More than three months of games boil down to a nine-day sprint after CHSAA released its Class 4A boys and girls state brackets Sunday afternoon. The Panthers begin their own version of March Madness with regional play on Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, in hopes of reaching the Denver Coliseum for the Great Eight on Wednesday, March 11 and beyond.
Here’s a breakdown of the path the Panthers face in boys and girls play this weekend.
Eyes from across the Centennial State have turned to Montezuma-Cortez as fans took notice of the special season the Panthers put together in the Four Corners while each remaining unbeaten fell over the winter. When Denver West dropped its first game of the season on Feb. 17, it left M-CHS standing in a category all its own.
With the postseason underway and every team aiming to go 1-0 and advance, M-CHS resets its focus on the program’s first chance to host a regional since the Panthers last won a playoff game in the 2018-19 Class 3A Great Eight tournament.
Game 1 of the state tournament pits the Panthers against No. 31 Rifle (10-13, 4-8 4A/3A Western Slope) on Friday night. The Bears feature a trio of senior scorers, including 6-foot guard Alexander Gonzalez, who also leads the team in rebounding. Rifle’s top win came against Grand Junction Central in early January, and the Bears also defeated Garfield County rival Coal Ridge, the No. 11 seed in 4A, during their sixth-place finish in the Western Slope League standings.
In the other regional semifinal, No. 15 Manitou Springs (15-8, 9-4 4A/3A Tri-Peaks) brings a high-scoring backcourt of senior Cohen Barrett (16 ppg) and sophomore Michael Reed (15 ppg) to face No. 18 The Classical Academy (14-9, 8-2 6A/5A/4A Colorado Springs Metro). The Titans’ 6-foot-4 sophomore Wilson Grothe leads TCA in scoring and assists at 14 points and five assists per game, while junior Trace Cook is the team’s top rebounder.
The Panthers and Bears are set for a 7 p.m. tipoff in The Jungle. The game will air on KVFC NewsTalk 740 AM and 92.3 FM and stream at kvfcradio.com.
The Panthers (11-12, 5-7 IML) enter the postseason with momentum after earning the No. 24 seed and an opening-round matchup against No. 9 Berthoud (14-9, 9-7 5A/4A Longs Peak). The game tips off at 5:30 p.m. at Alamosa High School.
Berthoud enters fresh off one of its strongest performances of the season, a 48-40 victory over No. 2 Timnath on Friday. The Spartans feature the 4A classification’s second-leading scorer, junior Sofia Sigg, who averages 22 points per game, along with senior Avery Pfohl, the classification’s top 3-point shooter with 49 made 3-pointers this season.
M-CHS held its final five opponents under 34 points and went 4-1 during that stretch, relying on a balanced offense to secure a double-digit-win season. A victory would send head coach M.E. Haley’s team to its second Sweet 16 in the past three years and set up a matchup with either No. 8 Alamosa (16-6, 9-3 IML) or No. 25 Wellington (9-14, 3-13 Longs Peak) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
