Colfax Falcons soak in blissful ride to the section Division V championship
About the only issue or concern the coach has with his giddy, spirited players is their musical taste.
Rich Simtpon is the bear of a coach for Colfax High School, a rocker at heart — Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top. His Falcons girls basketball players? Rap, and sounds that make a car speakers plead for mercy.
On Friday morning, Simpton surprised his crew with a luxury party bus to trek from Placer County to Golden 1 Center, a dream ride for a dream season with plenty of road left to go. Colfax then played the part of champion in overwhelming Golden Sierra 66-23 to win the program’s second Sac-Joaquin Section Division V banner in three seasons.
But alas, no luxury ride home. It was a one-way deal, heaven help the bank accounts for the coach and wife Rexanne Simpton. The players had to hitch a ride with parents and other students.
“Wanted to do something different and fun,” Simpton said of the party bus. “We played Grace’s music list on the way down here. Oh, man. We need to work on that.”
Grace would be Grace Bliss, an all-time Colfax program great. She is a prolific 5-foot-10 senior guard and a multisport star headed to Cal Poly to study biology and to play hoops on scholarship.
“I kept the music as clean as possible,” Bliss defended with a laugh before placing the championship game net on her head for more kicks and giggles.
Colfax (27-4) played a clean game against the Grizzlies of Garden Valley (14-11), who were in their first title game since 1984. In winning their 16th consecutive game, the Falcons stormed to a 18-2 lead and led 42-16 at the half. The Falcons are not a big team in terms of length of bulk. But they are a poised, cohesive unit that shared the ball, attacked the basket and played relentless defense.
Bliss and her starting teammates left the game with a minute to go in the third quarter, Simpton wanting reserves to soak in the big-venue atmosphere. Doing damage inside, out and on the break, Bliss scored 24 points, more than Golden Sierra had at the point of her exit (the score was 61-22). She had 10 rebounds, four assist and three steals, a blur of constant action.
A four-year starter, Bliss is Colfax’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,200 points, headed to Cal Poly to play hoops and study biology. But she is hardly a one-girl gang. Junior guard Jazzy Owens had 18 points and has eclipsed the 1,000-rebound milestone for her career. Also for Colfax, Gabriella Bittner scored seven, Stella Chavez four, Aliya McCord four and Natalie Lundberg four to go with the game’s “Spirit of Competition” award.
“We knew (Colfax) was going to be a very good team,” Golden Sierra coach Meghan Wright said. “They’ve been in these games before. We knew that they had experience and they run a very well-rounded fast game.”
When Colfax players break from timeouts or after games, they chant, “Family.” After this one, players then hustled to the rooting section where a flood of students decked in white T-shirts with green lettering that read, “We are Colfax” got out of school to add to the experience. All shared a sing-song chant to celebrate.
This is what small schools from small towns do. They take none of these things for granted. Colfax was in its 15th title game since 1983 and now has 11 championships, third most in section history but first for public schools (St. Mary’s has 20 and Ripon Christian 12).
And there’s more work to do. Colfax will be in the CIF Northern California tournament that starts next week. Brackets will be announced by the CIF on Sunday.
“I’m not sure there’s another starting five out there with more experience than what we have,” Simpton said. “It’s amazing to me. It’s a well-rounded group. They’re an amazing group.”
Colfax players grew up competing in sports together. Their mothers and fathers are Colfax graduates. And everyone pulls for one another. Bliss’ twin brother, Daniel, is a three-sport guy who was in the stands cheering. Their father Daniel was a multisport athlete at Colfax, as was their mother, Danielle. Mom is a driving force for the Falcons, battling cancer.
“This is a family,” Bliss said. “Everyone being here to support my own family. ... This is icing on the top. We won sections and it’s such an honor.”
She continued, “I would not want to go to another school. The community itself is a family. My parents grew up there. You know everybody, and it’s a great vibe.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 2:15 PM.