As the Greeley West Spartans start focusing all of their attention on the spring semester, some of the football players are instead reminiscing on the fall season. For the first time since head coach Jakob Vargas began working with this program three years ago, seven outstanding athletes have been recognized for the 4A Northern League All Conference. 

Jedediah Hicks, Tagen Becher, Jax Lamb, Micah Gomez, Isiah Montoya, Gunner Gerbers and Zavier Montelongo all made this list. However, on top of these boys, Greeley West’s very own Jedediah Hicks was not only recognized for this, but he will also be featured in the CHSSA All-State Game in June. 

For these boys, the impact of the team’s brotherhood and undeniable support they had for one another, made this moment so much more special. Jax Lamb, a sophomore at West who made the All Conference First team looks to the upperclassmen when thinking about his inspiration to achieve it as early on as he could. “When I saw that Jed made it his freshman year, I wanted to make it my goal to get it either my sophomore or junior year, I figured, if he could do it, why wouldn’t I be able to?” Lamb said.

This was a familiar trend with the underclassmen, leaving no doubt about the teams bond. Gunner Gerbers, a freshman who made it as an honorable mention, was thrilled when he found out. “My teammates have been my biggest influences,” Gerbers said.

Gerbers went on to say, “To play varsity as a freshman was hard enough, so to make even an honorable mention in the All Conference is a huge deal. I wouldn’t be earning this without the support of my team and their encouragement.” 

While the team continues to celebrate their accomplishments this season, Vargas sits back and remembers the day he knew this was all going to happen, “While each kid had their moment of greatness and I am beyond happy for each of them, one event sticks out to me the most.” 

He continued, “I remember, in my history class, watching Jed draw out every play that Northridge passed, saying that he’ll be ready for whatever comes, and then seeing it play out in real time as he knew exactly what play they were gonna call, sealing the win for us,  was the moment I knew he was special.”

He ended by saying, “This group of boys is beyond exceptional, from the amount of work they put in, their leadership, and the impacts they have in games, I couldn’t be prouder as a coach.”