In what might go down as the best all-around year for local football teams, 15 student-athletes from Dove Creek, Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos high schools earned recognition on the Colorado’s all-state team.
Headlining the list, Dove Creek senior Kade Hankins was named Player of the Year for eight-man football in Colorado, joining his head coach, Shane Baughman, who collected the state’s Coach of the Year honor in the classification.
With Dove Creek claiming their first ever state title, the Bulldogs picked up seven selections on the all-state squad, while semifinalists Montezuma-Cortez and Mancos each picked up four honorees, for the biggest-ever haul of local all-state selections since CHSAA started officially naming the teams in the 2013-14 school year.
After the program’s first football title, the Dove Creek Bulldogs (13-0) deservedly took home plenty of postseason recognition, as the coaches who voted on the all-state honorees chose seven players and their head coach Baughman as part of their end-of-the-year honor roll.
Hankins would undoubtedly credit his teammates for becoming the program’s first state Player of the Year, and they would reciprocate the praise. Hankins put together a superlative statistical year, rushing for more than 1,700 yards and passing for 1,150, but his plays in the clutch will be moments that will be indelibly etched in the minds of the fans who watched him during the historic 2022 run.
Providing big plays down the stretch with wins over Mancos during the regular season, Merino in the quarterfinals, and Simla in the title game, Hankins made a habit of turning the smallest opportunity into a huge play.
Hankins joins teammates Tyson Beanland, Gaige Cressler, Kendall Gardner, Quaden Huffaker and Cole Taber on the first team all-state, while Audric Chadd earned a second team honor. The group of six seniors and junior Beanland brought the hardware home to Dove Creek thanks to a hard-nosed approach that often saw a wall of yellow helmets either guiding the way for a ball carrier or meeting at an opposition rusher for a gang tackle.
Beanland, Cressler and Chadd joined forces on a punishing offensive and defensive line, as the Bulldogs accounted for more than 4,000 yards rushing behind the various combinations of upfront blocking. On the other side of the ball, the trio dominated the point of attack, disrupting the opposition rushers and occupying the offensive line to allow the linebacking core, led by Huffaker, to wreak havoc in the backfield.
Gardner also developed into one of the most feared edge defensive linemen in the classification, while on the offense, rushing for 700 yards and 14 scores.
Taber joined Hankins in an aggressive secondary, as the duo combined for 10 interceptions. While on offense, Taber served as one of Hankins’ favorite targets when the Bulldogs turned to the passing game.
For Beanland and Hankins, the election to the all-state team was their second such honor, while the remaining five Bulldogs made their first appearance on the all-state team.
Meanwhile, head coach Shane Baughman, in the same season as his Denver Broncos’ Coach of the Week selection from midseason, picked up the distinction as the eight-man Coach of the Year. In 11 years at the helm of the D.C. program, Baughman has enjoyed seven winning seasons, two semifinal appearances and the program’s first ever football crown to his list of achievements.
In a season of historic runs, the M-CHS football team ended a 65-year state semifinal drought, as the Panthers marched through the 2A playoffs to the program’s second appearance in the final four.
The program’s first winning season in eight years (8-4) accompanied its biggest statewide recognition, as four Panthers made their debut on the all-state team.
Senior Caden Cote and junior Miles Frost picked up second team all-state recognition, as the duo anchored a stifling defense that held playoff opponents Elizabeth and Rifle to a solitary score. Combining for 23 sacks and more than 130 tackles, the Panthers duo presented a challenge for every opposing offense throughout the memorable season.
Meanwhile, senior Zander Cruzan and sophomore Tay Wheat – both honorable mention selections – spearheaded a dangerous M-CHS offense, as Wheat broke the 1,000-yard rushing mark, while Cruzan accounted for more than 800 yards receiving. The duo accounted for 16 offensive touchdowns for head coach Ivan Mack’s balanced attack.
For the second consecutive year, head coach Josh Gardner had his Bluejays playing in the state semifinals – the first two years that the program had reached such heights.
The Jays (9-3) collected a quartet of postseason accolades, as senior Ayden Mathews and junior Kail Wayman highlighted the all-state honors with second team nominations – the second consecutive year that Mathews made his way onto the postseason honor roll.
In addition, junior Cole Dainty-Guilfoyle and sophomore Kaiden Wyatt made their maiden appearances in the postseason selection, making the honorable mention squad, after Mancos enjoyed another year in the upper echelon of the eight-man standings.
Mathews captained the team, serving as quarterback of both the offense and defense and passing for more than 1,300 yards and leading the team in tackles. Wayman, meanwhile, posted a 1,000-yard rushing season, while helping to anchor a stout Bluejays defense that ranked among the state’s stingiest groups.
Dainty-Guilfoyle and Wyatt controlled the offensive and defensive fronts for Gardner’s group, combining for 18 sacks and opening holes for a multipronged ground attack that helped the Jays post another superlative season.
The Colorado High School Activities Association compiled their all-state teams based on nominations from each of the respective leagues in the state’s seven football classifications. From there, coaches voted on the all-state selections to develop the distinctions of first team, second team, and honorable mention all-state.
