Delta coaches Luis Meza, center, and Clayton Curtis congratulate 152-pound senior Hunter Brasfield after an upset win sent him into the 4A Region 4 semifinals.
Hotchkiss senior Joe Boyle controls Ruben Chagoya of Basalt to win a 3A Region 1 title. He is one of 7 Hotchkiss state qualifiers.
Hotchkiss and Paonia boys will square off this week on the basketball courts. Both are 6-4 in league play.
Delta senior Brooke Taylor scores two of her 12 points against Summit after grabbing an offensive rebound.
Paonia 195-pounder Tyler “TK” Kendall sets Rangely’s Drew Collins up for a pin.
Paonia freshman Bo Pipher sets TJ Richard of North Park up for a pin in Saturday’s regional semifinal round. He is one of 13 Paonia wrestlers headed to state!
Surrounded by coaches and his dad, Conner Beard signs Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska Kearney.
Hotchkiss' Jacobe Galley signed a Letter of Intent to play football and study engineering at Colorado Mesa University.
Hotchkiss senior Cody Bartlett signed his National Letter of Intent to run cross-country for Hawaii Pacific University.
Photo by Wayne Crick Delta senior guard Chris Black makes a perfect no-look pass to a waiting Doug Hawkins during last Thursday’s Fruita Monument and Delta basketball game at the Warrior Challenge. Hawkins made the lay-up to keep the Panthers close. In the end, Fruita was able to hold on for a 50-47 victory.Even though Von Mitchell's Delta Panthers basketball team did not win a game in three tries this past weekend, there is definitely hope for the remainder of the young season.
Delta lost its first game of the season to Fruita Monument at the Warrior Challenge hosted by Central High School.
The Panthers' first game of the year showed all the characteristics of a first game. There were missed shots, bad passes, and mental mistakes that plague all teams. On the positive side, Delta had stretches of tremendous hustle and brilliant play.
This game stayed close throughout with Fruita holding a 10-8 lead after one period.
Both teams scored 12 points in the second quarter and Delta was outscored 11-10 in the third frame.
The three-point difference separating the two teams stayed the same after the fourth quarter had been played as each team netted 17 points.
Doug Hawkins was Delta's leading scorer with 12 points and Chris Black chipped in eight and Eian Baier seven. Matt Story scored 16 points for Fruita Monument.
Against Central, the Panthers trailed after one quarter, 12-11, but led 30-28 at halftime.
Central won the third quarter 16-12 and Delta won the fourth, 9-8, to make the final score 52-51.
Delta had an opportunity to win the game with a one and one shot at the free throw line but missed the first shot.
Black scored 15 points to lead the Panthers with Hawkins' 12 points next high. Kenny Wood finished with nine counters. Trey Fair had 15 and Clayton Squire 10 points for the Warriors.
Delta's final game of the tournament was with Legacy High School (Broomfield).
Legacy wasted little time in establishing who had the momentum in this game as they jumped out to a 19-8 first-quarter lead. The Panthers were unable to keep pace in the second stanza and were outscored 19-13 to trail 38-21 at the half.
The Lightning doubled Delta's scoring output with a 26-point burst in the third quarter to leave little doubt as to the game's outcome. The Panthers stayed with Legacy in fourth-quarter play with the Lightning posting an 18-17 edge and an 82-51 win.
Black's 16 points paced Delta's offense while Mitchell McCall tallied 22 counters for Legacy.
Delta won't see action again until Dec. 20 when they host Eagle Valley's Devils for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. Junior varsity action preceeds varsity play for boys and girls.
