CLASS 5A SECOND ROUND STATE PLAYOFF MATCHUP

NO. 4 VALOR CHRISTIAN (8-2) vs. NO. 20 REGIS JESUIT (5-5)

Nov. 10, Lou Kellogg Stadium, 1 p.m.

BREAKDOWN: Third matchup of the two parochial schools, with each team owning a victory as Regis Jesuit prevailed 25-21 to open the 2010 season and Valor Christian came away with a 20-16 victory to open the 2011 campaign. The Raiders played a postseason contest on their home field last season, losing to Fairview in the first round. …REGIS JESUIT: A victory would put the Raiders into the 5A quarterfinals for the third time in four seasons under coach Mark Nolan and the first time since the 2010 season, when Regis Jesuit went on to the state championship game before losing to Mullen. …Regis Jesuit is coming off a 15-14 upset of No. 13 Gateway in an all-Aurora first round contest on Nov. 1 at Aurora Public Schools Stadium. Playing in his first playoff game, sophomore quarterback Matt Houghtaling finished 9-for-17 for a season-high 173 yards and hit John Schmidt with a 22-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, which was followed by Trevor Williams’ 2-point conversion run. The deciding points for the Raiders came on defense, as junior linebacker Joe Bozeman — despite heavily-wrapped thumbs on both hands — returned a fumble 31 yards for a third-quarter touchdown. Alessio Lopez recovered a key fumble for the Regis Jesuit defense in the fourth quarter as Gateway was in position to take the lead with a touchdown or field goal attempt. …With 72 yards against Gateway, Trevor Williams took over the team lead in rushing with 453 in addition to five touchdowns. Defensively, junior linebacker Quinn Vandekoppel built on his team-best 100-plus tackles, while Bozeman scored for the second straight week defensively…VALOR CHRISTIAN: The Eagles — winners of the 3A state championship in 2009 and the past two state crowns in 4A — rolled to a 52-6 home victory over No. 29 Legacy on Nov. 2 in their first postseason game in the 5A classification. It was the eighth straight victory for Valor Christian since one-point losses to Mullen and Bingham, Utah, to open the season. Junior running back Christian McCaffrey had two touchdowns rushing and two receiving against the Lightning, in addition to 125 yards of total offense (81 rushing, 44 receiving), while quarterback Luke Del Rio had four of his eight completions go for touchdowns, in addition to 181 yards. Daryl Hawkins caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Eagles, who had 329 yards of total offense. Defensively, Valor Christian forced four fumbles and had an interception, pitching a shutout until Legacy scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Eagles held their opposition to seven points or less for the eighth straight game and have yielded just 62 points in 10 games. …Del Rio has 1,579 yards and 20 touchdowns, against just three interceptions, on the season, while McCaffrey is the team’s leading rusher (717 yards) and receiver (478 yards) and a combined 25 touchdowns. Valor Christian has recreated 25 turnovers on defense and Cameron Gray has six of the team’s 18 sacks. …WINNER: The winner plays either No. 5 Arapahoe or No. 21 Horizon in the quarterfinals. Based on CHSAA coinflips, Valor Christian is assured of a home game with a victory and wins by either Arapahoe or Horizon, while Regis Jesuit would be at home with a win and a Horizon victory and on the road with a win and an Arapahoe victory.

Reach Sports Editor Courtney Oakes at sports@aurorasentinel.com or 303-750-7555

Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor and photographer with Sentinel Colorado. A Denver East High School and University of Colorado alum. He came to the Sentinel in 2001 and since then has received a number...

20 replies on “Football: Capsule look at Regis Jesuit vs. Valor Christian”

    1. The hateful messages above are far greater “non Christian” behavior than either valor or Nolan as you suggest… Grow up and Shut Up! If you don’t like Nolan don’t play or support program! We won’t miss you!

      1. Have you looked around at game lately? It would appear by the lack of fans that they are doing just that. #notsupportingtheprogram

  2. Everyone come out and support the Regis PLAYERS this Saturday

    Remember : just because everyone hates the guy driving the bus you still don’t want the bus to crash.

  3. The Regis players have been through a lot this year dealing with Coach Nolan but they have continued to play hard to play for each other. Come out and support them on Saturday

    1. If you think this year was bad wait until next year.
      Nolan will be offensive coordinator, several good asst. Coaches will be gone, a large group of players (good athletes) are choosing not to play.
      We will see how fast an administration and group of uninformed parents change their tune

  5. It has been known in the HS Football community, for a long time that Coach Mark Nolan is crazier than a bed bug. I guess you all over at Regis are just starting to get it

  6. You people around regis have always been anxious to criticize the ethics of Valor and its Coaches, now you have one of the worst coaches in 5A and a bad character guy. I guess people that live in glass houses should not through stones…

  7. Anyone ready the hurtful malicious and hateful messages below, be assured this is a very small minority of below avg senior parents who are bitter that underclassmen are playing instead of their sons! They are not in the majority at ALL and overall there is tremendous respect for what coach Nolan has done w our program and our young men! Every program has a few of these parents and here are ours!

    1. RJadmin– so you are affiliated with the Regis administration. I think not. A relative of Nolan, maybe? I doubt anyone truly in the administration would take the time to criticize a group of parents from their own school. I also believe a member of the Regis administration would have a better grasp on sentence structure and spelling and would not make comments after having a few cocktails.
      The fact that several of the posts below seem to be from those outside the Regis community seems lost on you.

    2. RJadmin–If this is truly a representative of the Regis administration then you are misinformed as well as despicable in your choice of deciding that a cover up is better than taking a serious look at the behavior of a troubled coach who you employ.
      The group of parents concerned about the football program and Nolan is not a “small minority of below average parents”- HOW DARE YOU- it is a considerably large group, who up until recently has remained silent, due to fear of retaliation from your employee.
      If you are a member of the Regis administration and you reflect their position the entire Regis community should have great concern.

    3. If its about playing time, and “every program has a few of these parents”
      then where are the comments and accusations on other Regis Coaches and their programs ?
      THERE ARE’NT ANY, Just Nolan, not, Walt Weiss, not, Ken Thomas, not Coach Shaw, Why? because its NOT about playing time. Its about a Coach who has abused his position and authority, a Coach who has disrespected parents, abused players, and diminished the the team leadership through his own arrogance.
      Hopefully your strategy of condemning the messenger and ignoring the message will not prevail.

    4. Rjadmin, If this is (hopefully) someone merely posing as a representative of Regis, the Regis Administration should denounce these comments. If the person posting DOES represent Regis, the parents should take a hard look at who is directing their children and what their priorities and focus really are.
      Leaders who would chose to condemn those who speak up about a very serious problem and ignore, or worse, cover up that problem ?

  8. First, the dates are wrong up top. Valor Lost to Regis in 2010. Valor owned Regis in 2011 and beat them in the playoffs last week. Next, Nolan has changed some over the last 3 years. He would not pray with Valor after the game until this year. Other than that he is an absolute D-bag. What kind of coach punches lockers and breaks his hand in front of his team? Not to mention going to the papers to complain about Valor recruiting when he sent out illegal emails to 8th graders and had to fire his freshman coaches for illegal recruiting. Then they hired the coaches back the next season. The catholic way- sin all week and say a Hail Mary on Sunday then do it all over again. Nolan thought he was gone to Mullen but not so fast. You’re stuck dude. Regis Admin- please flush this turd and let him float downstream to where he came from- Arizona.

  9. I had one son play for Nolan -looking forward for the second- love the guy, the school, and congrats to Valor for a great game.

    1. Good luck with that, freshmanmomagain–With the dissension in the asst. coaching ranks, the pending civil defamation case against Nolan, the admin. being pressured to take action against this bully, and the growing number of key players choosing to leave the program, it should be a swell experience for you and your son.

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