After Moving Down To Class 3a, Pomona Football Has Re-emerged As Perennial State Title Contender

LOVELAND — After years of playing above its weight, Pomona football is finally in the correct classification. Translation: Pomona is now ready to pad its pigskin tradition while re-emerging as a perennial state title contender. The Panthers, who long competed up in Class 5A above their numbers, moved down to 3A for the 2024-26 enrollment cycle and the effect has been immediate.

By BETH HARRIS LOS ANGELES (AP) — A nail-biter all night with a Hollywood ending. Game 1 of Yankees-Dodgers certainly delivered. Freddie Freeman hit the first game-ending grand slam in World Series history with two outs in the 10th inning to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 victory over the New York Yankees in a drama-filled opener Friday. “Might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve witnessed some great ones,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts marveled. Hobbled by a badly sprained right ankle, Freeman homered on the first pitch he saw — a 92 mph inside fastball from Nestor Cortes — and raised his bat high before beginning his trot as the sellout crowd of 52,394 roared. “I cannot believe what just happened,” Roberts said.

PARKER — Meredith Barnhart has three state championship rings and a scholarship to Tennessee, but Lutheran’s insatiable slugging shortstop still insists on being best friends with her alarm. Barnhart gets up at 5:15 each morning to go work out before school. She’s determined to leave nothing to chance, and no opportunity on the table, despite already cementing her status as one of the best prep softball players in the nation. “There’s always more to do,” Barnhart said.

Class 5A 1. Mountain Vista (9-0) won vs. Rock Canyon, 70-10: Austyn Modrzewski and the Golden Eagles went supernova on Friday night, scoring 63 points by the end of the third quarter en route to their second-highest scoring output of the fall. The senior QB threw seven TD passes a week after breaking the CHSAA career mark — now at 138 and counting — and even caught a scoring pass from running back Jack Blais in a league title-clinching performance.

Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II has cleared concussion protocol and will play in Sunday’s home matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Surtain was a full participant at practice this week after being sidelined due to a head injury, which he suffered in the first quarter of Week 6’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. Sitting at his locker on Friday, Surtain said this was the first time since high school that he suffered a concussion.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Friday that receiver Josh Reynolds is doing OK but “pretty shaken up” after being shot last week. “He’s fortunate,” Payton told reporters after Denver’s Friday practice. “Obviously the league and the local authorities are handling that. I’ve had a chance to talk with him. He was pretty shaken up, and I’ll leave it at that.” Reynolds was shot last Friday in Denver.