Our Colorado Preps Weekly series is featured every Tuesday on the website as we provide regional updates on high school sports across the state.  This report focuses on the San Luis Valley.

PHOTO BY SHELLY SWING-POLZIN

REPORT PRESENTED BY STONE FARM SUPPLY AND STATE FARM AGENT TORBEN WALTERS

 

Cross Country

The Alamosa Mean Moose ladies took home some hardware from the 3A Cross Country State Championships in Colorado, finishing second as a team to cap off a fantastic season.

Sophomore Sarah De La Cerda led the way on Saturday, finishing seventh overall and junior Autumn McQuitty took 17th, followed by freshman Elizabeth McQuitty in 18th and junior Madeline Castillo in 19th to show off the pack mentality the Moose brought all season long.

On the boys side, junior Jayr Almeida led the way for Alamosa, taking 21st as an individual. The Mean Moose took seventh as a team out of 20.

The Centauri girls won their tie-breaker with Peyton to place sixth as a team, with senior Jocelyn Jarvies leading the way in her final race for the Falcons taking 27th. Sophomore Kaia Skadberg finished in 34th with fellow sophomore Tayte Hostetter finishing in the top 50 as well.

Meanwhile, the Falcon boys dropped down the list, but still finished in seventeenth as a group. Junior Mason Sowards finished 52nd as the top runner from the San Luis Valley in the race, and junior Ren Canty finished in the top half of the field for the Falcons.

 

Football

Alamosa will be heading to Delta to face off against the Panthers in the opening round of the 2A State Playoffs, winding up with the 13 seed in the postseason field after a disappointing 28-21 loss to 2-7 Lamar on Friday night.

Junior Kasey Jones returned as the starting quarterback, throwing three touchdowns for Alamosa, but also throwing a pair of interceptions in his return to the starting job. The Mean Moose weren’t helped in their ground attack either, only managing 97 yards on the ground and no scores.

Centauri is one of a pair of playoff bound teams from the San Luis Valley as they are taking an undefeated record of 8-0 into the postseason after a convincing 55-8 win at Monte Vista on Friday night.

The Falcons led the game 41-0 at the half, and kept the Pirate passing game to only 14 total yards, with Monte Vista only managing another 103 yards of rushing offense.

The Falcons will be hosting the 6-3 Peyton Panthers on Saturday afternoon, while Monte Vista still made the playoff field with a 6-3 record of their own. The Pirates will be traveling to Florence for the opening round where they will take on the 8-1 Huskies who captured the fourth overall spot in the 1A field.

Peyton will be taking on Centauri as their second straight team from the SLV, coming off of a 49-0 victory over the 1-7 Del Norte Tigers in the final game of the regular season for Del Norte. Peyton held the Tigers to negative seven yards in the game while tallying over 400 yards of offense themselves.

Center (3-6) traveled to Meeker and finished their season in a tough 47-0 loss to the playoff bound 7-2 Cowboys on Friday night. The rushing attack for the Cowboys was on point through the night, racking up over 300 total yards including a 166 yard performance from Kelton Turner which included a pair of touchdowns.

Sanford didn’t end the season the way they had hoped, as they dropped their road contest to the Dove Creek Bulldogs (6-2) 44-28. The Indians were tied with the Bulldogs at the half in a close 28-28 game, but a blocked punt set Dove Creek up for the go ahead score and a long drive extended by some untimely penalties aided the only other score of the second half to finish off Sanford. The good news for the Indains is at 5-4, they still qualified for the postseason as the 11th seed and saw a very promising return for senior Kelton Gartrell. The Indians will take on sixth seeded Sedgwick County (6-3) in the opening round of the postseason on Saturday afternoon.

Sargent finished off their season at 3-5 this year, falling to the number two seeded Mancos Bluejays in the final game of the regular season 47-0. The Bluejays got another big night from Chase Moore, who carried the ball for over 140 yards as Mancos finished the year at 7-0.

Sierra Grande will be hosting a first round playoff game this week in the 6-man ranks after taking down Branson/Kim 51-8 over the weekend. The Panthers are getting a familiar face in the opening round, as after having to travel to face the now 6-2 Bearcats in last weekend’s game, the 8-0 Panthers will host the same Bearcats in the opening round of the postseason on Saturday afternoon.

Mountain Valley was also able to sneak into the postseason picture as the 16th seed for 6-man after a convincing 48-0 win over Kiowa to close out the year. The Indians saw sophomore Riley Heater go a perfect eight for eight in the game, throwing for 171 yards and four touchdowns in the win. They will head to the top seeded Cheyenne Wells Tigers who enter the postseason at 9-0 with a noon kickoff scheduled for Saturday.

The offense came to play on Friday in La Veta as the Red Hawks put on a show to close out their season. Primero let the Red Hawks put up 67 points in the first half on their way to a 103-51 win as La Veta finished the season at 3-7 with the win. Junior Joe Autry ran for three scores and 159 yards and the Red Hawks scored ten times on offense to head into the offseason on a high note.

 

Volleyball

The Alamosa Mean Moose (16-7) were able to earn a home regional berth in 3A with a positive four set win over Fowler, who is regional bound at the 2A level. The Mean Moose enter the postseason as the eleven seed, and will host fourteen seed Manitou Springs as well as 26 seed Strasburg Indians on Friday afternoon starting at two o’clock.

Centauri will also be heading to the postseason as they took home the fifteenth seed of the 3A regional field. The Falcons finished the year at 13-9 and won three of their four matches at their final tournament appearance of the year, sweeping Buena Vista, Middle Park, and Meeker before falling to 20-3 Niwot in the final match of the day. The Falcons are heading to Platte Valley where they will be joined by The Vanguard School on Saturday.

Sargent wrapped up their year at 15-6 which was more than good enough to make the regional field. The Farmers took home the fifteenth seed, helped out by going 3-1 in their final tournament of the year, defeating Olathe, Jefferson, and Nucla with their only loss to regional host Dove Creek. The Farmers also swept Cotopaxi and Del Norte on Tuesday and Thursday and will be taking momentum to Hoehne, where their fellow Farmers will be hosting the Lyons Lions to complete the trio.

Sanford’s 13-9 record to close out the season was also enough to qualify for the postseason, as they will be heading to second seeded Meeker after earning the 23 seed in the regional field. There they will get a rematch against Mancos as the Bluejays round out the three team field. The Indians dropped a tough five setter to Ignacio as well as were swept by regional host Rye to offset their win over Trinidad to close out the season.

Monte Vista is the final team in the 2A field from the San Luis Valley to make the postseason field, as the Pirates finished the season at 15-8. The Pirates earned their spot in the postseason field too, going 4-1 in the final week, taking down Custer County in straight sets before defeating Gunnison, Nucla, and Jefferson in their final tournament, with the only blemish coming to 3A James Irwin. Monte Vista will travel to eleventh seeded Limon along with fourteen seed West Grand.

Center’s 12-11 record was just not enough to get them into the postseason field, and the Vikings didn’t help their chances in a season ending loss to Mancos, as the Bluejays, who did just sneak into the regional field, took down the Vikings in straight sets on Friday in their final match of the season.

Del Norte is also on the outside looking in for this years postseason after finishing the year at 8-15. The Tigers did rebound from losses to postseason bound Centauri and Sargent with a four set win over John Mall on Saturday.

Sangre de Cristo was able to scramble their way into the postseason, and will be looking for a second straight appearance at the state tournament when they travel to the defending state champion and fourth seeded Merino Rams. The Thunderbirds are the 21 seed, and earned the spot with a 14-9 record and solidified their appearance with sweeps of Mountain Valley/Moffat, Cotopaxi, and Sierra Grande in the final week of the year. Sangre will be joined by Genoa-Hugo/Karval in the trio of teams in Merino.

La Veta will be entering the regional field of 1A as the 23rd overall seed heading to last year’s state runner up, the Fleming Wildcats. At 14-8, the Red Hawks took some lumps in their final matches of the year, dropping their last four, although a pair of those are forfeits to Otis and Genoa-Hugo. La Veta also lost their Friday match in three sets to Primero in straight sets. The best news for La Veta in their regional draw, is they do get a rematch with Springfield, who dropped them in four sets on October 23rd along with their match with the Fleming Wildcats.

Sierra Grande left the 2021 season in a disappointing way, dropping their final three matches of the year to finish 8-15. The final losses came in their sweep by Sangre de Cristo as well as a four set loss to Kim/Branson.

The Creede Miners took down Centennial in four sets in their final match of the season to close out the year at 7-10. They also got a win against Manzanola by way of forfeit. The Miners will graduate two of their seven girls this year, but bring back a young core if they can fill out the numbers from middle school.

Meanwhile, the Centennial Rams wrapped up their year at 6-10 with the loss to Creede. That was paired with a sweep at the hands of Antonito on Friday. There will be plenty of questions as to what the Rams look like next season, with four seniors leaving the team for graduation.

Antonito was hoping to sneak into the postseason, and with a record of 12-10 had a chance, but came up short thanks to a five set loss to the South Park Burros on Thursday prior to their win over Centennial. Antonito could be a team to watch for next season, as they only lose a pair of seniors, and return their second leading hitter from the season.