Battle of the heavyweights

57-47 and essentially squeezed the

“ ey were pretty hard to handle,” fourth-year Vista coach Brian Wood said of Homer and Stevens. “We ask a lot of them. ey’re both incredible

It was surely a satisfying win for the Golden Eagles (who also beat nonleague tournament game). Last year, Canyon ended Vista’s season in the Class 5A state playo s, winning e 2023 state tournament is only very good chance these two teams haven’t seen the last of each other. Stevens said. “ ey’re really good.

Playing fast and inducing early turnovers out of the Jaguars, Vista League) attempted twice as many shots as the visitors in the opening quarter. e Golden Eagles led 15-9 after the rst 8 minutes, forcing Canyon (17-2, 5-1) to play from behind — though not from too far behind — claim the momentum and put some distance between themselves and Canyon. en, after seven consecutive Jaguars points made the score 4339 early in the fourth quarter, the Golden Eagles outscored Canyon 8-2 over a 1:27 stretch to push their lead back to 10. e Jaguars were never able to get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Aidan Peck’s and-one play out of a timeout trimmed Vista’s lead to 3632 with 3:38 left in the third quarter, but the Golden Eagles quickly went on a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game.

“ is has always been a team of runs,” 11th-year Canyon coach Kent Grams said of Vista. “ ey’re a heck of a team.

“I told our guys, `Being number one comes with a great responsibility.’ Tonight just wasn’t our night.” atmosphere inside the building. “I love playing against Canyon because their student section always shows out and our student section always shows out. It was great.”

Vista shot 47% (23-for-49) overall from the eld. Cal Baskind scored 14 points, Brendan Diehl had three and Ian Strawbridge chipped in a pair to round out the scoring for the Golden Eagles.

Added Homer, who had 21 points of his own: “It’s always a huge crowd whenever we play Canyon. It’s always a big game.” ers in Colorado, putting down eight points in the blink of an eye to cut Vista’s lead to one point late in the second quarter.

But no other moment brought the house down quite like Stevens’ alleyoop dunk with 1 minute, 24 seconds to go in the game. e emphatic jam stretched the Golden Eagles’ lead to

Hershberger’s stop-and-pop 3-pointer with 1:02 remaining in the rst half — moments after burying a separate trey and scoring on a twisting layup — brought Canyon to within a point at 24-23.

But every time the Jaguars started to get too close, the Golden Eagles went on a run of their own to re-

Canyon connected on 37 percent (16-for-43) of its shots, though many of the Jaguars’ misses came late when they were in desperation mode. Hershberger paced Canyon with 18 points. e Jaguars’ other scorers were Peck (16), Mac Terry (eight), Hudson Ellwood ( ve), Kasen Lehman (three) and Reid Finch (two).

BY JIM BENTON SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

National Letter of Intent signing day was Feb. 3 and here is a list of all athletes this year who have been reported by high schools to have signed and which colleges they will be attending next season. If schools did not report athletes, they are not listed.

Arapahoe: Samuel Bsllas, football, Fort Lewis; Rylee Buesing, soccer, Dominican; Makaiah Carlson, soccer, Black Hills State; Addison Craig, soccer, John Brown; Addie Doyle, soccer, Air Force; Brynn Dzengelewski, eld hockey, Maine; Ava Escorcia, track and eld, Colorado State; Fred Fulkerson, lacrosse, Christopher Newport; Matthew Greene, football, UNLV; Finnegan Hauhuth, lacrosse, Maryland; Noah Hilgert, lacrosse, Colorado Mesa; Ryan Johnston, swimming, Kansas; Emily Lamontagne, track and eld, North Carolina; Lindsey Louder, swimming, Tampa; Taylor Miller, softball, Furman; Ava Mitchell, track and eld, Northern Arizona; Antonia Mohren, soccer, Virginia Wesleyan; Graydon Pytlinski, baseball, Coe; Ty Scheckenbach, lacrosse, Lindenwood; Eva Searle, lacrosse, Kent State; Jackson Smith, football, Northern Colorado; Sydney White, basketball, California Baptist Castle View: Annabell Haugen, soccer,Adams State; Rielley McNeill, track and eld, Chicago; Luke Cushman, golf, Boise State; Kade Bracken, golf, Oregon Institute of Technology; Riley Schultz, lacrosse, Marquette; Samantha Hughes, lacrosse, Florida; Evelyn Tanella, lacrosse, San Diego State; Ace Malone, track and eld, Miami; Cooper Harrison, football, Adams State; Cole Stanley, football, Fort Lewis; Mason Rego, baseball, Morningside; Owen Clark, track and eld, Metro