Colorado Preps tries to crown greatest football team in state history

In the winter issue of Mile High Sports Magazine, we looked at the greatest high school football teams in Colorado history. This list was compiled prior to the 2025 state championships where teams like Idalia, Wellington and Cherry Creek made a great argument to be included.

Along the way, we figured we’d have some fun and see who everyone thinks is the best in state history. Greatness can be defined in a lot of ways, which makes the subjectivity of this contest all the fun. Vote on the matchups at the Colorado Preps page on X.

Round 1

2017 Pueblo South vs. 2014 Pueblo East: Winner faces 2013 Valor Christian

2017 Pueblo South
Underdog: Beat Pine Creek 25-14 in Class 4A title game

Outside of those paying attention in Pueblo and Colorado Springs, there weren’t a lot of people on God’s Green Earth that felt like the Colts had a chance to take down a Pine Creek team that had emerged as a 4A powerhouse at this time.

But those doubting hadn’t seen Marcell Barbee play. Perhaps one of the best athletes to ever walk the halls at South (he led the basketball team to the Final 4 and won several relay races at state track), Barbee was a matchup nightmare. When factoring in a monster tight end in Jeremy Cody and an all-state running back like Steve Brock, the Colts were easily galloping their way to the 4A title.

2014 Pueblo East
Dynasty Builder: Beat Rifle 30-14 in first of three straight 3A titles
If there is any indication about the kind of athletes Pueblo East had on the football field in the mid-2010’s, it’s the start of their three-year
run of dominance. Of those three 3A football championship teams, each one had a different head coach.

David Ramirez, Lee Meisner and Andy Watts each brought different leadership styles in for the Eagles, and each came away with a state championship. The combination of Daniel Martin and Bryson Torres on offense accounted for 2,788 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns. Defensively, Bruno DeRose was a ball hawk, leading the team with 148 tackles and also picking off three passes.

**

2022 Stratton vs. 1963 Cheyenne Mountain: Winner faces 1959 Limon

2022 Stratton
G.O.A.T.s: Beat Fleming in dominant fashion to win the 6-man title

Context is important here. It’s very important to clarify that this Stratton team likely wouldn’t compete with the other G.O.A.T.s on this list. But in the context of 6-man football, there may not be a better team in that classification’s history than the 2022 Eagles. They outscored their opponents 822-196 and their closest margin of victory was 32 points. That was the most points scored by any football in any classification in a single season in state history.

It was a sunny, but chilly, day in Pueblo when the Eagles rolled by Fleming 83-18 to win the state title. Alex Cruz, the game’s Most Outstanding Player that year, reacted as if the game was business as usual. He ran for 231 yards and five touchdowns, most of which came in the first half. But when he was handed his individual award and Stratton was handed the state championship trophy, the celebration was subdued. It was so much a foregone conclusion that the entire ceremony felt more like a formality than a crowning of a champion.

1963 Cheyenne Mountain
Legendary: Beat Lamar to win the AA state title
For a school as trophy-rich as Cheyenne Mountain, there is only one that bears the title of state football champion. And it nearly never came to be.

The AA state title game was set to played at Wasson Stadium (now Gerry Barry Stadium) on Nov. 23, 1963. While the nation was mourning the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, Cheyenne Mountain was trying to decide if it should play football.

Eventually, coach Eldon Helm made the call that the Indians would play, and they came away with a 27-13 win over Lamar.

Greg Cramblit ran for three touchdowns and Gary Graham found Al Kemper on a 6-yard pass for one additional score. Lamar outgained Cheyenne Mountain 308-209 on the day, but the only thing that counted in the end was the final score.

**

1995 Holyoke vs. 2004 Limon: Winner faces 1985 Lakewood

1995 Holyoke
Small Towner: Beat West Grand in the state title game
Holyoke had perhaps the greatest start to a championship game in state history.

Zane Lock snagged a pick-six off West Grand’s Thad Corlett just over a minute into the game, setting the tone for the remainder of the day. Dragons sophomore Aaron Sprague scored three touchdowns on the day – one rushing, two receiving. Holyoke quarterback Chad Elder broke for an 87-yard touchdown run on the final play of the first half to give Holyoke a 34-0 lead at the break.

The offensive output leveled off, but with the game well in control, the Dragons rolled to their first title in 13 years and third in school history.

2004 Limon
G.O.A.T.s: Perhaps the greatest Limon football team ever
There was a genuine problem when trying to evaluate the championship teams out of Limon to determine which one was the “greatest.” For starters, the Badgers have 22 football titles in their school history, dating back to 1933. On four different occasions, the school rattled off at least three titles in a row.

Lloyd Gaskill, Chris Brown and Mike O’Dwyer have their hands all over the football pedigree at the school. So when O’Dwyer, the current Limon coach and winner of eight state championships, was asked, he pointed to 2004.

“Statistically, ‘04 was the best offense and defense in the state,” O’Dwyer said. And he brought receipts.

Jeff Paulson led the team with 1,371 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns. Tyson Liggett threw for 1,253 yards and 16 scores while also running for 633 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Defensively, there was no such thing as a good start against the 2004 Badgers. They allowed no first-quarter points during the season and just 77 all year. It wasn’t quite the defensive effort of the 1936 Grand Junction Tigers, but it was darn close.

**

2020 Loveland vs. 2010 Mullen: Winner faces 2017 Bayfield

2020 Loveland
Underdog: Dominated Palmer Ridge to win the 4A state title

In the days of hyped quarterback prospects and spread offenses, Loveland went old school to wreck Palmer Ridge’s 4A title hopes. The (then) Indians took nine minutes off the clock in their opening drive before punching it in for a touchdown. The defense then held Luke McAllister and the Bears offense in check, forcing a turnover on downs before scoring another rushing touchdown.

Then the Indians picked off McAllister and scored. With six minutes to go in the second quarter, the Bears panicked. And Loveland just increased the lead.

The final result was a 42-6 win for Loveland, and they did all that without throwing a single pass during the game. As the games were held at CSU-Pueblo because of the Covid-19 pandemic, then-Thunderwolves coach John Wristen marched right down to the field and offered Loveland running back Zack Rakowsky a scholarship on the spot.

2010 Mullen
G.O.A.T.s: The best of all Dave Logan coached Mullen teams
A metric that Valor Christian statistician Jon Kozan used to evaluate the 2013 Valor team, lends merit to the dominance of Dave Logan’s 2010 Mullen championship team. Kozan pointed out that the Mustangs were No. 10 in the nation (likely by hsrankings. com as they were No. 17 on MaxPreps’ national rankings).

The Mustangs logged six shutout wins in 2010 and outscored their opponents 199-51 in the playoffs.

Running back Adonis Ameen-Moore went on to play collegiately at Syracuse while quarterback Cyler Miles (a junior in 2010) went on to play at the University of Washington. Logan has had a fair share of dominant football teams, but the 2010 Mullen Mustangs might be among the best of them.

**

2008 Wheat Ridge vs. 2016 La Junta: Winner faces 2019 Cherry Creek

2008 Wheat Ridge
Legendary: One of the greatest endings to a state title game ever
Wheat Ridge has earned enough state titles to make anyone pause and ask which one was the best, but it turns out that the greatest and most memorable championship for the Farmers was their most recent one. They went 14-0 on the year and played in just three one-score games – the third of which was the state title game where they took on Greeley West at Mile High. People still talk about what Parker Orms did that day. He rushed for 275 yards and scored all five of the Wheat Ridge touchdowns. Orms saved the best for last, however. With the Farmers trailing 31-28, he broke a 56-yard touchdown run on fourth down, giving the Farmers the lead with just 19 seconds remaining on the clock.

“Greatest finish to a championship game in state history,” Colorado Preps contributor Brian Miller said on X.

Miller covered that game and witnessed the pandemonium firsthand. Orms stayed close to home to play college football, suiting up for the CU Buffs.

2016 La Junta
Small Towners: Capped a state title run with thrilling wins over Bayfield and Kent Denver
A thrilling win over Bayfield in the 2016 semifinals led to the biggest party in La Junta’s history when they hosted Kent Denver in the 2A title game. Tigers quarterback Jon Nuschy threw for only one yard, but he ran for 98 more and a score.

But he didn’t have to do a lot on offense. La Junta’s defense was elite. Only twice in 2016 did Kent Denver fail to score 18 or more points. Both times, that came against La Junta, and both times it was the Tigers winning the game. To make it all sweeter, it had been 58 years since the Tigers had won a state title.

**

1996 Cherry Creek vs. 1977 Roaring Fork: Winner faces 1990 Manitou Springs

1996 Cherry Creek
G.O.A.T.s: Darnell McDonald leads Creek over A-West for state title
Imagine if Darnell McDonald was a football player first. The two-sport standout was a two-sport Gatorade Player of Year at Cherry Creek in 1996, winning the honor for both football and baseball.

The 1996 state title was a fitting cap to his football career as he ran for 333 yards and five touchdowns in a 48-33 win over Arvada West. The Wildcats coach, a young man named Dave Logan, touted McDonald as one of the best running backs in the country.

“He’s the best back I’ve seen,” Logan said after the title game. “If there’s a better running back in the country, I’d like to see him. He’s at a level with the best running backs out there.”

When former preps administrators and media personalities were asked about the best Colorado football teams of all-time, 1996 Cherry Creek was a common answer. The team was made of more than McDonald, but he was the kind of playmaker that kids would idolize as they began their young football careers.

1977 Roaring Fork
Small Towners: Got blowout win over Brush to win school’s only football title
Three of the four state championship games in 1977 were fairly close. Then there was Roaring Fork’s runaway win over Brush. The Rams scored an average of 34 points per game in their playoff run and gave up more than eight just once, to Gunnison in the opening round.

The Beetdiggers had an all-state running back in Bob Brungardt, but Roaring Fork limited Brush to just 36 yards on the ground. And things only got worse if Brush went to the air. The Rams forced six turnovers on the day, including a 90-yard pick-six from Marty Nieslanik. His score capped the day for the Rams, giving them a decisive 44-8 win and to date, the only state football championship in school history.

**

1977 Colorado Deaf and Blind vs. 1968 Hugo: Winner faces 1936 Grand Junction

1977 Colorado Deaf and Blind
Legendary: Beat Simla 20-6 to win the 8-man title

The legend of coach Joe Sisneros was cemented when his Bulldogs beat Simla 20-16 to claim the 8-man championship. According to his biography for the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame, Sisneros “developed and implemented an innovative system that allowed his players — many of whom were deaf or hard of hearing — to understand plays, coordinate strategies, and perform as a cohesive unit, all without sacrificing the competitive intensity of the game.”

Years earlier, CSDB made headlines with the emergence of Gary Washington, who finished his career as the leading rusher in state history with 6,202 yards. But it was without Washington that the school found its greatest success. And despite playing at the 8-man level, it pulled off a win over an 11-man Woodland Park team ahead of its playoff run.

1968 Hugo
Dynasty Builder: Beat Merino to win the 8-man state title
In the late 1960’s and into the early 70’s, Harold Kravig had turned the small ranching town of Hugo into Football Town, Colorado. And to kick off that dynasty, the Pirates gave themselves a full-circle moment. Merino had beaten Hugo 24-7 to start the season. The Pirates ended up losing another regular season game before catching fire in the postseason.

They beat Kit Carson, and then Sangre de Cristo, to return to the title game where they had won in 1964 and 1965. There, they that same Merino team that had beaten them to open the season. Merino led through three quarters and Hugo briefly pulled ahead before Dave Smart scored for the Rams, putting Merino in the driver’s seat with under three minutes remaining.

Rob Pearson returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, getting in the end zone with just 2:45 on the clock. From that point – and from 1968 to ‘71 – the Pirates owned 8-man football dominance on the eastern plains.

**

2015 Sedgwick County vs. 2000 Columbine: Winner faces 1999 Columbine

2015 Sedgwick County
Dynasty Builder: Beat Akron to win the 8-man title
For six years, the Cougars were the dominant 8-man football program in the state. Only twice during the 2015 season could their games be considered “close” and they both came against the same opponent. They beat Akron 22-3 in the regular season before beating the Rams 36-6 in the state title game.

In the six-year run of championships that Sedgwick County put together, the closest margin of victory in any of those title games was 30, and that happened twice. Both times were against Akron, first in 2015 then again in 2016.

The 2015 Cougars had four players with over 1,000 all-purpose yards. Cole McKinley led the way with 1,649, and also scored a team-high 28 touchdowns.

2000 Columbine
G.O.A.T.s: Beat Bear Creek to win a second consecutive 5A championship
Poor Justin Holland. The Bear Creek quarterback had himself a season in 2000 when he set the state career passing yard record, ultimately ending with 10,565. A state title would have been the perfect cap on a legendary high school career.

But in the 5A state championship game, he came up against one of the best defenses in state history. That’s the sentiment from MaxPreps’ Gerry Valerio, who was watching more high school football than perhaps anyone else at this time.

The 1999 Rebels were good, but the 2000 Rebels were great.

The Rebels shut Holland down, and a year after the most emotional state title win in Colorado history, they put together a performance fitting for a proper football celebration.