Now that we have plenty of spare time, we can turn our attention to the idiots at CHSAA to see how they're continuing to ruin the beautiful game. This year, the boys 3A and 4A finals will be together at the North Area Athletic Complex (Highway 93 and W 64th Ave just north of Golden in the hogback). This is a superb move (much better stadium, parking, pitch, etc.). However, the CHSAA ***MORONS*** are playing the semis/final for 5A (largest schools) on the plastic at 5 Star Stadium (in Thornton just east of Washington St between Thornton Pkwy and 88th Ave) a day after the 3A/4A final. I hope CHSAA rots in he||. Here's the 5A round of 16 matchups played (or playing) this Saturday: #1 Grandview vs #17 Regis-Jesuit #8 Ft. Collins 1 - 2 #9 Cherry Creek #4 Horizon 1 - 0 #13 Durango #5 Lewis-Palmer 0 - 1 #12 Heritage #2 Columbine 3 - 0 #18 Littleton #7 Rocky Mountain 0 - 3 #10 Smoky Hill #3 Air Academy 1 - 2 #14 Green Mountain (Fri) #6 Arapahoe vs #11 Chatfield Here's the 4A round of 16 matchups: #1 Liberty 4 - 0 #16 Battle Mountain #8 Broomfield 4 - 1 #24 Windsor #4 Golden 1 - 2 #13 Summit #5 Greeley Central 0 - 1 #12 Niwot #2 Mullen 1 - 0 #15 Widefield #7 Evergreen 1 - 3 #10 Mountain View #3 Cheyenne Mountain 5 - 2 #14 Denver South #6 Montrose 3 - 0 #11 Pueblo Centennial If you want 3A. Most quarterfinals are mid-week and the semi's are on November 6 (5 Star Stadium for 5A, Garry Berry Stadium for 4A, NAAC for 3A). Garry Berry is in the Springs near Constitution Avenue east of I-25 (2115 Afton Way). 3A/4A final on Tuesday November 9 at NAAC and 5A final on Wednesday November 10 at 5 Star.
Chatfield beat the Jolly Green Men of Arapahoe 1-0 (either in OT or PKs) and Grandview topped Regis 3-2.
Even though it looks like very little interest, here's an update... 5A quarters (last Tue/Wed/Thr): #1 Grandview 3 - 2 #9 Cherry Creek #4 Horizon 4 - 0 #12 Heritage #2 Columbine 0 - 1 #10 Smoky Hill #11 Chatfield 3 - 0 #14 Green Mountain 4A quarters (last Tue/Wed/Thr): #1 Liberty 5 - 3 #8 Broomfield #12 Niwot 1 - 0 #13 Summit #2 Mullen 4 - 0 #10 Mountain View #3 Cheyenne Mountain 1 - 2 #6 Montrose (Big Schools) 5A semifinals (Sat at 5 Star Stadium, Thornton): #1 Grandview vs #4 Horizon 4:45pm #11 Chatfield vs #10 Smoky Hill 7:00pm 4A semifinals (Garry Berry Stadium, Colo Spgs): #1 Liberty vs #12 Niwot 4:45pm #2 Mullen vs #6 Montrose 7:00pm (Tiny Schools) 3A semifinals (NAAC, Golden): #5 Denver Christian vs #1 Faith Christian 4:45pm #3 Salida vs #2 Basalt 7:00pm
Go Montrose! I love it when a small west slope team spanks the quasi-professional Mullen teams. West slope for life! Quango
Well I watched the 2 5A semis. Both Grandview and Smoky were the better teams (by play on the pitch) and they both won (both by 1-0 score lines). HOWEVER, Smoky Hill victory was pretty dubious. The #10 playing D-mid for Smoky was an OUTSTANDING player, but made 2-3 mistakes. On the last mistake, he dribbled a bit too much as the last defender and lost the ball to a breakaway. Prior to entering the 18, another Smoky player used his shoulder to challenge from the side and the Chatfield attacker made a meal of it instead of trying to fight through and get a shot off. Not only did the ref call a foul, he red carded the Smoky defender for denying a goal scoring opportunity (pretty marginal in my opinion -- but a valid call if it was indeed a foul). This happened in the 1st overtime. In the second overtime, the ref called a penalty for Smoky and I could see no foul what-so-ever. The most painful thing about watching was seeing three field refs using a three whistle system (no flags). CHSAA/HSSO/NFSHSA are just idiots, plain and simple (not only do they phvk with the rules, they phvk with the reffing now too). Liberty beat Niwot 3-1, Mullen beat Montrose 1-0, Faith beat Denver 1-0, and Salida beat Basalt 1-0, soooo... 5A Final, Wed 7:00pm 5 Star Stadium, Thornton #1 Grandview vs #10 Smoky Hill 4A Final, Tue 7:00pm NAAC, Golden #1 Liberty vs #2 Mullen 3A Final, Tue 5:00pm NAAC, Golden #1 Faith Christian vs #3 Salida
Zar- Thanks for the synopsis. I'm a smoky fan (and used to be a coach there a few years back) so I'm glad to hear that they brought the better game. The paper said the penalty was a handling call. The paper said it was pretty iffy. But to be honest it couldn't happen to a better coach than Paul Moline, oh okay I stand corrected, it could've happened to horvath too and I wouldn't have minded. Grandview against smoky is going to be a battle. If anyone out there in soccer land watches and is involved in high school soccer somehow, please write something quick to CHSAA and tell them how stupid the three whistle system is. Why they would go with a system that has only been used here in the states at the high school level is beyond me. Besides losing some of the higher level referees in the state because they refuse to run a bunk system, it turns out to be a distraction to the game on the field. It's wanna be basketball and it DOES NOT WORK.
OK, I know it's been a while since I played high school ball, but WTF is this "3 whistle system"? Are schools too dang cheap to buy flags anymore? Can some explain to me how on earth this works....seriously? -Jason
Well at the High School Ref refresher clinic, the clueless woman that pushes hard for HS refs claims the 3 whistle system is better. What a FREAKIN' SHILL! If she never assigns me a match in her life I should be so lucky! She also thinks that the soft red (a red card that allows the player to be sub'ed for instead of playing short a man) is better than USSF/FIFA. It's idiots like this that keep the beautiful game from progressing in the USA. Anyway (sorry for the rant), the 3 whistle is where you have 3 refs ON THE FIELD with wistles (no flags) in approximately the same location as the traditional center and 2 ARs with flags. If the play is on one side of the pitch near a touch, the far ref can pinch in closer to midfield (instead of staying where the touchline is). If offside is called, the field ref following the second-to-last defender blows his whistle and raises his hand. Before the off-side restart, you'll see ALL 3 REFS with their hands raised for an indirect restart (or at least they're all supposed to have their hands raised). Any of the 3 can blow whistles for infractions. What really happens? The 3 refs are all on different pages and you get whistles from random directions and clog the playing area more. Just shoot me now...*sigh*
3A Champion Salida (1-0 win -- no rain, just windy) 4A Champion Liberty (1-0 win -- teams looked evenly matched in the torrents of wind/rain before I left in 1st half)
Not to mention the furthest referee away from the play blowing his whistle, running 50 yards, past the two other referees to point to a spot and call a foul. In my opinion, the three whistle system was developed so that referees don't have to pass fitness tests. If the three whistle system was better it'd be used all over the world, not just in high school ball in a few of the 50 states in a country that is still young in the sport. By the way, good to see salida win. Now let's go you buffs. Hopefully rosales, sherman, donaldson, gonzalez and edmonds all show up to play tonight (and somebody shuts toft down in the midfield).
GreatZar looks to have answered your question, however, a couple of comments. (at least its not a two-ref system, which is what all JV games get.) 1) At the higher level games the refs look to be in relatively good shape (physically). At lower level games they tend to be... shall we say... portly and geriatric! The three ref system allows a whistle to be near the foul without having to run and keep up with play!? Frankly, I think it sucks! 2) I actually like the idea of a Soft Red (RC and YC shown together). It is typically used for removing a difficult player (read hormonal mouth) from the game without significantly punishing the team. It's rarely used for other fouls and I think it is indicated in the CHSSA rules as such. What kills me is that FIFA's LotG seem to work at all levels in over 300 countries around the world, but High School thinks they can improve it?
I couldn't bring myself to go to Thornton tonight (1hr drive in good conditions for me) and stand in the snow for a game with no relatives participating. Anyway, RMN reports that Smoky Hill won 2-0.