Wheat Ridge's Reid Kahl had his doubts about his team winning its second Class 4A state championship in the past three seasons. After all, the Farmers started seven juniors on each side of the football.

But all doubts were erased Nov. 29 when Wheat Ridge won the title with an emotional 35-31 victory against Greeley West.

"I'm very appreciative of the honor to be the All-Colorado coach," said Kahl, the Rocky's top coach for 2008. "My thanks to my staff, my players, our school and community for their support."

This was the fourth state title that Kahl, an all-state defensive back when he played at Fort Morgan, has been associated with. He assisted on two under his father, Rick, at Fort Morgan.

"All titles are different," said Kahl, who has a 33-5 record in three seasons at Wheat Ridge. "But this one was a bigger surprise because of our youth. And in our third game, we lost a fine player who complemented Parker (Orms) in Taylor Aversano. We had to make changes after he went down.

"The goal was to just get better each week and make the playoffs," Kahl said. "One big key was beating Heritage in Week 8 when we were down 16-0 at the half. What a confidence booster that was."