Transitioning from football’s hard knocks to basketball’s hardwood to baseball’s hardball surely isn’t as easy as any multi-sport standout would make you believe.
Now-graduated Ignacio senior Clayton Jefferson has repeatedly done just that, and will revert back to the gridiron game one last time as a Bobcat when he suits up Friday, June 13, in Alamosa for the South in the 2014 Colorado High School Coaches Association All-State Football Game.
Against the North – coached by 2A Strasburg’s Jeff Giger, assisted by 5A Westminster Mountain Range skipper Bryan Davey and 2A Bennett boss Rick Jacoby and underboss Joe Stemo – inside Adams State University’s Rex Stadium at 7:30 p.m., Jefferson will line up at wide receiver for a familiar face in Centauri’s Kyle Forster (assisted by another 1A Southern Peaks Conference aide in Monte Vista’s Gary Wilkinson, as well as 2A Gunnison leader Bob Howard and 4A Pueblo South patriarch Ryan Goddard).
As of press time prior to the multi-sport 58th CHSCA All-State Games, only one of Forster’s Falcons was listed to play in the clash along with Jefferson: RB/WR/DB Jason Buhr.
With the two SPC athletes amongst their targets, throwing the ball for the South will be QB’s Tyler Heinsma of 5A Grand Junction, 1A Limon’s Gavin Liggett, 1A [8-man] Hoehne’s Sawyer Schafer, 2A Parachute Grand Valley’s Tyler Scott, and 3A Colorado Springs Discovery Canyon’s Alec Wirtjes.
And if the air attack isn’t working, the ground force – including 4A Falcon’s Kalen Ballage, P-South’s Garrett Krage, 4A CS Mesa Ridge’s Tremell Stanley, 1A [6-man] Stratton’s MC Griffin, and 2A Olathe’s Trenton Jole – should be. Krage and Stanley were First Team All-Foothills Conference selections, and Ballage likewise from the Pikes Peak Conference; the trio amassed over 4,800 yards rushing in ’13.
Committed to Arizona State, Ballage had been one of five Colorado players (90 nationwide were chosen) nominated to play in the Jan. 4th U.S. Army All-American Bowl down in San Antonio, Texas.
SPC UPDATE
Former Dolores Bear Tyler Weir, who eventually transferred to Arvada Pomona after flirting with staying in the Four Corners area for his senior year, will be suiting up for NCAA Division I (FCS) South Dakota State this fall.
Listed at either 6’4” or 6’5”, and either 279 or 280 pounds, the now-Jackrabbit lineman helped PHS reach the Class 5A Playoffs’ quarterfinals where they fell to eventual runner-up Boulder Fairview.
MORE CHSCA ALL-STATE ‘SOUTHERNERS’
DE Jostin Barron (Legend), S Matt Bogans (Doherty), RB/DB/P Morgan Burnell (Manitou Springs), OL/DL Gabe Cirivelo (Grandview), RB/DB Sean Daniels (Rye), OL/DL/K Tony Darling (Paonia), OL Erik Eaton (Pine Creek), DE Darius Graves (Harrison), RB Henry Hill (Glenwood Springs), OL/DL Blake Jacobs (ThunderRidge). OL/LB Cody Kraus (Pueblo South), RB/ST Zach Lindsay (Denver South), RB/LB/P/K Eric Lopez (Trinidad), OL/DL Liam Mortell (Gunnison), DE Jacob Martin (Cherokee Trail), OL/DL Zach Morengo (Palisade), OL/DL Cody Ortiz (Pueblo West), OL/DL/P Nick Paradiso (Trinidad), LB/FB Joe Romero (Pueblo County), S Aujonte Roper (Overland), RB/DB/ST Eloy Sandoval (Burlington), DL Kyle Schinkel (Sand Creek), OL/DL Brant Seeley (Dakota Ridge), ATH Jake Tarr (Chaparral), LB Tre Thomas (Overland), OL Quinton Walton (Grand Junction), ATH Evan White (Cherokee Trail), DL/TE Jacen White (Columbine), DB Josh Wiggins (Doherty), RB Zach Young (Doherty).