Renck: Thompson Valley’s first state title team features kids who dreamed big, coach who is happy he didn’t retire

FORT COLLINS — The history of Thompson Valley High School can no longer be told without football.

Four years ago, roughly 20 freshmen on an overmatched varsity team promised to be different and dared to dream of winning a state championship. You know, something never accomplished on the gridiron since the Loveland school opened its doors 48 years ago.

“We went 4-6. It was miserable. It (stunk), I will be honest. We just wanted something better,” explained outside linebacker C.J. James, his voice a distant memory from yelling out signals. “Every day at practice we talked about, ‘Change the culture.’”

This is a story of kids who refused to bend to the past, of a coach who refused to take a hint, of a black-and-yellow defense that played more like the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers than high schoolers.

When you believe in destiny, you don’t believe halfway, right?

Thompson Valley 16, Mead 14.

Get that banner ready for the gym, plaster a sign on the Ray Patterson Stadium press box, the Eagles are your class Class 3A state champions.

“It is something we talked about for so long, now there are no words,” defensive end Dane Gray said. “I can’t explain it.”

With the crowd full throat, it came down to this: Mead faced a fourth-and-14 from the Eagles’ 34-yard line with less than a minute remaining. Mavericks coach Jason Klatt called timeout, searching for an equalizer to creep into field goal range or set up a touchdown. Thompson Valley responded with back-to-back timeouts. Everything was set.

Sort of.

“I was up (in the box) saying, ‘Do this, do that, asking our sideline guy, what do you want?’” Thompson Valley defensive coordinator Clint Fick admitted with a smile. “All the stuff I was saying, things got messed up.”

Fick wanted James to rush. James dropped back in coverage. And coach Jamie Steele’s heart plunged into his stomach.

“I was biting my lip,” said Steele, still dripping wet from a Gatorade bath on a postcard-perfect morning at Canvas Stadium.

The play said everything about the hardened Eagles and their unlikely three-year march to a title. James, who is headed to CSU-Pueblo, was in the right position because he had been wrong at practice.

“I messed it up a few times. My coach told me (during the week) to sit and wait, to be patient,” James said. “I saw the ball in the air (from Mead quarterback Christian Hiner) and knew this was my chance. Game over. I finally got it right.”

Fourth-and-14 turned into 14-0. James knocked the ball down and the Eagles delivered their first unblemished record, another distinguishing mark in a breathtaking season.

Thompson Valley does not have a celebrated past. Their most memorable recent achievement came when the football team was featured in Michelle Lambert’s “Warrior” music video in 2015.

Things began to percolate under former coach Chris Tedford. He led the Eagles to their first playoff berth in seven years in 2022. But when he left for the top spot at Fossil Ridge a few months before the 2023 season, Thompson Valley found itself in a bind. And Steele, then the running backs coach, figured he was out of a job.

“I thought I was going to retire. I told my wife I was done because they will bring in someone new. Then the kids started calling me and asking if I would coach,” Steele said. “It just worked out.”

Steele took over as the interim, leading the Eagles to the semifinals. Not bad for a guy who had never been a head coach despite youth football success and stops at five different high schools beginning in 1996. He is soft-spoken, leaving the volume to assistants, even in the postgame huddle.

This is a story, Steele and Fick reminded repeatedly, about the players, some whose parents played on the last Eagles team to reach the title game in 1989.

It is about kids like two-way lineman Seth Kastl, who rolls up his sleeves in workouts and rolls over opponents. About 290-pound nose tackle Josiah Manu, who turns running lanes into roadblocks and was part of a battery of defenders who turned Mead’s fourth-quarter fake field goal into a 10-yard loss.

About freshman quarterback Finley Lucas, whose 41-yard score on the first drive let Mead know that this was going to be a bare-knuckle fight.

And it was about Gray and Adams. The duo combined on the game’s biggest play. With 59 seconds left in the half, Mead took over inside its own 20. The Mavericks could have been forgiven for taking a knee given the suffocating nature of a Thompson Valley defense that allowed 89 points this season. Instead, they attempted a slant. Abrams read the fake to the running back and knew he wasn’t going to reach Hiner.

Coaching kicked in. The 6-foot-5 senior stopped and stuck up his arms, deflecting the pass. Gray, eyes wide, snared the football and chugged into the end zone for the score.

“My freshman coach used to say when the ball is in the air it is a gift from God,” Gray said.

Or as Abrams put it, “I was like, ‘Oh (bleep)! Run! Run! Run!”

This run began four years ago. A group of freshmen chose to pursue something bigger than themselves. They started winning games and coalescing around little things. As the Eagles soared this season, the defense began playing Among Us, an online mystery game where players are assigned roles to work as teammates to decide who is an imposter.

“Oh yeah,” Abrams said. “It is how we will celebrate.”

There was no need for an app to explain what happened Saturday. The Thompson Valley Eagles are the real deal. Undeterred, undaunted, unbeaten and unforgettable.

“You always kind of talk about this stuff happening when you have good players. But things have to go well with health and breaks. And it all lined up,” Steele said. “I am just so proud of these kids.”

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