The decision has been made that TJ football will play in class 3A next year
Artwork by Ed Gloor, photo by Kiera Classen
After a few rough seasons at the 5A level, Athletic Director Lani Nobles saw it was in TJ’s best interest to move to the 3A level. “We can’t match teams like Columbine and Chaparral play after play; we just don’t have the size. But with the teams we are going to play against in 3A, not only do we match physically with similar height and weight, we have similar numbers of Varsity, JV, and C team players. Columbine absolutely towered over us and had 160 players, so we really didn’t have a chance.” said Nobles.
Head coach Tim Owens noted about the move, “I can match my top 11 players with other team’s top 11 players, but then we drop off after that because they have so many more players. But I believe 3A to be as competitive as anyone else; we still have to prepare well for the games.” Owens hasn’t been in the 5A playoffs for two seasons now, but the move to 3A brings hope to his coaching future. “We can compete now. We always competed with DPL very well, but if you watched the other non-league games, we couldn’t keep up. This is a whole new chance for our program.”
TJ football will be the only TJ sports team to move to 3A. The tentative league that TJ looks to play in 3A is the Northern League made up of: Centaurus, Denver North, Erie, Frederick, and Holy Family. The other Metro West League of 3A looks to be: Alameda, Arvada, Conifer, D’evelyn, Evergreen, Denver Lutheran, and Summit. Denver North will be the only DPS school that will remain a league game, but TJ still has to fill the other five games of non-league games, and Nobles has requested out to: Montbello, George Washington, Kennedy, and Lincoln. Nobles said, “I want to still have our old rivalries and prove that we can still win. So, I chose match-ups for our team. That would be sad for us without them. I want to offer exciting games for our players and our fans – even if we are moving to 3A – and still keep our rivalries.”
There is a lot more optimism now that TJ is on the move to 3A. “A ring is a ring. Jewelry is jewelry. I want the players, the students, the community, the fans, and the alumni to experience us winning a state championship,” said Nobles. “After moving to 3A, it will be like comparing apples to apples for us. Expect closer games, more offense created, and a chance to play good defense. We want to start making some postseason runs, and keep fans interested in the games. There is nothing like going deep into the playoffs. We still have to work hard, but 3A gives the players a chance to prove hard work does payoff.” Nobles did have one final concern though, saying, “I just need to work on finding the money to get state championship rings.”
Tomorrow, November 22nd, all proposals for leagues are due, but TJ already has their proposal in. On November 29th, the Football Committee will have their meeting to finalize all the leagues. Finally, on January 19th, the Legislative Council will be the last word on all the leagues, and they will most likely not change any proposals that the Football Committee had made. The Journal will keep updating if any changes are made for TJ football.
