Pink unites football foes

It was a big Continental League North game between Mountain Vista and Rock Canyon.The Golden Eagles won, 28-24, but the real winner was what was going on to support a worthy cause.It was Rock Canyon’s annual Pink-Out game to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Jill Lamb Foundation.Jill Lamb, wife of Jaguars coach Brian Lamb, died from breast cancer in 2008. Susan Cash, wife of Mountain Vista coach Ric Cash, was diagnosed with breast cancer six months ago and is undergoing treatment.Shea Stadium for the Oct. 10 game was shaded in pink, with spectators donning pink shirts. Most players on both teams appeared with something pink — socks, tape, sleeves, gloves, towels, eye shadow and even a little pink hair.Lauren Lamb, coach Brian’s daughter, and Cash’s daughter Kat both told emotional stories about their mothers to the crowd before the game.”It put the focus on something bigger than the game and bigger than the individual players,” said Brian Lamb. “Stats show that one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lives. So it’s definitely important to bring awareness to try to help some people out.”Pulling double dutyDouglas County junior Ryan Lee hasn’t had much practice on the pitch this season because he is more needed for gridiron practice.Lee is playing both soccer and football. And no, he’s not a kicker for the Huskies football team. He is an outside linebacker.He’s also the second-leading Continental League goal scorer with 13 and is second in points with 36. He is fourth among Class 5A goal scorers and ranks fifth in points in Class 5A statistics.Gotta hand it to himIt’s not unusual and often times can be helpful.Mountain Vista golfer Chris Raap smacks golf balls a long way hitting right handed, but when he pulls his putter out of the bag he putts lefthanded.Raap switched to a lefthanded putter because he was dealing with “yips” putting righthanded. Many golfers have tried this approach to give them a new feel or look.Who’s hot?It’s time to look at players who are hot. We’ll forget about who is not.Holy Family quarterback Chris Helbig has completed 145 of 219 passes for 2,590 yards and 30 touchdowns in six games.He has a chance to set state passing records. If he keeps up the same pace for the remaining four regular season games, the senior will pass for 4,317 yards and 50 touchdowns — and that won’t include state playoff games, which would also be included in state records.The state record for passing yards is 4,181 and 52 for TD passes.In soccer, Heritage keeper Jack Schulze leads the Class 5A state statistics with 96 saves followed by Cherry Creek’s Garrett Brown with 89.Chaparral’s Jordan Smith is the Class 5A softball home run leader with 10, one more than Kellsi Peterson of Highlands Ranch. Douglas County’s Clara Larson tops all Class 5A batters with 42 runs batted in while Shannon Bass of Chaparral, Hunter Huser of Mountain Range and Ralston Valley’s Rylie Strong share the lead for pitching wins with 16.In Class 5A volleyball, two Highlands Ranch players are state leaders. Junior Melissa Evans has 259 kills and senior Maddie Betz has been credited with 565 assists.What the polls sayCHSAANow.com released its latest polls for the various high school sports on Oct. 12.Ponderosa, an unranked 4A soccer team, upset ThunderRidge, ranked second in Class 5A, but voters were not impressed. The Mustangs remained unranked despite the 1-0 Contiental League victory on Oct. 8 over ThunderRidge. The Grizzlies slipped to fourth in the 5A ratings.SkyView Academy (12-4) gained some notice and climbed to ninth in the CHSAANow.com Class 3A volleyball poll and was ranked just behind Lutheran.The first-place votes in the Class 5A volleyball poll were divided. Top-ranked Cherokee Trail got six first place votes, Chatfield one, Rock Canyon one, Mountain Vista two and Brighton two.Jim Benton is a sports writer for Colorado Community Media. He has been covering sports in the Denver area since 1968. He can be reached at jbenton@coloradocommunitymedia.com or at 303-566-4083.