As Littleton takes a tight hold to their new beginning within the football community, one of their strongest seasons has come to an end. Fighting many battles, taking many chances, and coming out with a smile, the players and new coaching staff have shown what is truly possible within the team.
Introducing a new coaching staff to the team has begun a new chapter for our community. Head Coach Zeric Martinez has made a tremendous impact to our team this past year. Changing the attitude and goals of the team to make success and achievement a true possibility.
“The excitement that they still have after the season that we’ve had, everybody is still going really strong. We coach really hard, we demand a lot as far as fundamentally, but we also love them up and we try to build those personal relationships with them all,” said Martinez
Football is a family; a group that is important to one another and important to our local community.
“With the coaches never giving up, the players have never given up,” said captain Dakota Palin.
Thanks to our new coaching staff and the ability of the players, the season ends with amazing plays and tactical teamwork that put us in the mindset of winners and knowing what is truly possible and coming out with a 35-12 win in an otherwise 0-10 season.
“We still won even though we only had 17 players,” posted Arthur Pingarron on social media after the game.
The season had its tough moments, however we came out at the end fighting. Never giving up. No matter the loss, no matter the injury, the team came out with no less determination than at the beginning.
Statistically the best team of the fall season, Boys Tennis placed second in the region behind only Mullen High School. Like many of Littleton’s teams this year they faced the challenge of a new coach. Canon Sullivan was introduced as head coach in place of Ed Doyle.
“It was a motivating vibe… he was authoritative and good with everybody, it felt kinda like he was one of us,” said Senior Jake Beutelcies.
A recurring theme of fall sports is the small number of seniors on the teams. The seniors class runs the lowest enrollment numbers at Littleton clocking in at only 278 in the 2018 enrollment characteristics. On the tennis team there were only three seniors.
“They thought they ran the team… it was annoying I wish there were more seniors,” said Beutelcies.
Overall the team showed considerable improvement this year; jumping from an unranked spot to second place in the league. But in terms of state rankings they decreased their total points. Last year the doubles two team of junior Jake Beutelcies and then sophomore Reid Fornstrom team secured two points at the state meet. This year Beutelcies stayed in doubles two but switched partners to senior Avry Streve.
“The chemistry was better with Avry,” said Beutelcies.
The team as a whole on the year grew. But Tennis is a personal sport and although they came in second in the region they had no placements in 4a state.
The Littleton Boys Soccer team is ending their season with a record of 6-8-2 after their playoff game on Saturday against Battle Mountain, the number one seed. Players report a hard-fought game, although they lost 4-0.
“That was tough. We played really well in the first half, it was just playing against the first place team, up in Vail, it was definitely tough.” said sophomore Chase Shepherd.
This year’s team is a young one, with 7 sophomores, one freshman, and a total of only 17 players on the roster. The Lions are coached by Pedja Vajzovic and assistant coach Mike Montgomery. Nick Zirkle and Sebastian Garnica were this year’s Varsity team captains. As is typical for a young team, the more the season wore on, the better they began to get.
“It was a rough start to the season, because there was a limited amount of returning players on varsity, but as the season went on there wasn’t really much of a difference,” said senior Nick Zirkle.
The season opened on August 26, 2019, with a game against rival school Denver North. After two ties and three losses, Littleton won their first game in overtime against Ponderosa on September 10. The Lions also won their games against Dakota Ridge, D’Evelyn, Wheat Ridge, Standley Lake, and Green Mountain.
“A down for the season was the Evergreen game. We really hoped to win, but ended up losing 2-1,” said sophomore Will Grenawalt.
The Lions are proud of the outcome of their season and feel some of their best games were against Arapahoe, Standley Lake and Green Mountain. On September 4th, the Lions faced off in a neutral tournament against Arapahoe. This game went into double overtime and the Lions were very evenly matched and proud of the results, despite the 3-2 loss, as Arapahoe was ranked second in the state last year.
For their last league game of the season on November 2, the team played Green Mountain. Green Mountain scored first. Soon after, senior Jorge Aguilar scored two quick goals on the opposing team, giving Littleton the lead.
“Then they came back, but we sealed it with a penalty kick (PK) in the last 30 seconds,” said Shepherd.
This goes to show how the team refused to give up, even when they are down and the game is almost over. Overall, the team feels that their fast-paced play was integral to their wins.
“Probably one of our biggest strengths was our team chemistry, we were all super close and worked for each other in games,” said Zirkle.
Graduating at the end of this school year are Nick Zirkle, Sebastian Garnica, Jacob Bubelis, Logan McLaughlin, and Jorge Aguilar.
Next season, the team plans to continue their hard work both on and off the field and looks forward to welcoming new members to the team. They hope to see you cheering them on down at the fields.
Volleyball finished an unsuccessful but wholesome season with a 2-0 loss at Northridge High School. They finished with a total 4-19 record and increased team reliance and their base for the future.
“We only won two games during our regular season, but we were probably the best in our tournaments and we just played really well together,” said Junior Allison Groustra.
The team says goodbye to seniors Addie Bouck, Kambrie Kugeler, Kira Nelson, and Lauren Law.
“We all got really, really close and we just played together so I’m really sad to see the seniors go,” said Groustra.
The team moved to a new coach this year. JV coach Jessica Encinas moved up to head coach in the place of Jill Fitzpatrick.
“I think she did really well for her first year but I’m not gonna talk much about her,” said Groustra.
The team largely mirrored their last season under the new coach with a larger emphasis on working together. The team reportedly operated more as a program rather than four seperate teams.
“We all depended on each other through the season which we hadn’t really had to do before,” said Groustra.
In 2020 the varsity team will have a strong base of eight experienced underclassmen to fill out the roster. The volleyball team ends off 2019 with a bright future.
“Running,” said senior state qualifier Hans Romine.
The team did, in fact run, they ran a lot. At the end of the season a cross country runner has covered, in the space of 12 meets, 36 miles.
“It wasn’t as intense as I expected,” said freshman Lars Romine.
His older brother, Hans, is a veteran of the cross country team. Capping off his four years on the team Hans Romine qualified for the state competition for the first time.
“Big,” was Romine’s description of the state meet.
Other notable state runners were; two time qualifier Donovan Marshall, who placed 112; graduating senior Blake Anderson, who placed 121; and junior Evan Moore, who placed highest at 52. Littleton sent a total of seven runners to state its highest number in recent years.
“Middle,” said Romine of the teams age makeup.
The Littleton State Qualifiers included two juniors, one sophomore, and a freshman, demonstrating a depth of talent in the program. The team ended on a positive note with high state qualifying talent and a total rank of 19 in the 4a Boys CHSAA State Cross Country Championships.
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