Surprising Ralston Valley keeps rolling in Colorado

Through seven weeks, six teams remain unbeaten in Class 5A football. It’s fair to say Ralston Valley is the least forecasted of the bunch to be unscathed this deep into the season.

But the Mustangs, up from 4A, have run the table and now foes have no choice but to take the Mustangs seriously. Entering last weekend, Ralston Valley (Arvada) was without a keynote win, a victory that fully proved the Mustangs had arrived. They got it in the form of a 35-14 trouncing of then-No. 3 Arvada West in which Jeff Grenfell rushed for three touchdowns and Reilly Hauptman two.

The Mustangs (7-0), who moved up to No. 3 in the MaxPreps.com rankings this week, will put their undefeated season on the line Friday against Pomona (Arvada) (7:30 p.m., North Area Athletic Complex). The No. 8 Panthers are riding a four-game winning streak of their own.

Other 7-0 squads include: Mullen (Denver), Regis Jesuit (Aurora), Highlands Ranch, Columbine (Littleton) and Rangeview (Aurora).



2. State softball brackets set: Softball champions will be crowned this weekend in all three classes, as the brackets for the state softball tournament (Friday and Saturday, Aurora Sports Park), have been unveiled.

Three-time defending champion Legacy (Broomfield) (21-0) is the top seed in 5A and two-time champ Wheat Ridge (20-1) is tops in 4A. Berthoud garnered the No. 1 seed in 3A, which is a change because that spot formerly always belonged to Erie. The Tigers have moved up to 4A, where they are a No. 5 seed at 18-3.

“You have to give Wheat Ridge credit, because they definitely are the team to beat and clearly deserve to be where they’re at,” Erie coach Bob Bledsoe said.

3. 2A's No. 2 shut out: Platte Canyon watched its magical 6-0 start fade to a thud Saturday when the Huskies were shut out 28-0 at home by Kent Denver (Englewood). Clay Desjardin scored two touchdowns for Kent Denver, which limited Platte Canyon to 138 yards, all on the ground.

“They won every phase of the game,” said Platte Canyon coach Mike Schmidt, whose team fell to No. 9.

4. Golden Eagles sweep regular season: The Mountain Vista (Highlands Ranch) boys soccer team will enter the postseason unblemished and untied after Tuesday’s 5-2 win against Highlands Ranch left the Golden Eagles at 14-0. Unlike most marquee squads, the Golden Eagles use a goalie rotation. Junior Christian Nicolosi is 9-0 and senior Trevor Obering is 5-0.



5. Pine Creek rebounds: After absorbing its first regular-season loss in 31 games last week, Pine Creek (Colorado Springs) faced another stern test Friday in unbeaten Falcon. On the heels of a 22-21 loss to Pueblo West, the Eagles got well in hurry. They smashed Falcon 47-14, re-establishing themselves as one of the top teams in 4A. Pine Creek had 12 plays of 20-plus yards in the rout. On a disappointing note, Falcon sophomore running back Keenan Britton suffered what was believed to be a torn ACL in the first half and likely is finished for the season.

TOP PERFORMERS
* Christian McCaffrey, Valor Christian (Highlands Ranch): The son of former NFL receiver Ed McCaffrey makes his living on the gridiron as a running back, and Friday, he broke out. In a 42-3 win against Castle View, five of McCaffrey’s eight rushes resulted in touchdowns and he finished with 191 yards.

* Tyler Smith, Eaton: Smith had a great quarter Friday in the Reds’ 34-29 upset of Brush. Smith had an 84-yard kickoff return, a 48-yard reception that set up the go-ahead touchdown and an interception to seal the win with 17 seconds to play.

* Chaz Butler, Overland (Aurora): In a 49-26 setback to Cherry Creek, the Trailblazers running back racked up 330 yards, including two 80-yard touchdowns. His counterpart Taylor Wooten of Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village) had 265 on the ground with two touchdowns.

* Dan Ryerson, Aspen: The Skiers got some bad news last week when leading rusher Nick Ufkes’ season was lost because of a knee injury. Ryerson alleviated some of those concerns by rushing for 192 yards and four touchdowns in Aspen’s 37-7 win against Cedaredge. The Skiers (7-0) remained top-ranked in 2A.

* Bailey Karst, Eaglecrest (Centennial): Karst was instrumental in the Raptors clinching the Centennial League volleyball title Tuesday by registering 23 kills and 20 assists. The Raptors are 18-0 this season with one regular-season game remaining.

KEY MATCHUPS THIS WEEK
* Highlands Ranch at Chaparral (Parker, Colo.) football (7 p.m., Thursday): No. 3 Highlands Ranch and star running back Joe Hansley put their 7-0 mark on the line against a sixth-ranked Chaparral squad whose only losses are to Mullen and Regis Jesuit.

* Broomfield at Longmont football (7 p.m., Friday): The longtime rivals square off at Everly-Montgomery Stadium in a battle for supremacy in the 4A Northern League. Longmont is 4-0 in league and No. 3 Broomfield is 3-0.

* Colorado Springs Christian at Florence football (7 p.m., Friday): It doesn’t get much better than this in 2A football, as each team enters 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Tri-Peaks League. John Alexander-led Florence is ranked No. 2 while C.S.C.S. is eighth.



* Hilltop Baptist (Colorado Springs) at Simla volleyball (4:30 p.m., Thursday): This is notable because longtime Simla coach Sue Snyder is seeking her 500th career win.

Paul Willis is a regular sports freelancer for The Denver Post and covered high school, college and pro sports for the Rocky Mountain News from 2000-09. You can reach him at gdpdub@aol.com.