With a winning tradition and high expectations as motivation, the Pueblo South Colts are accustomed to not missing a beat whenever graduation wreaks havoc on their starting lineup.

Add in a playoff loss to the mix that left the program stunned and more than a little angry throughout the postseason, and the Colts are champing at the bit to resume their dominance of the Foothills League.

Pueblo South, a regional power throughout the tenure of coach Mark Haerring, has suffered discouraging playoff losses each season since 2004, when the Colts reached the state semifinals.

Yet none of those losses hurt more than the one last season, when an undefeated and second- seeded squad lost to 15th-seeded Loveland in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs.

The fact that Loveland went on to make a remarkable run to the 4A finals did nothing to allay the Colts' disappointment.

For the seniors this season - it's a group that watched from the sidelines as freshmen as Pueblo South reached the semifinals in 2004 - the quest to make amends in 2007 could not begin quickly enough.

"It definitely was disappointing for us. We thought some of the chips were in line to make a run of it and it was something we thought we had in line," Haerring said. "We lost that (Loveland) game on special teams, which was real disappointing for us, because we take great pride in special teams.

"We were glad to see them go all the way, though. There was no bad blood. At least people know you lost to a really good team."

Pueblo South always seems to have a good team, an ingrained source of pride for a program that nonetheless still is trying to expand its regional success to the state level.

The Colts have not lost a regular-season game the past two years, yet neither of those teams advanced past the second round of the playoffs.

With only seven returning starters this season, the Colts, at least on paper, seem destined for a drop-off. Keeping the machine rolling, though, has been the signature of Haerring's program.

"This will sound like an old cliché, but the nuts and bolts of it is hard work," Haerring said.

"We're not a team rich in talent or one who will have a lot of guys go on to play at the next level. But we've got a lot of kids who work hard in the offseason and believe in what our coaching staff is teaching.

"Not a lot of starters return, but we have a lot of kids now as seniors who have an opportunity to start. They have been in the program four years now, and it's their turn to show what they can do."

NOTEBOOK

• Lincoln lineman Erik Carrasco is a huge attraction for recruiters, ranging from the Pacific-10 to the Big 12 conferences. Carrasco (6-foot-8, 310 pounds) was the starting center on Lincoln's 4A state championship basketball team, and on the football field he impresses scouts with his size and agility. He also has a grade-point average higher than 3.0 and has scored well on college tests.

"He has a lot of options," said Lincoln coach Larry Gile, who added that Carrasco might want to stay close to home next year. Colorado, Colorado State and Wyoming are interested.

After playing both ways all the time last season, Carrasco will play mainly on offense this year. But Gile still will use his best athlete on defense in spot situations.

"When the chips are down on defense, he'll be in there," he said.

• Another lineman who might wind up playing for one of Colorado's Division I programs next season is Grand Junction senior Isaac Valentine. Valentine, a 6-6, 300-pound offensive guard and nose tackle, wears a size-18 shoe. He started both ways on a Tigers squad that finished 6-3 last year, and he attended camps at Iowa State and Colorado State but hasn't had any Division I offers yet.

• Last season, brothers Blake and Rex Morgan helped propel Greeley West to its third consecutive Northern League title. With Blake now playing safety for Brigham Young, Rex will try to lead the Spartans to another league crown in one of 4A's most competitive leagues.

The 6-foot, 170-pound senior hasn't lost a league game in two seasons as the Spartans quarterback, and the Spartans return another strong cast this season.

"He can make all the throws and make a play when everything breaks down," Greeley West coach Mark Roggy said. "That's really a special ability."

• Seventeen sacks is a great career number for most players. For Justin Waterman, it was just one season. The Greeley West defensive end recorded 17 sacks last year as a junior, and his return probably sends shudders down the backs of Northern League quarterbacks. Most teams likely will game-plan to try to keep Waterman out of their backfields, but Roggy said that even facing double teams, Waterman will be a disruptive force. "Justin is going to get his share again," Roggy said.

Waterman (6-0, 205) finished second at state in wrestling last year. Amazingly, his 17 sacks were not the most in school history. Todd Weibel, who played on Northern Colorado's 1996 Division II national championship team, had 18 sacks his senior year at Greeley West.

• Monarch's Cale Soole had a game he never will forget against Littleton last season. On the way to leading the Skyline League in rushing, Soole carried the ball 49 times for 235 yards against the Lions. "We just kept running a power sweep outside, because that's all that was working," he said. "Probably all those carries were to the outside."

Soole's 49 carries place him third all time for a single-game effort, according to the Colorado High School Activities Association's record book. Only Tim Harding's 52 carries for Cañon City in 1993 and 50 by Northglenn's Doug Simcik in 1972 top Soole's effort.

Soole, who finished the season with 1,642 yards and 19 touchdowns, doesn't expect another game like that, but he wouldn't mind it.

"I hope I can do it again," he said. "Whatever I can do for the team."

• Loveland teammates Collin Klein and Jesse Lewis might end up as teammates in college, too.

After helping lead the Indians to the 4A state championship game last season, Klein has signed with Kansas State. The 6-5, 210-pound quarterback threw for 1,127 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior, even after missing two games because of an injury.

Lewis, a 5-7, 171-pound running back and kick returner, ran a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the Kansas State camp this summer, and the Wildcats are one of several schools that have Lewis on their watch list.

"He is definitely one that people are watching," Loveland coach John Poovey said.

Lewis averaged 35.4 yards per kickoff return last season. He likely will play wide receiver in college.

• Mitchell is making a wide receiver the focal point of its offense. Isaac Davidson was so explosive as a junior, when four of his 27 catches went for 45 yards or more, that the Marauders are going to put the ball in his hands early and often, or use him as a decoy to free up their other experienced wideouts.

Davidson is a 6-2, 185-pound track athlete who could be leaning toward the Air Force Academy next year. His father is a sergeant in the Air Force, and the family moved to Colorado Springs from Rhode Island when Isaac was a sophomore.

"You could see the athletic ability right away," Mitchell coach Archie Malloy said. "He's just such a physical threat now."

• Bob Hudson is the new coach at Green Mountain. Hudson, the head coach at Fort Lupton last year, inherits 19 seniors from a 4-6 team.

Playing in the Mountain Plains, arguably the toughest 4A league in the state, Green Mountain has slipped below ThunderRidge, Ralston Valley and defending state champion Wheat Ridge in recent years, but Hudson said he has seen plenty to like so far in the Rams.

"I hear we aren't supposed to be good, but what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing are two different things," he said.

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