YOUR AD HERE »

Prep Notebook: Coal Ridge to host volleyball regional; Glenwood’s football playoff hopes still alive

Jon Mitchell
jmitchell@postindependent.com

Coal Ridge High School’s volleyball team set a goal at the beginning of the season to host a regional round of the Class 3A state tournament.

On Monday, the Titans achieved that goal when they were awarded one of 12 three-team regional tournaments when the Colorado High School Activities Association announced its volleyball seeding on its website, http://www.CHSAAnow.com.

The Titans (17-6 overall), winners of the Class 3A Western Slope League title this season, will host a regional tournament for the second consecutive season. They’ll be seeded 11th in the 36-team tournament bracket and will host No. 14-seeded Eagle Ridge and No. 26 St. Mary’s Academy.



Just because Coal Ridge is hosting a regional doesn’t mean it’ll get easy opponents. Eagle Ridge (18-2) won the Confluence League title and currently has a 13-match winning streak. St. Mary’s Academy (12-11) finished in sixth place in a league that sent six teams to the state tournament.

The tournament will likely be scheduled for Saturday at Coal Ridge High School in Peach Valley, with the winner moving on to the Class 3A State Championships in Denver on Nov. 7 and 8.



Also making the tournament field will be Grand Valley (13-10 overall), the third-place winner in the 3A WSL that earned a 25-16, 18-25, 25-14, 25-15 victory against Gunnison in the third-place match of the league tournament this past Saturday at Grand Junction Central High School. The Cardinals will go to the Region 3 Tournament to play third-seeded Bayfield and No. 34-seeded Estes Park.

Olathe, the second-place finisher in the league standings, will also host a regional. Gunnison rounds out the list of four teams from the 3A WSL that will play in the state tournament.

Glenwood Springs still in hunt for 3A football playoffs

The Glenwood Springs High Schoool football team dropped one spot in the Class 3A wildcard points standings on Monday, leaving the Demons with a chance to make the 16-team state playoff bracket headed into the final game of the regular season.

The Demons (5-4), following their 20-13 loss to Rifle at Stubler Memorial Field on Oct. 24, dropped to No. 16 in the points standings. Glenwood is the only four-loss team in the 16-team field, sitting in between No. 15 Berthoud (7-2) and No. 17 Pueblo Central (4-5).

Wildcard points are calculated based primarily on a team’s strength of schedule. The Demons’ losses to Rifle (8-1), Brush (9-0) and Delta (6-3) aren’t hurting them as badly as their 23-10 loss to Erie (4-5) at the beginning of the season.

Glenwood (5-4, 4-2 3A Western Slope League play) will close the regular season Friday night at Steamboat Springs (4-5 overall, 2-4 league) in a must-win game for the Demons if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Rifle (8-1, 5-1 league) will close the regular season Friday at Bears Stadium against Summit. If the Bears prevail, they’ll be assured of no less than a share of their fourth-consecutive league championship.

The Bears share the league lead with Palisade (7-2, 5-1). If Palisade loses its game on Friday at Delta, Rifle would secure the outright league title and be guaranteed a first-round home game when the 3A state playoffs start next week. But if the Bulldogs beat the Panthers and Rifle also beats Summit (1-8, 0-6), the Bulldogs would earn the higher seed because they won the head-to-head matchup 18-10 earlier this month.

Rifle is guaranteed a postseason berth even with a loss to the Tigers on Friday night.

In other news, Moffat County (4-5 overall) earned the 2A Western Slope League North division’s automatic berth in the 2A state playoffs with its 58-30 win at Roaring Fork this past Friday. The Bulldogs will open the playoffs at top-seeded Brush (9-0) later this week.

Earlier this season, Brush defeated Glenwood Springs, 54-21, on Sept. 12.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around Glenwood Springs and Garfield County make the Post Independent’s work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Each donation will be used exclusively for the development and creation of increased news coverage.