Colorado High School Football Playoffs: What to Watch in Class 5A and 4A
The 24-team Class 5A and 4A football playoff fields are set, with first-round games beginning Friday night. Here’s what to watch for in Colorado’s biggest classifications leading up to the state championship game on Dec. 6 at Canvas Stadium.
Class 5A
The Favorite
Cherry Creek: No surprise here. The Bruins have won five of the last six 5A titles, and this year’s team hasn’t trailed in a fourth quarter yet. Both sides of the ball are loaded with FBS talent. Senior running back Jayden Fox (1,231 yards, 17 TDs rushing) is a touchdown waiting to happen. On defense, Oregon LB commit Braylon Hodge and Washington DL commit Tufanua Ionatana Umu-Cais lead a unit that has almost twice as many takeaways (23) as touchdowns allowed (12). Good gravy.
The Challengers
Ralston Valley: The No. 2 Mustangs just went 10-0 for the first time in six years, doing it without all-everything senior quarterback Zeke Andrews the last two weeks. Eight of their 10 wins came against 5A playoff teams, including double-digit victories over Valor Christian, Arvada West, and Mullen. Ralston Valley has never reached the 5A title game, and this might be their best chance yet.
Mountain Vista: Last season ended in heartbreak with a quarterfinal loss to Fairview, a game played across two stadiums over roughly six hours. Unbeaten at 10-0 for a second straight year, the third-seeded Golden Eagles are nearly as explosive as last year’s top-ranked team. Can they get past the quarterfinal hurdle that’s toppled the program two years in a row?
Legend: Jake Heaps’ fourth-seeded Titans have just one blemish on their resume—an overtime Week 3 loss at Arvada West. They have the quarterback (Boston College commit DJ Bordeaux), the all-everything weapon (Ryken Banks), the offensive line anchor (Gage Turnbull), and the experience of last year’s 5A runners-up. A showdown with Valor Christian in the quarterfinals looks juicy.
Valor Christian: If there’s one team in Colorado that can match Cherry Creek in the trenches, it’s these guys. The offensive line is loaded with FBS recruits, weapons abound across the field, and sophomore QB Titus Huard has been shooting laser beams since assuming control of the starting spot, with 814 yards and 9 TDs on 79.7% passing.
The Dark Horses
Columbine: Ralston Valley coach Jared Yannacito must have shaken his head when the 5A bracket dropped Sunday. Go undefeated, earn the No. 2 seed, and your Round of 16 opponent could be Columbine?! Andy Lowry’s 15th-seeded Rebels actually led Ralston Valley at halftime when they met in Week 8 and have looked like a different team since their 0-3 start. Caveman football always plays in November.
Mullen: Any team with a tight end like senior Michigan commit Mason Bonner (33 catches, 574 yards) and a bulldozer running back like senior Dante Dupuch (1,243 yards, 14 TDs rushing) must be taken seriously. Add a salty defense headlined by three-star junior LB Troy Mailo (14 tackles for loss), and the 10th-seeded Mustangs figure to be a tough out.
Three Questions
Just how chalky will this bracket be?
A year ago, seven of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarterfinals, with the eighth team being No. 9 Erie. The year before, three double-digit seeds made the quarterfinals and one advanced to the semifinals. So, what kind of bracket will we get this fall? Mullen and Columbine are both dangerous, and if you catch Grandview on the wrong night, the Wolves can be a handful too. Still, the top eight seeds have eight combined losses, so it might be a top-heavy year.
Can a team outside the Denver Metro make the title game?
It’s been 12 years since a program outside the Denver area reached the big school title game, and 33 years since one won it (Boulder, 1992). With only one non-metro program reaching the semifinals since 2012 (Pine Creek, 2022), the odds are long this trend changes over the next five weeks. Still, No. 7 Pine Creek and No. 8 Fairview have first-round byes, and Fairview was a failed two-point conversion away from an unbeaten regular season. The Knights also feature touchdown machine Toray Davis (35 TDs) lining up all over creation. Overlook them at your own peril.
Be honest: Can anyone really beat Cherry Creek?
With more than a dozen FBS recruits suiting up for the defending 5A champions, the Bruins are a wagon. Nobody will be bigger, more athletic, or deeper than Dave Logan’s team. Still, we’re talking about teenagers here; there are no guarantees even with a team as loaded as Cherry Creek. Legend had the Bruins on the ropes before ultimately falling 13-10 last December inside Canvas Stadium. Columbine beat the Bruins by two touchdowns the season before that in Fort Collins. Who’s to say that can’t happen again?
Class 4A
The Favorite
Dakota Ridge: At the start of the season, Eagles lineman Jace Winchester declared, “If we play our brand of football, no one in the state can stop us.” It’s hard to argue with the results. Dakota Ridge enters the postseason unbeaten, with nine wins coming against teams that will play in 5A, 4A, or 3A state playoffs, and the 10th against a Florida team that finished 7-3. The one question mark hovering over the top seed: What happens when a team makes the Eagles sweat in the fourth quarter?
The Challengers
Montrose: The No. 2 Red Hawks have been knocking on the door of a 4A title for quite a while under coach Brett Mertens. They’ve reached the 4A semifinals three times in four years, and advanced to the championship round last December. They just completed their third unbeaten regular season since 2021 by grinding opposing defenses into dust with a blunt-force run game as reliable as a metronome.
Palmer Ridge: The Bears have reached the 4A quarterfinals or better every year since moving up to 4A in 2020 and are now looking to take the last step. Much like Montrose and Dakota Ridge, the third-seeded Bears were hardly challenged during a 10-0 regular season. Their defense has allowed only 70 points total this fall.
Durango: The Demons started the season with a humbling 35-14 loss to No. 2 Montrose but have been lights out on defense since, allowing just 66 points over their final nine games. Dual-threat quarterback Grady Feeney powers the offense. If Durango can advance to the quarterfinals, they may get a shot at avenging last year’s second-round loss to Heritage on the Western Slope.
Heritage: One could easily put defending 4A champion Broomfield here, but instead we’ll spotlight Heritage. They went 6-1 against 4A playoff entrants, feature a battering ram running back in senior Mo Thennel (1,869 total yards, 21 TDs), and deploy a monstrous tight end in 6-foot-6, 250-pound UCLA commit Camden Jensen. A blowout loss to Dakota Ridge gives pause, but the Eagles turned the ball over four times in that game.
The Dark Horses
Northfield: The Nighthawks have come a long way from a 35-0 loss to 3A Roosevelt in Week 1. They were a failed two-point conversion away from knocking off fifth-seeded Heritage in Week 3 and have ripped off seven straight wins since. They went 5-0 against Denver Public Schools competition, posted three shutouts, and scored 50-plus points in three of their final four games to nab the No. 9 seed.
Grand Junction: This is, admittedly, a sentimental pick. The 4A I-25 League featured three of the top 16 teams in the CHSAA seeding index but only the league champion could advance due to an agreement. The 12th-seeded Tigers closed out the regular season on a five-game win streak, averaging 47.4 points per game. More fireworks, please.
Three Questions
Are the Monarch Coyotes for real?
It’s been 13 years since Monarch posted double-digit wins. Now, the seventh-seeded Coyotes are two wins away from doing just that and waking up echoes of a Louisville program that reached the 4A title game three times between 2002 and 2012. The backfield combo of junior quarterback Nico Rizzello and junior running back Malakhi Payne went toe-to-toe with 5A power Fairview in Week 4—plenty of evidence this team means business.
How in the world is a 10-0 team the 10th seed?
Riverdale Ridge went 10-0, including a win over defending 4A champion Broomfield in Week 9. Yet, they’re seeded 10th, four spots behind Broomfield at No. 6. Why? The rest of their schedule was soft, playing just one winning team and facing opponents with a combined record of 25-74. Still, with a defense allowing just 7.1 points per game, the Ravens always travel well.
Just how wide open is this bracket?
Is there a prohibitive favorite to win it all? Not really. But Dakota Ridge, Montrose, and Palmer Ridge appear a tier above everyone else. Interestingly, none of these programs have ever won a state title at the 4A level. Dakota Ridge hasn’t made the championship round since 2004, Montrose’s title game trip last season was its first since 2013, and Palmer Ridge has twice lost in the championship round. There’s a very good chance the team that hoists the trophy inside Canvas Stadium on Dec. 6 will be one breaking new ground.
https://www.denverpost.com/2025/11/05/colorado-high-school-football-playoffs-preview-2025/