{"id":41704,"date":"2022-03-14T22:44:56","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T04:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/battling-bulldogs-bow-out-of-1a-tourney\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:02:56","slug":"battling-bulldogs-bow-out-of-1a-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/battling-bulldogs-bow-out-of-1a-tourney\/","title":{"rendered":"Battling Bulldogs bow out of 1A tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Ryan Jarmon (25) outleaps fellow senior Blane Johnson (20) and a Grand Junction Caprock Academy player for a rebound during consolation-bracket semifinal action Friday in Greeley.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

GREELEY \u2013 Seeing a Caprock Academy player named Jordan, appropriately wearing jersey No. 23, break free for a vicious two-hand dunk midway through the first quarter could have easily demoralized Dove Creek\u2019s boys Friday on the second day of the 2022 CHSAA Class 1A State Championships.<\/p>\n

But exhausted after their 62-52 loss to the Great Eight\u2019s top-seeded squad, the No. 8 Bulldogs weren\u2019t about to stand down \u2013 particularly after Caprock senior Andrew Jordan, ironically, was lost to an injured right leg with 2:33 still left in the consolation-bracket semifinal\u2019s initial eight minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that against Caprock it was going to be a hard battle after yesterday,\u201d said DCHS head coach Aaron Hankins. \u201cBut, hey, we don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to be the champions \u2013 maybe (Blanca-based No. 1 seed) Sierra Grande\u2019s not the champions, maybe it\u2019s going to be someone else \u2013 so we battled them hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Tanner Williams (21) is fouled by Grand Junction Caprock Academy's Brody Winsor (24) during consolation-bracket semifinal action Friday in Greeley.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Preston Spigner (14) looks to drive baseline against Grand Junction Caprock Academy during consolation-bracket semifinal action Friday in Greeley.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek junior Tanner Williams (21) is fouled by Grand Junction Caprock Academy's Brody Winsor (24) during consolation-bracket semifinal action Friday in Greeley.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dove
Dove Creek senior Chorbin Cressler (4) leaps for a baseline shot near the basket during consolation-bracket semifinal action against Grand Junction Caprock Academy Friday in Greeley.<\/span>Joel Priest<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI mean, Sierra Grande was a super-tough team; we game-planned for them, knew that we were going to get them,\u201d he said. \u201cSo you know we came out and gave it a 110%, and obviously today that hurt us a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unable to capitalize fully on Jordan\u2019s exit with the No. 4 Eagles up 16-6 at that moment, Dove Creek saw the gap expand to 21-8 by the end of the first, but closed it to 25-18 in the second via a baseline jumper by junior guard Kade Hankins, already locked in a scoring race with Grand Junction-based Caprock senior Jonathon Abshear.<\/p>\n

In fact, Abshear would log all 10 of Caprock\u2019s second-quarter points, upping his own count to 19, while Hankins\u2019 half-dozen upped his growing total to 14 by the time intermission arrived and the Eagles rebuilt their lead to 31-20.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we\u2019ve played tough teams all year; down in our league there\u2019s a bunch of good teams,\u201d said Bulldog senior point guard Chorbin Cressler. \u201cTakes a whole lot of effort, and you just have to have the right attitude. Last night was a long game, used a lot of hustle and heart, and we just tried today the best we could.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it became clear neither Hankins nor Abshear could really be stopped as the sides strove to save their season, each crew began looking for another individual to step up. And while Caprock \u2013 upset 66-58 on Day 1 by No. 5 McClave \u2013 recognized senior Dove Creek post Ryan Jarmon as a threat, the Bulldogs struggled to leash senior Caprock Hayden McDonald, who began the third quarter with a three-pointer after a Dove Creek turnover.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 burst highlighted by a Hankins trey and a Jarmon block at the other end, but McDonald countered with another well-timed triple. And when Abshear booked nine of Caprock\u2019s next 11 points, Dove Creek went into the final frame trailing 48-33.<\/p>\n

Emptying his fuel tank, Hankins drilled two more threes and three of four free throws, but with McDonald going 5 of 6 at the charity stripe and Abshear netting his last two baskets, the Eagles maintained a comfortable lead until time expired with the Bank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center scoreboard reading Caprock 65, Dove Creek 49.<\/p>\n

All told, Abshear racked up a game-high 32 points and Hankins 30, while McDonald recorded a vital 16 points and Jarmon five. Thanks to a fourth-quarter three-ball, Cressler ended up with six points as DCHS\u2019 No. 3 scorer, one-upping the five of Caprock senior Jessup Watts (who\u2019d gotten the game underway with a trey).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking all year how we can\u2019t have one or two guys; we\u2019ve got to have the \u2018team\u2019 effort,\u201d Aaron Hankins said. \u201cYou know, we got here through \u2018team\u2019 effort but in some games; it was just \u2026 some of the guys couldn\u2019t get going. And if one guy takes it off, we can\u2019t win that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dove Creek finished a most-memorable 2021-22 campaign standing 13-12 overall; Caprock Academy improved to 21-3 with a fifth-place finish the next morning still possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an amazing feeling that we made it here,\u201d said Cressler. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t think we were going to make it \u2013 and playing Belleview (Christian, at regionals), thought we were going to lose, get blown out of the water. \u2026 We had a lot of dedication, took it to \u2019em; I\u2019m proud of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was historic, and I\u2019d been telling these guys all week: Enjoy this whole week \u2013 this \u2018party\u2019 while we\u2019re here \u2013 and remember it for the rest of your lives!\u201d Aaron Hankins stated. \u201cIt might be 50 years from now before this happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caprock Academy ousts Dove Creek boys 65-49<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85068,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41704\/revisions\/85068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41704"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}