DENVER – Make it back-to-back for Resurrection Christian’s boys basketball team.
A year after defeating Kent Denver to win the Class 4A state crown, the Cougars duplicated the feat in 2025 in Class 3A.
RCS muscled past Strasburg 55-42 to take the 3A state title Saturday at Denver University’s Hamilton Gymnasium.
“What an amazing group,” RCS coach Ryan Yoder said. “I always have to start by giving honor and glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and almighty God for the talents, the abilities and opportunities. I couldn’t think of a better group of guys to coach. They have high character, their work ethic is unbelievable, and they are so coachable.”
Resurrection Christian finished its historical season with a 28-0 record, and it included wins over Forge Christian (53-49), Centauri (49-31) and Strasburg in the Great 8. The Cougars have won 42 consecutive games dating back to the 2023-24 season.
“To go 28-0 after going 26-2 last year, we are on a 42-game winning streak,” coach Yoder said. “It is unbelievable. I’m so proud of our guys.”
Strasburg ended its season with a 23-5 record with three of those losses coming against RCS.
There were no secrets between RCS and Strasburg, but the Cougars weren’t about to let the third time be a charm for the Indians.
RCS muscled out to a 13-6 lead by the end of the first quarter and by half the Cougars had stretched their advantage to 28-16. Egan Koenig and Ty Yoder, the coach’s son, led the way with eight and seven points, respectively.
“Our foundation is championships our won on defense and then rebounding No. 2 and sharing the ball and playing for each other on offense,” Coach Yoder said. “Those are our principles, and these guys have executed as well as anybody could ask.”
Strasburg kept scrapping and cut the deficit to 45-35 with 1:32 to play, but then the Cougars added two free throws from Blake Cox which kept his team in front 47-35. It was a good thing since Strasburg’s Colton Holloway drained a trey the next time down the court to get the Indians within nine points,
Moments later Strasburg’s Tyce Bollers made a driving layup to cut the deficit to 49-40, but the Cougars never flinched.
Ty Yoder was fouled at the 58-second mark, and he calmly sank two free throws to keep Strasburg’s comeback from mounting. The senior added two more tosses from the charity stripe with 27seconds remaining to up the lead to 55-42, which is where the game ended. Yoder finished the game with 17 points, including making all eight of his free-throw attempts.
“We knew Strasburg would come out intense because they are a great team,” Ty said. “Strasburg is very well coached, and they have a great team, but we knew we could beat them, and we just carried that mindset with us, and we just played our game nothing different.
“It is a little different than when we won last year, new people, but the feeling doesn’t change, I love it.”
It was a day of celebration for Resurrection Christian as its girls basketball team won the 3A title in the game before the school’s boys team took the court.
Graham Riggs and Cade Crutcher each had 11 points in the victory and Koenig finished with 10. Brody Hopwood and Holloway had 10 points each in the loss.
