There’s a reason that every sports outlet carries some type of training camp coverage, from the pros all the way to preps. Everyone is ready for football. Last week we kicked off our “13 days 13 teams” for the 2019 football season.
The week started in Ault where the Highland Huskies are building a program worth keeping an eye on. In coach Zach Sandstrom’s first two years at the helm, the Huskies have gone 6-4 in back to back campaigns. The energy is different. The practices are quick and upbeat. The Huskies lead by Blake Fabrizius and Holden Morgan look to push even further into the 1A playoffs this upcoming season.
From a program that is just beginning to take the training wheels off, to a program that is synonymous with football greatness in Northern Colorado, the second day lead us to Kersey for the Platte Valley Broncos. With a quarterback battle in full swing between Kade McDaniel and Devyn Lauer, the Broncos face off against Berthoud on August 30th, a game that can be heard here on 1310 KFKA. The defense will be stout again with stud safety Josh Yancey. The question will be, just how big of a chip is on this teams’ shoulder? After falling 7-3 to La Junta in the state championship game, the Broncos look to follow up an undefeated regular season with another Patriot League title. Sitting number two in the preseason polls according to CHSAA, head coach Troy Hoffman said that he didn’t even vote the Broncos to be number one, “I actually voted for Rez.” That’s right, Hoffman voted for the team he beat to get into the state championship to be number one in the polls. At the end of the day the saying goes, “There are only three guarantees in life; Death, Taxes, and the Platte Valley Broncos being a contender.”
The Greeley West Spartans might have more work to do than anybody in Northern Colorado this year. In a league that is among the toughest in the state, the Spartans graduated 18 starters, 11 of which went on to play at the collegiate level. Jason Renouf and staff welcome the challenge and are excited to see what these young guys have in store. Rodrigo Perez is a name to look out for in a ground and pound offense for the Spartans. This is a team that could take their lumps early in the year, but do not count them out as they will surely get better each passing week.
The Dayspring Christian Eagles and the University Bulldogs wrapped up the first week of training camp coverage. The Eagles are under new guidance as long time coordinator in Northern Colorado, Ben Fusco takes over as the head coach. Dayspring looks to be much more up tempo this year and in 8-man football if you can win games in track meet fashion, you could have a lot of success. The Eagles did suffer a loss however, before the season even started. Returning quarter back Christian Still suffered an injury that will keep him sidelined for 3 to 4 weeks of the season. The 8-man classification looks to be wide open this year and if the offense rolls like it could, watch out for the Eagles. As for the University Bulldogs, it’s all about being a family. With 83 athletes out for football this year, Coach Doss and company have been preaching the importance of a brotherhood. This was evident with the chemistry between returning QB Chayden Cox and left tackle Trevor Ballew. After ending the 2018 campaign on a three game winning streak, they believe they have the ability to go win a Patriot West title in 2019.
Football season is closing in and we continue to learn each day. To learn more about the preps scene in Northern Colorado tune into Preps Midweek Wednesday night from 5-6pm and Preps rewind Saturday’s from 10-11am.
