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DPS foes Denver East, Northfield one win away from facing off for 6A Colorado girls basketball title

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DPS foes Denver East, Northfield one win away from facing off for 6A Colorado girls basketball title


A simmering Denver Public Schools rivalry is two big wins away from a historic main event.

Denver East and Northfield are playing in opposite sides of the bracket of the Class 6A Final Four on Thursday. If both win, it will set up the first all-DPS championship game in the half-century since girls basketball became a sanctioned CHSAA sport.

There is no love lost between the programs, who have played a handful of physical, tense games over the last two seasons. That includes three showdowns this year and last year, over which the re-established old guard Denver East owns a 5-1 record against upstart, relatively new Northfield.

“It’s been a really competitive rivalry between the top teams in the DPS,” said Denver East head coach Carl Mattei, “and this has been brewing for the last couple of years for bragging rights in the city.”

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The Angels have seen a resurgence under Mattei, who is in his fourth season on City Park Esplanade. Denver East is the last DPS girls team to win a hoops title, accomplishing the feat in 2010, and is one of only two DPS programs to do so, along with Montbello in 1997.

Mattei, who built Regis Jesuit into a powerhouse, went to eight title games and won three of them in his 18-year tenure with the Raiders. He was initially talked into applying for the Denver East job by a couple key DPS stakeholders, including Angels boys coach Rudy Carey and ex-longtime district athletic director John Andrew.

‘They don’t need to go play in the suburbs’

Mattei said he took the job because “when I looked at what Denver East could be, I thought it could be the Cherry Creek of DPS (girls basketball).” The Angels were successful under the prior coach, Dwight Berry, who led them to the 2010 title. But Denver East struggled to consistently make deep tournament runs.

“I had to get the kids to believe that they could compete with the Grandviews, the Cherry Creeks, the Regis Jesuits, the Highlands Ranches,” Mattei said. “Players in (the Denver East neighborhood) can actually stay in the city and represent our city, and be part of being the jewel of the city that is the Denver East Angels. They don’t need to go play in (the suburbs).

“That’s what Rudy and (Denver East principal) Terita Walker wanted for this program, and I think that’s where we’re at right now.”

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The Angels are headlined by senior forward Mairead Hearty, a San Diego State commit who is averaging 16.9 points a game. Junior guard Grace Hall, a Division I recruit, is averaging 12.3 points. And senior sharpshooter Liana Valdez, a Western Nebraska commit who is a four-year starter like Hearty, can make teams pay from beyond the arc.

East’s Grace Hall (2) controls the ball against Valor Christian’s defense during 6A great 8 basketball game at Denver Coliseum in Denver on Friday, March 6, 2026. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Hearty, who lives a couple blocks from Denver East, is jazzed with the ascension of the program at the school she walks to. The Angels went from a first-round playoff exit in Mattei’s first season, to the Sweet 16 the next, to the Great 8 last year and now the Final Four.



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Monday's Mets-Rockies game time changed to 3:40 p.m. MT

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Monday's Mets-Rockies game time changed to 3:40 p.m. MT


DENVER — The Rockies vs. Mets game originally scheduled for Monday, May 4, 2026 at 6:40 p.m. MT/8:40 p.m. ET will be played on Monday, May 4, 2026 at 3:40 p.m. MT/5:40 p.m. ET due to expected inclement weather.
Tickets from the May 4, 2026 game are valid for the



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Legacy score twice in waning minutes, beat fellow expansion side Denver for first win in franchise history

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Legacy score twice in waning minutes, beat fellow expansion side Denver for first win in franchise history


Boston Legacy FC

Legacy fans were treated to a thrilling comeback in the team’s first win.

Nichelle Prince and Sammy Smith celebrate a Legacy FC goal in the team’s comeback win over Denver on Sunday. Matthew J Lee/Globe staff

FOXBOROUGH — The Denver Summit began their inaugural season at a sprint, leaving Boston Legacy FC a few steps behind. On Sunday, Boston caught up. 

Aïssata Traoré scored just before the start of second-half stoppage time and Bianca St-Georges scored four minutes into it, providing the Legacy their first victory in their inaugural season, 3-2, over Denver in front of an announced 12,524 fans at Gillette Stadium.

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The Summit took an early lead before Nichelle Prince tied the game at one just before halftime. Natasha Flint stole the lead back for Denver in the 77th minute, but Traoré — who came on as a substitute in the 71st — found the equalizer in the final minute of regulation and St-Georges scored the winner. 

Announced as the NWSL’s 15th club in 2023, the Legacy had a runway nearly two years longer than the Summit, who were officially announced as the 16th in January 2025 and kicked off this year.

The two expansion teams entered Sunday in vastly different positions. The Summit (1-3-3, 6 points) were 12th, four spots ahead of Boston (1-5-1, 4 points) at the bottom of the table. 

Both teams made headlines with their home openers. The Legacy’s inaugural game on March 14 drew 30,207 fans to Gillette Stadium, a record for an inaugural home NWSL match until Denver more than doubled that number with 63,004 at Empower Field at Mile High two weeks later.

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The Legacy were coming off their most promising performance yet, a 2-2 draw with North Carolina on Wednesday in which they scored two first-half goals before letting their lead slip late. 

Boston controlled the pace Saturday for much of the first half, recording five shots on goal to Denver’s one, and were inches away from three early goals — one shot rang off the post, one off the crossbar, and one was blocked by a defender on the goal line. 

Despite Boston’s offensive pressure, Denver struck first in the 18th minute. Yazmeen Ryan took on St-Georges one-on-one just outside the 18-yard box and ripped a shot on net. Legacy goalkeeper Casey Murphy got her fingertips on the ball, but punched it just inside the post as the Summit took a 1-0 lead. 

Prince evened the score just before halftime, heading home a bouncing ball off of Alba Caño’s corner kick in the 44th minute. The goal was Prince’s first with the Legacy, though she assisted on both of Boston’s tallies on Wednesday — the first player in NWSL history to record two assists in the first 15 minutes of a match. 

Denver’s second-half chances were few and far between, but Flint capitalized on a rare opportunity inside the box to beat Murphy and take a 2-1 lead in the 77th minute.

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Traoré’s second goal of the season tied the game at 2. The Malian forward collected a pass in the box and fired a volley around Denver’s Eva Gaetino in the final minute of regulation.

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WATCH THE PENULTIMATE SUPERCROSS IN DENVER IN UNDER 24 MINUTES – Motocross Action Magazine

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WATCH THE PENULTIMATE SUPERCROSS IN DENVER IN UNDER 24 MINUTES – Motocross Action Magazine










WATCH THE PENULTIMATE SUPERCROSS IN DENVER IN UNDER 24 MINUTES – Motocross Action Magazine




























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