These siblings are a real team - #lakewoodnews

Christian Elliss, a standout football player for Valor Christian, comes from a big family.

The senior is never lonely and has learned a lot about teamwork.

Being an only child, it's hard not to envy Elliss, but having 11 brothers and sisters might have taken a little adjustment.

Elliss, son of Luther and Rebecca Elliss, comes from a family with a dozen children - and eight of them were adopted. The youngest, Colsen, is 4 years old and the oldest, Kaden, is a junior in college.

"It's always fun," Elliss said. "God blessed me. I love my brothers and sisters. I would do anything for them."

He is quick to recall the fun of growing up.

"I can remember when we were kids we would be able to set up whole teams," he said. "We would go out in the backyard and play baseball. We grew up in Michigan. We could set up a whole baseball field in our backyard and we would play baseball. That is probably one of my favorite memories. Or we would be able to split our family up and do six-on-six for football or five-on-five for football.

"It was even better when we would get to play basketball because we would actually have a full team on both sides. Colsen and Mia are younger and don't really play. All the rest of us played basketball. We were used to the sport and we loved playing basketball."

His parents have extensive sports backgrounds. Elliss' dad, Luther, was a standout football player for the University of Utah and in the pros. He played nine years for the Detroit Lions and one for the Denver Broncos, and is now the Broncos' team chaplain. Rebecca Elliss was a collegiate swimmer.

Christian didn't hesitate when ask to name his brothers and sisters: Kaden, Olivia, Noah, Isaiah, Isabelle, Sophia, Jonah, Micah, Elijah, Mia and Colsen.

Volleyball coach honored

Volleyball coach Teresa (T.R.) Ellis will be one of the inductees in the 2017 Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame class.

The induction ceremony is scheduled for March 25, 2017 at the Radisson Hotel Denver Southeast.

Ellis coached for 36 seasons, starting in Texas, and compiled a Colorado record of 467-288 while coaching varsity volleyball at Olathe for eight seasons, Douglas County for seven years and 18 campaigns at Chaparral.

She helped build a dynasty at Chaparral. Her teams went 278-148 and won state championships in 2010 and 2011. The Wolverines were state runners-up in 2005.

Ellis and Chaparral had a remarkable four-season run between 2009-12 when the Wolverines went 108-13. That included a 56-match winning streak than ended in September 2012.

She retired after the 2014 season.

The other 2017 inductees are girls basketball coach Greg Fruhwirth of Fowler, North Park volleyball/basketball coach Randy Hodgson, Overland football coach Tony Manfredi and Alan Versaw, who is now the cross country coach at The Classical Academy.

All-girl wrestling tournaments

Girls interested in wrestling will have a chance to make an impression this season.

CHSAANow.com reports that two girls-only tourneys will be held next year so the wrestling subcommittee can judge whether there is enough interest to possibly add girls wrestling as a sanctioned sport.

The first girls tournament will be at Fredrick High School on Jan. 14, 2017 as part of the Warrior Invitational. Northglenn High School will host the second tournament Feb. 2-3, along with the junior varsity state meet.

Girls must be a current member of their high school team and there will be seven weight classes (101, 111, 121, 131, 143, 160 and 189).

State spirit championships

Those young women and men who are always cheering during games no matter if the score is close or lopsided and those who entertain at halftime had their chance to be recognized during the State Spirit championshipsDec. 9-10 at the Denver Coliseum.

The area state champions were Valor Christian in the 4A cheer and Wheat Ridge in the poms. Castle View won its third straight 4A/5A coed title.

Rock Canyon rallied on the final day to win the 5A cheer championship for the third time in four years and Cherry Creek defended its 5A poms title.

Ponderosa captured the jazz title by edging defending champion Mountain Vista.

Team Colorado plays for title

Team Colorado, made up of 36 eighth-grade players selected from the Arapahoe Youth League and Jeffco Midget Football Association, will be one of eight teams that will play for the FBU National Championship on Dec. 17-20 in Naples, Florida.

The team advanced to the three-game national tournament by winning the FBU West Region by dominating three teams and outscoring the opposition 100-12.

McCaffrey headed to NFL

Stanford junior running back Christian McCaffrey, one of the nation's most versatile and explosive players and a former Valor Christian standout, will play his last college football game Dec. 30 against North Carolina in the Sun Bowl. He plans to enter the 2017 National Football League draft.

Some draft pundits project the 6-foot, 200-pound McCaffrey, son of former Denver Bronco Ed McCaffrey, as a first-round pick in April.

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.

 

 

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