Zach Schmeeckle, the first-year varsity player at Silver Creek, continued his breakout senior campaign in an opening round victory against Northfield Wednesday night.

The 6-foot-3 shooting guard had accrued respect from opposing players and coaches throughout the winter season, many of whom were seeing him for the first time.

Mead star Tucker Mills called him “fearless” after their meetup earlier in the month. Centaurus coach Travis Maron added that he’s the kind of scorer who can beat you from wherever.

And the legacy just grows.

Moving the Raptors into the Class 5A round of 16, Schmeeckle scored 21 in a 60-51 win over the Nighthawks, his seventh straight game with at least 20 points. His 20.3 PPG this season ranks him fifth in the classification.

With him in the lead, No. 15 Silver Creek will travel to No. 2 Mesa Ridge Saturday. The Grizzlies moved to 24-0 on the season after their 24-point win over No. 31 Adams City in the first round.

In this week’s look at the big classifications in boys basketball, we’ll focus on a couple double-digit seeds who look like they could make a deep postseason run in 6A, 5A and 4A.

Class 5A

No. 15 Silver Creek: The Raptors (16-8) really have no business being in the classification’s round of 16.

But who cares?

Coming into the winter, the Raptors graduated their entire varsity roster, returning just two JV-varsity swing players.

Their new standout, Schmeeckle, was expected to emerge onto the varsity scene nicely. But this? He went from JV starter one year to one of the classification’s best scorers. Basketball baloney if it wasn’t as true as his silky-smooth step-back.

Coming out of the most complete league in 5A, the NCAC, Schmeeckle and the Raptors now have the chance to pull off the biggest stunner of the playoffs at undefeated Mesa Ridge in Round 2.

No. 11 Longmont: The Trojans (17-7) are another head-scratcher. Why are they this good again?

They lost most of their production from last winter, then were hit with injuries that left them depleted of their starting point guard and big man for the season.

And they just keep finding ways to win.

Longmont beat No. 22 Mountain View 59-45 Thursday behind a balanced scoring attack led by Kaden Rose’s 13 points.

The Trojans, who were the last team to beat No. 3 Windsor, travel to No. 6 Lewis-Palmer Saturday.

The Rangers knocked Longmont out of last year’s quarterfinals and beat it in the finals in 2019. Before that, the Trojans beat L-P in the 2018 title game.

Class 6A

No. 20 Eaglecrest: The Raptors (16-8) delivered the biggest upset of the opening round, beating two-time defending champ ThunderRidge by 19.

Now, they’re one win away from reaching the state quarterfinals for a third straight season.

Sophomore LaDavian King scored 23 in the win over Grizzlies, sending Eaglecrest into the round of 16 for an 11th straight season.

It travels to No. 4 Denver East Saturday. East star D’Aundre Samuels had a near quadruple-double in the Angels’ opening round win over Arapahoe, totaling 22 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and eight steals.

No. 19 Doherty: The Spartans saw an 11-point lead dwindle to two midway through the third quarter at No. 14 Grandview. Then, they reasserted themselves.

That’s the kind of response that turns underdogs into a bracket buster.

Christian Drummond had 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting to lead Doherty past Grandview, a team it’d lost to in January. It was his fifth game this month he’d scored at least 17.

Zion Tucker added 15, going 7 of 14 from the field. He’s shot 50% or better in four of his last five games.

The Spartans travel to No. 3 Fossil Ridge Saturday.

Class 4A

No. 17 Holy Family: There wasn’t a ton to get excited about in a 1-5 close to the regular season for the Tigers (13-11)

And maybe there wasn’t much to get disbanded about, either.

Holy Family came out of a primarily 5A conference, and arguably the best one at that in the NCAC, finishing 6-8 inside of it.

After a loss to 5A No. 11 Longmont earlier in the month, senior point guard Eric Quintana summed up their tough road toward the postseason like this: “We know that we’ve been tested this season. Other teams in 4A, we’re looking at their records and they’re 12-0, 15-0, 12-1. This (kind of game) prepares us to play teams like that, where they haven’t really experienced the hardships we have.”

Holy Family travels to No. 1 Kent Denver Saturday.

No. 23 The Classical Academy: Jordan Wenger averaged nearly 20 points per game and seven rebounds in the regular season for the Titans (16-8). Could he now be the star for a Cinderella run?

TCA upended No. 10 Sterling on the road in the opening round and next travels to No. 7 Eaton.

The Titans are 8-1 on the road this season.