After strong performances in their district tournaments, including district titles for the Mancos boys and Dove Creek girls, four local teams learned their routes to the state tournament in their upcoming regional rounds.
Beginning with action on Friday, March 4, and running through Saturday, March 5, the 2A and 1A regional brackets will be abuzz across the Centennial State, reducing the fields of 32 teams in 2A and 16 teams in 1A down to the final eight squads that will play for a state title from March 10-12.
Mancos’ boys program, after winning both the San Juan Basin League regular season title and the District 3 tournament, will invite three teams to the Mancos Fieldhouse to decide the Region 5 champion.
The Jays will host Golden View Classical Academy (10-10), a program only in its fourth year of existence, in the opening round of 2A tournament. Mancos landed the No. 5 seed in the bracket, courtesy of an 18-3 record, having topped rival Ignacio in the district title game 41-33 to complete a season sweep of their rival.
In the other contest in the regional, No. 12 Peyton (15-6, 5-0 2A Black Forest) will play against No. 21 Crested Butte (12-9, 7-1 2A Southern Peaks), with the winner facing either the Bluejays or the Sentinels in the regional final game.
The Mancos girls enter the bracket with one of their highest seeds in program history, grabbing the No. 17 spot in the 2A bracket after finishing as the District 3 runner-up.
Head coach Kerri Morgan’s Jays will take on No. 16 Akron in the opening round of the Region 1 tournament, hosted by top-seeded Sanford. Mancos posted a 14-7 mark this season and is in search of a historic regional round win.
Their opening round opponent, the Rams (11-9, 3-5 2A/1A Lower Platte), boast one of the classification’s premier scorers in sophomore Addi Kessinger, who averages 21 points per contest.
The winner of their meeting will take on the Sanford (21-1, 8-0 2A Southern Peaks)-Burlington (9-13, 5-2 2A/1A Union Pacific) victor in the second round on Saturday. Finalized game times for both Mancos boys and girls contests will be published as they become available.
Dove Creek’s girls and boys will be making their way to Grand Junction on Saturday, March 5 to vie for a spot in the 1A state tournament.
Head coach Julie Kibel’s girls eased their way through the District 1 tournament in Olathe, pounding North Park in the championship game, 66-38. With the win, the Bulldogs take the top seed in their regional pairing against District 8 runner-up Rocky Mountain Lutheran (11-9, 4-1 1A 5280 League).
The Bulldogs (20-1, 6-0 2A/1A SJBL) and Eagles are set for a 1 p.m. encounter, with the winner advancing to Greeley for the 1A state tournament, hosted by the University of Northern Colorado. Dove Creek aims to continue their high-flying offensive performances, as the Dogs average nearly 60 points per contest. That comes in distinct contrast to their opposition, who will aim to keep the game much lower scoring, averaging just under 30 points per game.
In boys action, Dove Creek (12-10, 5-4 2A/1A SJBL) advanced to the regional round after a lengthy drought in district play. Head coach Aaron Hankins led the Bulldogs to a thunderous 61-36 win over Ouray in the district semifinal, avenging a long history of losses to the Trojans in district play.
Even with a loss in the District 1 title game to Caprock Academy, the Bulldogs already had punched their ticket into the regionals, with only 16 teams still vying for the state title.
Their Region 1 opponent, Belleview Christian, will undoubtedly present different challenges for the Bulldogs. The Bruins (16-5, 6-1 1A 5280 League) fell in their District 8 title game, but hold the distinction of being the defending 1A state champions.
The Bulldogs and Bruins will square off at 2:30 p.m. from Grand Junction High School on Saturday, with the winner moving on to the Great Eight.
Several regional contests are set to be broadcast live on local radio station, 98.7 KRTZ, with the broadcast schedules and times available on krtzradio.com, which also serves as a source for streaming live coverage of the contests over the Internet.
