daughter Madison Bethel has been a program pillar for three seasons. Their only in-state losses came to DPS rival Denver East (twice), which they avenged with a 61-59 win over the Angels in the district tournament. Watch out for junior guard London Taylor (14.6 points, 4.6 steals per game).

Denver East’s Serbian X-factor. The Angels are back in the Final Four for the first time in 16 years, largely thanks to senior forward Mairead Hearty (16.9 points) and junior guard Grace Hall (12.3). But don’t overlook the importance of 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Mia Avramovic, who came to the U.S. this season and has played for

Falcons’ scoring sophomores. Highlands Ranch is young, with only one senior, guard Kniyah Dumas, making an impact. The Falcons will lean on sophomore sensations (17.2 points per game) and Jayda Rogers (10.0). Plus, for Jarocki’s Falcons to control the paint, freshman post Kennedi Toliver is going to have to play beyond her years.

Motivation by Miller. Lewis-Palmer will go as far as can take them. The Rangers’ catalyst is averaging 17.8 points per game plus 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals. He dropped 17 points in the upset over top-seeded Palisade in the Great 8. Surrounding Miller are sophomore guard Devin VanderMeer (10.8 points) and senior forward Bryce Lowe.

Silver Creek’s run. The Raptors lost three straight games in mid-January, and it appeared the train was going off the tracks. But retiring head coach Bob Banning straightened out Silver Creek, which won 13 of its last 14 games, including upsets over Eagle Valley in the Sweet 16 and Mesa Ridge in the Great 8. The Raptors’ linchpin is senior guard Luke Schmeeckle (18.7 points).

Lutheran’s sideline legend. There’s no doubt that Lions head coach Josh Adams could still lace ’em up and take any kid in this tournament to school. The Colorado prep hoops icon, best known for his to capture the 2012 state title for Chaparral, leads an athletic and versatile team headlined by 6-foot-9 forward Kade Speckman (Indiana State).

Windsor’s repeat chances. Giving the Wizards a No. 11 seed for this tournament felt like a flaw in the computer calculations from the very beginning. The defending champions upset Regis Groff in the Sweet 16 and then Severance in the Great 8, if you believe the seeding. Senior guard Madden Smiley, a Wyoming commit, can put this team on his shoulders this weekend.

Lutheran’s dominance. No one’s come close to touching the Lions in the playoffs, as Lutheran’s won every game by at least 20 points. Since losing to Green Mountain in overtime on Dec. 18, the Lions have ripped off 19 straight wins. Senior guard is the primary scorer at 14.6 points per game, while junior center Isla Koffmann controls the glass (8.2 rebounds).

Standley Lake’s phenom freshman. Where did these girls come from? The Gators, making their first Final Four appearance, are led by 23.9 points per game. Fellow freshmen Chloe Miller and Ireland Kassatly are also key. Standley Lake is coached by first-year boss Enoch Miller, who led Roosevelt to consecutive Class 5A titles in 2023 and ’24.

Green Mountain’s supporting cast. With leading scorer Kantyn Pearson the rest of the Rams stepped up in the Great 8, paced by the junior duo of Grace Herrig and Addie Evans. Those two will again need to come up big, while fellow juniors Ella Cockrum and Cadyn Cavanaugh must also elevate their play to keep the program’s hopes of a first title alive.

Montrose’s depth. As the demonstrated in their Great 8 victory over Air Academy, they are a sum-of-their-parts type of team. One of two undefeated girls teams left this season, along with Class 2A Simla, balanced Montrose has three players averaging double-digit scoring in senior forward Mayce Oberg, senior guard Maggie Legg and freshman guard Landree Johnson.

Final Four Schedule

Thursday

5A Girls: No. 2 Green Mountain vs. No. 3 Montrose, 11 a.m.

5A Boys: No. 8 Lewis-Palmer vs. No. 13 Silver Creek, 12:45 p.m.

5A Girls: No. 1 Lutheran vs. No. 5 Standley Lake, 2:15 p.m.

5A Boys: No. 10 Lutheran vs. No. 11 Windsor, 4 p.m.

6A Girls: No. 1 Northfield vs. No. 5 Cherokee Trail, 5:45

6A Girls: No. 6 Denver East vs. No. 7 Highlands Ranch, 7:15 p.m.

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4A Boys/Girls Games: Matchups TBD based off Wednesday’s Great 8

6A Boys: No. 1 Chaparral vs. No. 5 Rock Canyon, 5:45 p.m.

6A Boys: No. 2 Ralston Valley vs. No. 3 Rangeview, 7:15 p.m.

The surging Wolves. No. 13 Grandview, the 2018 state champions and a consistent Coliseum participant over the past several decades, upset No. 4 Arvada West in the Sweet 16, 62-58. Head coach Ryan Turk’s team is battle-tested and led by senior forward Noah Sevy, who is averaging 14.0 points and 5.6 rebounds, and scored seven in the final minute of the road win over A-West.

Trio of favorites. No 1. Chaparral, No. 2 Ralston Valley and No. 3 Rangeview are the frontrunners to win the championship next weekend. Chaparral is led by juniors Luke Howery and Christian Williams, Ralston Valley features seniors Caiden Braketa and Zeke Andrews, and Rangeview is headlined by the trio of Archie Weatherspoon V, Marceles Duncan and Aidan Perez.

The Junker factor. If you were at the Coliseum last year, you know that Mountain Vista forward Oliver Junker is capable of total domination in the paint. The 6-foot-8 senior who is pledged to North Dakota State is averaging 12.9 points and 8.9 rebounds, and the Great 8 matchup against Chaparral’s big man, 6-10 senior Luke Williams, will be one of the tournament’s best showdowns.

University Boulevard pipeline. Three Great 8 teams are all off the same road: No. 2 Arapahoe, No. 3 Valor Christian and No. 7 Highlands Ranch. The Warriors and Falcons meet on Friday. Arapahoe features the scoring tandem of Jaya White and Izzy Johnston, Highlands Ranch has the dynamic Kimora Banks-Thomas, and Valor Christian boasts Utah commit Peyton Jones.

Cherokee Trail’s chances. Head coach Tammi Statewright’s Cougars have been knocking on the door of a championship for a while now, and this season might be their time to get a ring. Cherokee Trail lost two close games to Arapahoe, but besides that, no one else in Colorado has beaten the Cougars. Cherokee Trail is headlined by three potent scorers in Aaliyah Broadus, Chloe Cain and Karson Chaney.

Riverdale Ridge’s star power. What dum-dum computer formula gave the Ravens a No. 13 seed? Yes, Riverdale Ridge annihilated every single Rocky Mountain Basketball league opponent and was hardly tested in state. But as evidenced by their 62-51 win over previously undefeated Broomfield in the Sweet 16, generational talent Brihanna Crittendon & Co. can make a title run.

Banning’s swan song. In the Class 5A boys bracket, will, fittingly, end at the Coliseum after No. 13 Silver Creek upset No. 4 Eagle Valley in the Sweet 16. Banning’s helmed the Raptors for a quarter century in a career that has spanned 48 years, with other stops at Niwot and Skyline. Colorado doffs its cap to you, Coach Banning.

Western Slope reppin’. The 5A boys bracket features No. 1 Palisade and No. 2 Grand Junction. The Bulldogs have never won a state title, while the Tigers’ last championship came in Class A in 1946 — a game they won by a score of 23-13. Palisade has three double-digit scorers led by senior Hunter Howard, while Grand Junction has two star sophomores in Grant Lewis and Will Weirath.

The defending champs. Windsor, which won its first hoops title in 101 years last season, is seasoned coming into the Coliseum. The Wizards only lost one game to a Colorado Class 5A opponent all year, a 47-45 defeat to Air Academy back in December. Senior guard Madden Smiley, a Wyoming commit, is one of the most lethal scorers in the state at 24.2 points per game.

The Asp factor. Air Academy, last year’s 5A girls runner-up, is back in the Coliseum behind star senior guard Kinley Asp. The Boston College commit is averaging 25 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists as a one-woman wrecking crew. Undefeated Montrose (25-0) has its work cut out to limit Asp; much of that task will fall to the Red Hawks’ senior guard, captain Maggie Legg.

Lutheran’s rise. The Lions girls were a measly 13-12 last season and lost in the second round of the playoffs. But Lutheran has ascended this season, with a 22-3 record and a Pikes Peak League championship. No. 1 Lutheran has won five state titles but none above Class 3A, and is led by senior guard Berkley Schneider (14.4 points) and junior center Isla Koffmann (8.2 rebounds).

The Runnin’ Rams. No. 2 Green Mountain has never won a girls hoops title, but after making the Final Four last season, is again capable of cutting down the nets next weekend. The Rams’ lone loss came to Class 6A No. 1 Cherokee Trail 59-48 on Dec. 6, as they are riding a 22-game win streak. They have three double-digit scorers, led by senior guard Kantyn Pearson’s 16.4 points.

Great 8 schedule

Class 6A on Friday

8:45 a.m. — Girls: No. 5 Northfield vs. No. 13 Riverdale Ridge
10:15 a.m. — Boys: No. 5 Rock Canyon vs. No. 13 Grandview
11:45 a.m. — Girls: No. 3 Valor Christian vs. No. 6 Denver East
1:15 p.m. — Boys: No. 3 Rangeview vs. No. 6 Cherry Creek
4 p.m. — Girls: No. 1 Cherokee Trail vs. No. 9 Legend
5:30 p.m. — Boys: No. 1 Chaparral vs. No. 8 Mountain Vista
7 p.m. — Girls: No. 2 Arapahoe vs. No. 7 Highlands Ranch
8:30 p.m. — Boys: No. 2 Ralston Valley vs. No. 7 George Washington

Class 5A on Saturday

8:45 a.m. — Girls: No. 2 Green Mountain vs. No. 7 Mead
10:15 a.m. — Boys: No. 12 Mesa Ridge vs. No. 13 Silver Creek
11:45 a.m. — Girls: No. 4 Windsor vs. No. 5 Standley Lake
1:15 p.m. — Boys: No. 3 Severance vs. No. 11 Windsor
4 p.m. — Girls: No. 3 Montrose vs. No. 6 Air Academy
5:30 p.m. — Boys: No. 1 Palisade vs. No. 8 Lewis-Palmer
7 p.m. — Girls: No. 9 Pueblo East vs. No. 1 Lutheran
8:30 p.m. — Boys:” No. 2 Grand Junction vs. No. 10 Lutheran

It was Caryn Jarocki’s first season as the Falcons’ head coach in 1996-97, following an 11-year stint at Class 2A Colorado Academy. That Highlands Ranch team didn’t have any hoops superstars, but they were gritty enough to flip their record from 8-13 the year prior to 13-8, and lost a close game to state champion Montbello in the second round of the playoffs.

“We get to that game, and our kids don’t know what they’re doing — I had a bunch of soccer players on the team, with a few freshman who were true basketball players,” Jarocki said. “But we played our butts off, they bought into my coaching, and the score was tight in the second half. Montbello was getting angry, getting a little physical.

“My kids were not that physical. We had a couple kids go down (due to injury), and I think we lost by around 10 points, but it was one of those, ‘Holy cow, how are (the Falcons) staying with us?’ games from the Montbello perspective. We gave the champs a scare, and that showed me the potential of what could happen with our own program.”

Three decades later, the Falcons emerged from those humble beginnings as an all-time Colorado high school girls basketball powerhouse. Jarocki is the state’s with 774 wins and counting, and the Highlands Ranch dynasty reached its zenith with seven Class 5A titles in the first dozen seasons of this century.

In the 15 years since the Falcons’ last championship in 2011, Highlands Ranch has been a perennial contender in the final stages of the state tournament. But the program, which has never had a losing season under Jarocki nor missed the playoffs, has been unable to raise another trophy.

That title drought could be ending soon for Jarocki, 64, who has no plans of retiring anytime in the near future.

The Falcons are young this season, but stacked with college prospects and have the talent to make a run for the crown in Class 6A (the state’s largest classification since Colorado added an additional class in 2023) at the Denver Coliseum. After that, Highlands Ranch will be moving down to Class 5A due to the school’s declining enrollment.

In 5A, Jarocki’s Falcons will be one of the championship favorites, even as shrinking numbers have forced her to not field a JV team over the past couple of years.

“We’re still going to play in the Continental League in the 6A division (when the league splits into two divisions in 2026-27),” Jarocki said. “We’re still going to go to Phoenix (to the Nike Tournament of Champions) and play high-level games there. And most of our non-league games will be against 6A schools or top 5A programs. But I really do think it is a good time to move down.”

Highlands Ranch’s current enrollment is 1,261, according to which is about 1,000 fewer students than when Jarocki first took the job. The Falcons’ current enrollment would put the school in the midrange of the CHSAA girls basketball for the next cycle.

Ann Abromaitis (nee Strother), a Colorado girls basketball great who won two titles playing for Jarocki in 2001 and ’02 before going on to a decorated career at UConn, believes the move to 5A could rejolt the Falcons’ dynasty.

“There’s maybe a couple of teams here and there that will be able to play with them,” said Abromaitis, who coaches at Kent Denver. “But they will absolutely dominate 5A.”

The Falcons’ talent pipeline

Before Jarocki transformed Highlands Ranch into a girls basketball juggernaut, the Chicago native played at the University of Denver.

A pair of ACL injuries, one to each knee, derailed her time with the Pioneers. But the second injury led her into coaching, as she helmed a seventh-grade girls team her senior year at DU. Jarocki also student taught at Colorado Academy while coaching a freshman boys team, then got a full-time job at the school and became the JV girls coach. The next year, in 1985-86, she became the varsity girls coach.

That was the genesis of a Hall of Fame coaching career defined by intensity, basketball I.Q. and an expectation that the Falcons met the bar that she set. But she’s also had a longstanding personal touch with her players.

That was evident even in Jarocki’s first season on Cresthill Lane. After senior Adrianne Sikora got hurt in the playoff defeat to CU-bound Nikke Weddle and Montbello, Jarocki conducted the team’s end-of-season meeting at Sikora’s house, which she couldn’t leave due to her injury.

“She was tough, absolutely,” Sikora recalled. “She had great expectations for the program and it was clear that if you didn’t meet them, you’d be watching from the bench. But she didn’t rule with a heavy fist. She understood how to connect with players of all skill levels, even in that first season when we didn’t have many true basketball players.”

Of course, it wasn’t long before the Falcons started to stack premier talent on the roster.

After winning the program’s first title in 2000, Abromaitis transferred to Highlands Ranch from Heritage, where the dynamic guard/forward spent her first two seasons. She was coming off an ACL tear that sidelined her for her sophomore season.

A Castle Rock resident at the time, Abromaitis says the chance to play for Jarocki was one factor in her transfer, which was Abromaitis is the most notable of a long list of Falcons players who came to the program from outside of Highlands Ranch’s attendance area.

In the case of Abromaitis, free transfers were allowed then. More recently, the Falcons remain a destination program for open enrollment, which is how many of the current Highlands Ranch ballers ended up at the school.

But Rick Harris — Jarocki’s longtime assistant when the Falcons were winning titles with regularity — says that people forget that when Jarocki arrived at Highlands Ranch, the school was losing a lot of players within its boundary because the program wasn’t competitive.

“People forget all about that chapter,” Harris said. “I think her intentions were, ‘I’d like to keep my kids here, the kids that I know should be going here that are going to other schools.’ It started with that mindset, and then it snowballed into what you see now.”

Now, many of Jarocki’s top players are pipelined into the program from the club basketball program that she founded in 2010, That connection has become all the more important considering Highlands Ranch’s drastic enrollment decline over the last decade.

Critics may think that approach is unfair, but the reality is that since club basketball became the norm for elite players over the last couple of decades, that model is employed by many other coaches of top girls and boys programs across the state. It is also within the current on recruiting, which do not specifically address the trend of high school basketball coaches doubling as club coaches.

In an era of stricter transfer rules, the blueprint is to form connections with players and their families through club basketball before they get to high school.

“It’s about being out there and working with the kids, and then they get to know you,” Jarocki said. “And they know the success of the program, and they either feel like they fit in or they don’t. But through club, they can find that out pretty early. And then it’s up to families (to make the decision on open enrollment).”

Falcons’ chances at Coliseum run

While Highlands Ranch’s hoard of Division I talent over the decades has been undeniable, Harris says Jarocki’s sustained success is because she “has an unbelievable mind for the game.”

“From Day 1, she had a plan to make it a winning program,” Harris said. “And at the end of the day, no matter how much talent you have, you have to be able to coach it.”

This year, the Falcons are headlined by sophomore guard Kimora Banks-Thomas, who paces the team with 16.7 points per game. Plus, Highlands Ranch has a pair of impact sisters in junior twins Addie Moon and Katie Moon, and the senior/freshman guard combo of Kniyah Dumas and Kaze Dumas.

Add in the play of sophomore Jayda Rogers as well as freshman Kennedi Toliver’s presence in the paint, and Highlands Ranch (17-3, ranked eighth in the latest ) is among the teams capable of making a run at the title in a wide-open Class 6A field.

Cherokee Trail, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Valor Christian and Northfield are the top five teams in the index, while ’24 state runner-up Legend is sixth and Denver East — the lone in-state team to beat the Falcons this season — is seventh. Outside of that, No. 9 Columbine, No. 12 Pine Creek, No. 14 Eaglecrest and No. 15 Riverdale Ridge, which features the top player in the state in Texas commit Brihanna Crittendon, have also looked strong.

For Highlands Ranch to beat any of those teams in the playoffs, the Falcons can’t lean too heavily on Banks-Thomas on offfense.

“Our main focus is sticking to how we play, and not letting any of those other team teams dictate our play when we face them,” Banks-Thomas said. “We have to make sure we’re sharing the ball, playing tough defense, rebounding. … I’ve been (seeing junk defenses) and am getting faceguarded to limit my scoring, but I know my teammates can step up in the scoring piece to it.”

Meanwhile, Kniyah Dumas believes Jarocki’s experience can be the X-factor to tilt the scales in youthful Highlands Ranch’s favor come crunch time.

“We’re really grown and put in a lot of work this year as young team, and it’s starting to show,” said Kniyah Dumas, a Fort Hayes Northwest Tech commit. “In the playoffs, we have to play smarter, get out of our heads and believe we’re the best in the state. (Our youth) has been a challenge this year… Coach J has reminded us it’s going to be a hard season, but that we’ve got it and we’re capable of winning the games when it counts.”

No. 5 Mountain Vista (5-0) vs. No. 4 Valor Christian (4-1)

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

Last meeting: Mountain Vista 62, vs. Valor Christian 21, Oct. 4, 2024

Radio: 92.5 FM, Altitude Radio

A year ago, Mountain Vista blasted Valor Christian for its first win against the 5A juggernaut in nine tries. No doubt, Valor has had this game circled ever since. With junior quarterback Marquise Reese taking over this fall, Vista has shown it has staying power. But knocking off Valor two years in a row is a tall order. The Eagles are coming off a stunning 38-14 loss at No. 2 Ralston Valley that saw them get shut out in the second half. If Valor wasn’t already focused on revenge, that result surely got its attention.

No. 8 Pine Creek (3-2) vs. No. 6 Legend (4-1)

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

Last meeting: Legend 24, at Pine Creek 7, Oct. 5, 2024

Streaming:

Legend and Pine Creek finished 1-2 in the 5A Southern League standings a year ago. Whoever wins this one will be in the driver’s seat after the first week of league play. Legend rebounded well from an overtime loss to No. 3 Arvada West, routing Castle View, 55-13, last week. The Titans offense is as explosive as any with Boston College commit DJ Bordeaux (1,406 total yards) taking snaps. Pine Creek had trouble stopping top-ranked Cherry Creek a week ago. More troubling, the Eagles were shut out for the first time in the MaxPreps era (since 2004).

No. 9 Grandview (3-2) vs. Arapahoe (2-3)

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

Last meeting: Arapahoe 25, at Grandview 13, Oct. 4, 2024

Streaming:

Who will be the team to challenge Cherry Creek atop the Centennial League? The winner of this game has finished either tied for first or second in the standings each of the past four years. Grandview is battle-tested, with its two losses coming to No. 2 Ralston Valley and No. 6 Legend. The Wolves outscored their last two opponents 81-10 following those setbacks, with RB Chris Blanks running for 240 yards combined. Arapahoe has won three straight in this series, but is 0-2 against ranked 5A opponents.

CLASS 4A

Heritage (3-2) vs. No. 7 Golden (5-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday at NAAC Stadium

Last meeting: Heritage 28, vs. Golden 7, Oct. 3, 2024

Streaming:

Are the Golden Demons for real? This test against a talented Heritage Eagles squad should reveal a lot. While Golden enters the matchup unbeaten, the Demons’ five opponents have a combined record of 2-25. Heritage hasn’t lost to a 4A opponent, with its two losses coming to Littleton rivals Arapahoe and Columbine. The quarterback matchup between Heritage senior Jamison Seese (1,443 total yards) and Golden junior Thatcher Matthews (1,128) should be a good one.

Ponderosa (3-2) vs. No. 1 Dakota Ridge (5-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Thursday at Jeffco Stadium

Last meeting: Dakota Ridge 14, vs. Ponderosa 0, Nov. 22, 2024

Streaming:

The top-ranked Eagles looked every bit the 4A title contender through a nonleague gauntlet that included wins over two 5A teams (Chatfield and Cherokee Trail), a top-10 3A team (Pomona) and an out-of-state squad. Now comes a rugged 4A South Metro League schedule against teams with a combined 20-5 record. While Ponderosa accounts for two of those losses, the Mustangs just beat Falcon and 5A Chaparral by an 83-43 margin. Junior QB Noah Anacleto threw for 651 yards and 10 TDs in those wins. With three receivers (Blake Katsoff, Derek Niday, Troy WcWhorter) already over 300 yards this season, he’s got weapons.

Bear Creek (5-0) vs. Highlands Ranch (4-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Halftime Help Stadium

Last meeting: Highlands Ranch 43, at Bear Creek 20, Oct. 4, 2024

Streaming:

Speaking of the 4A South Metro League, Bear Creek and Highlands Ranch meet in a clash of rising 4A powers that could have a big impact on playoff seeding down the line. Bear Creek blew out every team it faced in a breezy nonleague schedule (5-20 combined record) behind prolific junior QB Riley Wilson (1,284 yards, 16 TDs passing). Now, the Bears are 5-0 for the first time in 20 years and looking to avenge last year’s loss to Highlands Ranch. The Falcons, 4-1 for the second straight season, are fitting in nicely at the 4A level. Considering who’s left on the schedule, a win here would be big.

CLASS 3A

No. 6 Holy Family (3-1) vs. No. 2 Mead (4-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Mead HS

Last meeting: Mead 22, at Holy Family 15, Oct. 4, 2024

Good luck getting into the end zone vs. Mead. Only two have done so through four games, and both of those TDs came in the second half of blowouts. The degree of difficulty goes up a notch this week, however, with the Mavs welcoming Holy Family to Longmont for both teams’ nonleague finale. Holy Family is coming off a stunning 35-14 loss at Pueblo East. Prior to that, the Tigers had been averaging 39.0 points per game. Cut down on the turnovers — Pueblo East had four takeaways last week — and these Tigers are dangerous.

No. 10 Eagle Valley (6-0) vs. Steamboat Springs (4-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Gardner Field

Last meeting: Eagle Valley 49, vs. Steamboat Springs 14, Oct. 4, 2024

There is only one matchup of unbeatens in the entire state Friday night, and shockingly enough, it’s happening in Steamboat Springs. While Steamboat Springs is chasing its first 5-0 start to a season in 16 years, Eagle Valley has already matched the program’s highest win total in 10 years. Eagle Valley senior Keaden Lake (773 all-purpose yards, 16 TDs) is a touchdown waiting to happen. A sturdy Steamboat Springs defense (7.25 points allowed per game), led by ball-hawking safety Luke Jordan (6 INTs), awaits.

The release did not state a cause for the exposure, but Douglas County Health Department advises parents to monitor their children for symptoms, as pertussis can be severe, especially in children who have not received three doses of the vaccine, according to the release. Vaccinated individuals can still get sick but symptoms are usually less severe.

Symptoms can appear as soon as four days after exposure but could take up to 21 days. Pertussis begins with mild coughing, a runny nose and a low fever but can escalate to more severe symptoms within one to two weeks, according to the release.

Coughing fits may be accompanied by a high-pitched “whooping” sound and may lead to vomiting in some patients.

Douglas County Health Department urges parents to have students with symptoms tested with a nasal swab by a health care provider.

If diagnosed with pertussis, the department recommends that students be placed on antibiotics and be kept home and away from crowded places until they complete a five-day cycle, according to the release.

Anyone with questions about the exposure can contact Fallon Simmons, an epidemiologist at the Douglas County Health Department, at 720-643-2481.