CORRECTION: In this story D'Evelyn High School should have been identified as a Jefferson County options school.

Two schools that close out the Metro League football regular season today seem almost identical in many respects.

Both are private and both draw students from across the metro area. Both opened this century on newly constructed campuses with first-rate technology and small teacher-pupil ratios. Both emphasize classroom decorum, moral development and traditional virtues. And both get a kick out of sports.

But the similarities end there.

Valor Christian High School is an evangelical college- preparatory school in Highlands Ranch, where well-to-do parents pay an annual tuition of $12,500 and young athletes enjoy state-of-the-art facilities.

Its opponent today, Ridge View Academy, is a youth prison.

You wouldn't have seen such a matchup a generation ago. But the rise of charter schools, private academies and religious schools and a growing dissatisfaction with public schools have scrambled Colorado's educational landscape.

Just look at the 12-team Metro League, which also includes a mountain school (Summit), a plains school (Elizabeth), a chartered academic school (D'Evelyn) and older suburban schools (Englewood, Arvada and Alameda).

The ultimate contrast - Valor vs. Ridge View - will be played out at 1 p.m. today when Valor players step off a bus at a state youth correctional institute to face a group of players who won't be able to leave when the game is over.

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Click here to continue reading about Ridge View Academy