By Elwood K. Shelton BoCoPreps.com
TITLE WINNERS AGAIN: Legacy High School softball players Rainey Gaffin, left, and Jessica Ball celebrate after the Lightning won their fifth-straight Class 5A title by Brighton 4-1 on Oct. 22 at Aurora Sports Park. ( David Jennings )
Win or lose, sports create lasting memories. The touchdown that won the game sticks with players and fans as tightly as the clutch free-throw shot clanging off the iron.
Broomfield is lucky, because so many lasting moments tend to occur at the highest level of play. State playoff games and meetings between some of the top programs once again provided the backdrop of the top sports stories of the past year.
So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are my picks for the top 10 local sports stories of 2011.
Eagle girls keep on taking home hardware
Clutch play in overtime by a freshman guard earned second-seed Broomfield girls basketball its place in history.
Bri Wilber collected nine of the Eagles' final 14 points to lead the team to a 48-38 win over top-seed Longmont on March 11. The victory notched Broomfield's fifth-straight Class 4A championship, setting the team all by itself in consecutively collecting state hardware.
History was not at the forefront of Wilber's mind as she raced to 13 points that night. The freshman had more immediate concerns.
"I just didn't want to freak out and let anyone down," she said.
Wilber was hardly the only standout for Broomfield in the team's third meeting of the season with Longmont.
Bre Burgesser's final shot of her high school career was arguably her most important, saving her team from getting edged in regulation. The post sent the game into overtime by rebounding a desperation drive by point guard Brittney Zec and kissing the ball off the glass for the tying points.
Lightning softball strikes again
It might have been Legacy's fifth climb to the top of Class 5A on Oct. 22, but the team celebrated like it was its first.
The players for the third-seed Lightning mobbed each other after knocking off fifth-seed Brighton 4-1 in the state finals at Aurora Sports Park. They gave each other
STATE CHAMP: Legacy s Jesse Carlson celebrates after pinning Pomona s Justin Frazer to win the 152-pound championship during the Class 5A state tournament on Feb. 19 at the Pepsi Center. Carlson won his hardware as a junior, making him a viable candidate to become Legacy s first two-time state champ. ( David Jennings )
coatings of silly string and drenched coach Dawn Gaffin with water. And, of course, each took their time to hold the trophy.
To be sure, No. 5 was sweet, but adversity has a tendency of causing such reactions once a goal is met. After losing six players to graduation in 2010, Legacy had to learn anew how to swagger with the best in Colorado's largest class of competition. But enduring the season's twists and turns bore impressive fruit for the Lightning.
The team now stands alone when it comes to consecutive state championships in Class 5A and is only one behind the state record. And it did not take long after the state finals for some Lightning players to start sharpening their knives for a crack at tying Erie's state-best record of six-consecutive state championships.
"Next year is already on my mind," Legacy right fielder Bekka Prokaski said. "And there is no doubt in my mind that we have the team to do it."
Tiger girls best Broomfield in meeting of champs
In the final seconds of the Jan. 29 game, top-ranked Holy Family girls' basketball's fans created a deafening roar in the Tigers' gym. Their team gave them plenty to cheer about.
En route to their fourth-consecutive Class 3A state championship, the Tigers pulled off one of the weightiest wins in the history of the program. A strong second-half surge earned the Tigers a 51-46 victory over then second-ranked Broomfield.
Holy Family knocking off the soon-to-be five-time 4A state champions did plenty to blur classification lines between high-performing programs.
"I was a huge game, because we showed you have to look at individual teams, not their classifications," Holy Family guard Megan Chavez said.
Holy Family hit 4-of-9 field goals in the third, all coming off of Chavez's fingertips. Chavez also hit three of her four 3-pointers in the period.
The offensive surge, combined with the Tigers' withering defense, erased the 1-point deficit with which they entered the period, and gave them as much as a 7-point lead at times in the third.
Tigers' Gerry wins second discus title
As he mentored Colton Emich to a state title last spring in boys' discus,
STRONG RUN TO STATE: Broomfield's Ben Forsee runs to a fourth-place finish in the Class 4A race during the regional cross country meet at Lyons High School. Forsee and the rest of the Eagles had a solid season, finishing second in the Class 4A state championship. ( LEWIS GEYER )
Holy Family throwing coach Del Bishop was on his cell phone every 10 minutes.
With Alexis Gerry back at school practicing for her own shot at a crown the next day, the coach was taking Gerry step-by-step through her final workout.
Gerry, trying to repeat as champ, wasn't about to mess with a winning formula. So on May 19, the Tigers junior asked Bishop if he could make himself scarce at practice -- just as he had prior to her winning her first state championship.
Phone calls would suffice.
"He was fine with it, because he's superstitious, too," Gerry said. "I was trying to keep the same pattern going just to be safe. I guess it worked."
Gerry won her second-consecutive Class 3A title at the state track meet at Jefferson County Stadium on May 20.
She had already wrapped up the crown with a 125-foot toss when the adrenaline of the moment on her final attempt helped her unleash her official winning throw of 127-2, just 8 inches off her school record.
Gerry had just watched as second-place finisher Kendra Naibauer's final throw landed at the 120-foot line. Naibauer, of Platte Valley, had a top toss of 122-4.
Lightning boys have best season on soccer pitch
Legacy boys' soccer had a harsh wake-up call on Nov. 3 in the Class 5A state quarterfinals at All-City Stadium. But the team's 1-0 fall to eventual state champion Denver East did little to dim what had been a dream season for the Lightning.
The 27th-seed Lightning's fall to the third-seed Angels ended a program-best run for Legacy. In addition to making its deepest postseason run and winning more games than another other Lightning team, Legacy also collected some weighty wins along the way.
To earn its spot in the quarterfinals, Legacy knocked off sixth-seed Arapahoe in the opening round of state and followed up by upsetting No. 11 Lincoln.
Making the season-ending loss tough to take was that East's goal came on a set piece.
"It was a tough way to lose," Legacy coach Tony Romano said. "It was off an inadvertent hand ball, those calls had been going both ways all game. But kudos to them, they did a good job of finishing a set piece."
Eagles-Coyotes quarterfinal rumble
Broomfield football's regular-season loss to Monarch was one of the worst in team history. Its second meeting with its regional rivals was one for the history books.
On Sept. 16, Monarch beat the eventual seventh-seed Eagles 42-14.
Despite losing 23-21 in the teams' next meeting on Nov. 18, the Eagles produced a huge in-season turnaround against one of the state's top teams. The Eagles forced the second-seed Coyotes to seal their Class 4A quarterfinals win with a last-second field goal by Jamie Falloon.
Running back Jose Fraire nearly delivered Broomfield the win in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, breaking a 92-yard touchdown off a screen pass from quarterback Angelo Perez.
"We definitely had momentum on our side," Fraire said. "But they did a great job of coming back. They kept their composure and drove it down the field."
Eagle girls link up with top spot in 4A
Gritty play in the second round of the Class 4A state tournament was enough to earn Broomfield a top spot, but not a title.
With all three of the Eagles' golfers finding their touch on May 24 at Elmwood Golf Course in Pueblo, the team surged from fourth to second with the day's best round. But Broomfield turning in a 237 on the final 18, fueled by an incredible finish by ace Taylor Dorans, failed to thwart the tournament's top team.
Pueblo South collected the 4A hardware, carding a 483 in two days of play. But the Colts claimed their title by the skin of their teeth, with Broomfield finishing only two strokes off.
"It was a little disappointing to finish runner-up after the way we played," said Dorans, whose sixth place was her team's top finish. "But we also knew (South's top golfer and final finisher) Bryce Schroeder was going to have to take a big number for us to win."
Schroeder did not oblige her competitors; her 75 was enough to sew up her team's title and earn her second place.
Carlson sets stage for first two-time Legacy wrestling champ
After injuries and rough tournaments, the regular season did not shape up the way Jesse Carlson planned. But Jan. 22, it finished just the way the Legacy wrestler wanted.
The 152-pounder won his first state championship with an opportunistic pin at 5:02 in his match. against Pomona's Justin Frazer. The win was significant for more reasons than delivering the Lightning's third state championship.
Carlson won the title as a junior, setting him up to become his team's first back-to-back Class 5A state champion. Carlson got into position to make program history with a strong run that started at the end of the regular season.
"From conference (championship) on, I guess I had my mojo," he said.
Eagles' cross country runs to second
There was an air of disbelief on Oct. 29 at the Class 4A state cross country state championship. The Broomfield boys were supposed to be the title winners, after all.
The Eagles, however, had to take finishing second, after Centaurus came out of the woodwork to win its first state championship. But even in the wake of the stunning finish, the Broomfield boys produced a run worth talking about.
The cross country team was one of the fastest rising programs in recent years, becoming state runners-up from virtually nowhere. Two seasons ago, in the boys' first team state qualification, the Eagles finished 17th.
"The boys' improvement was incredible," Broomfield coach Greg Weich said. "It was amazing how much the team developed just since the start of this season."
Tiger boys' soccer finds another gear
Holy Family boys' soccer pulled a 180-degree turn from its previous season.
The Tigers roared through the regular season and to the Class 3A state semifinals on the legs of one of the state's most talented attackers -- Alex Toderica. The run stunned many, given Holy Family's 2010 campaign consisted of five wins, none coming in Metro League play.
And in the end it was a conference rival that ended eighth-seed Holy Family's season. Eventual state champions and fifth-seed Faith Christian collected its fourth-consecutive win over the Tigers with a 3-0 victory on Nov. 5 in the semifinals at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Source: http://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/ci_19647860?source=rss_viewed
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