New League

After 14 years of Rangeview being in the EMAC league, it has officially come to an end. Rangeview High School had been in the APS league, along with Gateway, Aurora Central, Hinkley, and more. Now all of the schools in the EMAC league are parting ways.

Over the years, the EMAC league was falling apart. Due to a lot of the schools in the EMAC league moving on, schools such as Gateway and Aurora Central have moved into a smaller league.

As football player Jahiem Alexander states, “I know that we will not be going against the same schools from last year, and this league will be more challenging.”

Rangeview, Hinkley, and Vista Peak all need to find a new league having conversations with other districts in the area. (DPS about joining the DPS league, Cherry Creek about joining the Centennial League, and Douglas County school about joining the Continental league.) Following the DPS league was the most thrilled to allow select EMAC schools to join their league.

Along with many others, Elijah Denney stated, “This new league is going to be a harder competition the whole way.”

Unlike all of the sports in High School, football teams are not a part of the league setup. CHSAA changed the football leagues and who each school played against. They look at football differently as they choose competitions and games based on class, stats, and enrollment.

CHSAA has also decided to try growing basketball by adding in a Class 6A, putting Rangeview’s basketball team as the only 6A; while the rest of Raider sports are still Class 4A/5A. This will lead to an incredible match-up with the dominating Denver East, as they have lost to them 3 times in the past 10 years, in the finals of the sweet 16.

As I asked 2 girls basketball players how they felt about the changes, Zane Bullock states, “…might affect how we come out in the league, but I still doubt that I think that we could still win the league.”

With this new change comes larger competition. The Raiders caught a glimpse of playing with DPS in a previous season and non-official league games. With tougher competition in some sports, the Raiders Football team is put up against the current number 1 in 5A league 2.