South Platte Sentinel Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013 Page 25Sports

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By Ken McDowell Sports Editor Members of the Sterling High School (SHS) boys and girls cross country teams were recently honored at the annual squad banquet in the SHS Cafeteria. Coach Cheryl Rael presented varsity letters, including: First Year – Sophomore Abraham Arguello, freshmen McKenna Christner, Noah Lemily and Payton Swedlund and managers Alicia

Meraz and Jazmin Fuyivara. Second Year – Juniors Seth Hill and Flor Fuyivara and sophomores Isaac Bernatchez, Cayla Carey, Kyle Etl and Alicia Lechman. Third Year – Senior Marc Tapparo and junior Kaitlyn Feather. Fourth year – Seniors Eric Hernandez and Eric Etl. Individual award winners were: Most Improved – Abraham Arguello and McKenna Christner. Outstanding Freshmen – Noah

Lemily and Payton Swedlund. Outstanding Sophomores – Isaac Bernatchez and Cayla Carey. Outstanding Juniors – Seth Hill and Kaitlyn Feather. Outstanding Senior – Eric Hernandez. Super Sophomore – Kyle Etl. Ms. Cross Country – Flor Fuyivara. Road Warrior – Alicia Lechman. Mr. Cross Country – Eric

Hernandez. Leadership – Eric Etl. Most Reliable – Marc Tapparo. Team Captains – Eric Hernandez, Eric Etl and Marc Tapparo. Hernandez and Bernatchez were also All-Patriot League recipients this year.

For the second straight year the Tigers qualified for the Class 3A State Meet, with team members Hernandez, Bernatchez, Tapparo, Eric Etl, Kyle Etl and Arguello. Hernandez placed 20th at the state meet, Bernatchez 43rd, Tapparo 57th, Kyle Etl 114th, Eric Etl 120th and Arguello 131st. Overall the Tigers placed 12th.

1,799 yards and leads in rushing touchdowns with 23. Debus has 1,176 yards rushing with 9 touchdowns and Yahn surpassed the 1,000-yard plateau Saturday with 1,017 yards and 12 TD’s. Coach Zink said this could be the first year ever that Caliche has had 3 players rush for over 1,000 yards in a season. “I don’t think that’s ever happened before,” he said. “As a coach it’s awesome to have three players achieve that and as a defensive coach it has to be a nightmare figuring out how to stop us. “But I also give a great deal of the credit to our offensive line because they have done a great job all year long.” Contreras anchors the line as the center with senior Jerrod Thompson at left guard and Kingsley at left end. Stieb starts at right end and junior Ryan Walther and sophomore Derrick Pierce

alternate at right guard. Davison has thrown the ball well this year, completing 57-of-88 passes for 811 yards and 8 touchdowns. Kingsley has been Davison’s go-to guy this year with 16 catches and 4 touchdowns. On defense Austin Zink is by far the leading tackler with 236, Yahn has 182, Davison 175 and Debus 131. Caliche has scored 463 points this year and has surrendered just 158 with 5 shutouts. The Buffs will face a Dayspring team they are very familiar with – not just this season but in years past. Dayspring has two eight-man state titles under its belt, including in 2008 and in 2010. The Eagles are led in rushing by junior quarterback Kylar Mai with 2,013 yards on 211 carries and 35 touchdowns. Senior Ty Eichman is the second leading rusher with 923 yards on 114 carries and 10 TD’s. Mai is 87-for-165 passing for 1,311 yards and 19 touchdowns. Eichman has been Mai’s favorite receiver with 40 catches for 566 yards and 7 TD’s. Junior Christian Hershberger has caught 28 passes for 465 yards and 6 TD’s. The Eagles have scored a total of 560 points this year and have allowed just 173

with one shutout. Coach Zink knows the Buffs will have their work cut out for them in their quest for their first eight-man state title. “Dayspring beat us earlier in the year, but we didn’t play very well and we had too many turnovers,” he said. “They like to run the spread offense and they run a 4-2 and a 4-3 defense. We had to change up our defense last week because Hoehne runs the spread offense and at times we were successful shutting it down. “Both teams know each other pretty well and there will be no surprises from either team. We have been playing much better football since the last time we played them and if we execute well and keep doing the things we have been doing we should win.” Saturday will mark the fifth time a Caliche football team has played in a state championship game. In 1977 Merino and Caliche faced off in the Class 1A 11-Man state title game with Merino winning 28-14. In 1994 the Buffs won their only state title with a 13-0 victory over Rye in the Class 1A 11-Man championship contest. The Buffs hosted Merino in the 1999 Eight-Man state championship game and fell 42-0 and lost to Hoehne 14-8 in overtime in 2010.

Merino High School junior Bailey Walser recently ran in Denver at the Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. Walser captured fifth with a  time of 21:36 and has advanced to the Junior Olympic Cross Country Regional Meet in El  Paso,  Texas  on  Sat.,  Nov.  23. (Courtesy Photo.)

Continued From Page 24

Offensive line key to running game

Sterling High School cross country award winners this year were (front row left  to right) McKenna Christner, Cayla Carey, Payton Swedlund, Kaitlyn Feather and (back row left to right) Isaac Bernatchez, Seth Hill, Marc  Tapparo,  Eric  Hernandez,  Eric  Etl,  Kyle  Etl,  Noah  Lemily  and Abraham Arguello. (SPS Photo By Ken McDowell.)

Cross country teams honored for successful 2013 season