Tradition meets Growing Opportunities

Exploring the evolution of student sports and activities — from rivalries and records to inclusion and expanding opportunities.

For 75 years, our district has balanced proud traditions with an ever-expanding vision for student opportunity. From Friday Night Lights to livestreamed e-sports, student athletics and activities in the Five Star District have evolved in powerful ways. What started with classic rivalries now includes unified teams, expanded girls’ programs, and new opportunities for students to find their individual passion and potential outside of the classroom.

Unified Sports: Bringing people together in friendship and understanding

Unified Sports, which connects people with intellectual disabilities (athletes) and without intellectual disabilities (Unified partners), was inspired by a simple principle: “Training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.”

“The Unified Sports program has done so much for our school culture,” said Marty Tonjes, Horizon High School athletic director. “Friendships have been developed between our students with and without disabilities, and student interactions take place in our hallways that probably wouldn’t happen if it wasn’t for our unified programs.”

Adams 12 Five Star Schools first started participating in Unified Sports in 2014. The district partnered with Special Olympics Colorado to create Unified Basketball teams at each of the district’s five comprehensive high schools. Unified opportunities have since expanded into football, cheer, poms and the fall of 2024 brought the inaugural season of Unified Bowling with teams competing at the state championships.

“I liked being able to play sports at Horizon, wearing the uniform, riding the bus and being part of a team,” said Sarah Huitron-Felker, a Unified Sports athlete from Horizon. “I felt encouragement and support. It meant that I could play sports.”

“It meant she could cheer for her team, compete alongside her teammates and against other schools,” said Kelli Huitron, Sarah’s mom. “It meant Sarah could be herself! It meant Sarah was a Hawk! Our family is grateful and appreciative.”

Briley Huffman started as a Unified partner during her sophomore year at Horizon and has participated in Unified poms, basketball and bowling.

“It has meant the absolute world to me,” Huffman said. “Not only did it lead me to finding my future career path, it has given me friends and bonds I would have never thought I would have.”

With so much success, Unified is expanding into the classroom.

“Over the years, Horizon has started to add classes such as Positive P.E., Positive Art and Positive Music,” Tonjes said.

The classes integrate students with special needs (athletes, artists and musicians) with general ed peers (coaches) in a cooperative, positive and enthusiastic learning environment.

I-25 Bowl: An enduring tradition

The year 1966 marks the beginning of a rivalry that remains alive and well nearly 60 years later. Every fall, the I-25 Bowl pits the Northglenn Norse against the Thornton Trojans on the gridiron.

“9News Game of the Week two of the last three years when we play them, and it’s just become a pretty special thing,” said JP Sampson, Northglenn High School athletic director and alumnus. “You don’t see a lot of rivalries like this in the metro area that have lasted so long. And I think it’s just cool that the community has embraced it.” 

The schools are just a couple miles apart, Northglenn to the west of I-25 and Thornton to the east; hence, the I-25 Bowl.

“You know, that week, you see kids wearing red and gold, you see red and gold in the stands, and it’s almost like that small town high school football rally feeling, which we don’t get at any other games, even Homecoming,” Sampson said. One of the most memorable games was in 1984. Northglenn won the 4A state football championship beating Arvada, but on the road to that championship, Thornton beat them 28-14 during the regular season. Sampson recently heard stories from members of that championship team recalling that game.

“‘We just never beat Thornton that year,’” Sampson remembers them saying. “And it stuck with them.”

When Horizon High School opened in the late 80s, the rivalry took a slight dip since the Hawks became Northglenn’s main rival. But over the last couple decades, the rivalry and the I-25 Bowl have gotten a boost.

“It draws the most fans, the most ticket sales,” Sampson said. “Whether they’re a 4A school or a 5A school based on enrollment, I mean, it’s set in stone every year; really the same weekend in September.” 

As the Five Star community continues to grow and change, Sampson sees the I-25 Bowl standing the test of time.

“I think if anything, it’s going to increase in popularity,” he said. “We have an eighth grade night. Kids come in, talk to the football coach, and they talk about the Thornton game, that potentially if they join the football team will play in.”

E-Sports: This is no pick-up video game

Most people are aware of the common football maneuver called a “juke,” a deceptive move used by a ball carrier to evade a tackler. But what about “ganking”? Ganking is a surprise attack, and one of many types of maneuvers in the e-sports game League of Legends.

E-sports is a form of competition using video games. It takes recreational gaming among friends to a new level.

“It is all about building teams that can work and function together in a competitive environment,” said Logan Janes, Mountain Range High School e-sports coach. “Because the games will change, you’ve got to have the players who know how to communicate and work together. Like League of Legends, you’re constantly doing math and running timers in your head, so you know when your next abilities are available. In Rocket League, you’re always communicating with your other teammates either over the headset or non-verbally to make sure you’re in the right position on the field.”

Janes started the district’s first e-sports team at Mountain Range in 2019. In recent years, the team has cracked the top 10 at the state championships. But the rewards extend beyond the competitions.

“They get put on a team, and then I start seeing that team hanging out during passing periods,” Janes said. “And I start seeing them hanging out in the later years. And what I’m seeing is a growing peer group among a lot of these kids.”

Students have the opportunity to get involved with e-sports even before high school. Computer Science Teacher Molly Andresky started an e-sports club at Thornton Middle School in 2025.

“I think computer science and e-sports align really well,” she said. “The games and e-sports, they’re literally solving a puzzle every single time they play. And then just developing that sense of belonging; this is a place they can come to and they belong here.”

Ramiro Perez enjoys competing and mentoring younger classmates. “Being a part of this club, I learned that inclusion, camaraderie and just participation can really make a change in your perspective,” he said.

Game On: Girls empowered through growing athletic opportunities

Sports mean everything to Jody Welch. 

“I was kind of a shy kid and I wasn’t as secure off the court, but then when I had that belief and they (coaches) believed in me and they saw something in me, it just made me blossom on and off the court, and it was just this life changing thing for me,” she said.

Welch has been a physical education and health teacher since 1995 and at Legacy High School since 2001. She currently coaches girls basketball. After graduating from Northglenn High School, Welch went to Brigham Young University where she played basketball and soccer.

She’s seen a lot of change over the years in terms of opportunities for female athletes. 

“A big one was when they moved ninth grade into high school,” she said. “If you’re giving those girls now an opportunity in ninth grade to play at the high school level, play at that elite competition for four years, that was a big deal.

“My sophomore year is when they made the smaller basketball for girls. My senior year is when they added the three point line. My senior year is when softball was added as a sport in the district.”

The Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) has continued to increase the number of girls sanctioned sports in recent years with the addition of girls flag football (2024) and girls wrestling (2021).

“Just the opportunity for girls to play now is so much more than it used to be,” Welch said. “You’ll see in these students who normally wouldn’t be doing something, ‘You know what, I’m going to give that a try.’ They may not stick with that but at least they’re putting their foot in the door.

“If they’re playing athletics, I think that just breeds leadership, and I would hope that it would build more opportunities for females in society to be in more of a leadership role; where maybe before that wasn’t an opportunity for girls, but now it is, because we’re seeing girls can compete and they can do good things and be bosses and leaders.”