Three teams. Three championship games. One unforgettable weekend for CSCS Middle School Athletics.
Last weekend, our Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball, and Boys Football teams each earned the opportunity to compete for a championship. The results looked different for each team, but together, the weekend represented something much bigger than wins and losses.
It was a celebration of growth, perseverance, community, and the incredible future of CSCS Athletics.
Boys Soccer: A Season Worth Celebrating
The championship weekend began Friday afternoon with a Boys Soccer match that could not have been much closer.
The Lions battled through regulation and into double overtime, continuing to fight for every possession and every opportunity. In the final seconds, a corner kick resulted in a header for the deciding goal, bringing an incredible CSCS season to a heartbreaking end.
A loss like that is difficult—especially after giving everything you have for an entire season. But seasons like this one are also where some of the most important growth happens.
These young men learned what it means to compete together, respond to adversity, trust their teammates, and keep fighting when the outcome is uncertain. They experienced the excitement of a championship run and the disappointment that sometimes comes with competition. Both will help shape them as athletes and young men.
We could not be more proud of what this team accomplished this season.
Thank you to every player who competed, every coach who invested countless hours into developing these young men, and every family who drove to practices, showed up for games, encouraged from the sidelines, and supported this team throughout the year.
The final score does not define this season. The growth does.
Girls Volleyball: CHAMPIONS!
Later Friday, the CSCS Middle School Girls Volleyball team gave Lions fans a championship match they won’t soon forget.
Facing Monument Academy, the Lions battled through a five-set thriller with the championship hanging in the balance.
Then came the fifth set.
CSCS found itself trailing 14–10, with Monument Academy just one point away from the title. The Lions needed something special.
They delivered.
Six straight points.
With the pressure at its highest, the girls refused to quit. They fought back point by point, completing an incredible 6–0 run to win the set 16–14 and capture the Middle School Championship!
That kind of comeback says so much about this team—their resilience, trust in one another, and willingness to continue competing even when the odds were stacked against them.
And there is a special CSCS connection leading this group.
Head Coach Charleston “Charlie” Tidwell knows what it means to wear a Lions jersey. A 2020 CSCS graduate, Tidwell set the school record for kills per match during her senior season, earned MaxPreps Colorado Volleyball Player of the Week honors, and helped CSCS reach the 2019 state tournament. A year earlier, she led the Tri-Peaks League in kills as CSCS finished as the 2018 state runner-up.
Tidwell went on to play collegiate volleyball at the NCAA Division I and Division II levels, including Central Arkansas, Point Loma, and Colorado Mesa. At Central Arkansas, she earned Southland Conference All-Tournament honors as a freshman.
Now, she is pouring that experience back into the next generation of Lions.
There is something special about seeing a former CSCS student-athlete return to invest in young athletes wearing the same name across their jerseys that she once did.
Congratulations to our Middle School Volleyball Champions! Thank you to Coach Tidwell, our athletes, assistant coaches, parents, and every person who helped make this remarkable season possible.
Boys Football: A Championship Atmosphere at Ragain Field
Saturday night brought championship weekend home to Ragain Field—and the CSCS community showed up.
The stands were packed.
The atmosphere felt less like a middle school game and more like a varsity Friday night under the lights. Families, students, friends, and Lions fans filled the stadium to support a Middle School Football team that had put together an incredible season.
And the Lions gave them plenty to cheer about.
CSCS battled against RMCA and controlled much of the championship game. The Lions competed hard on both sides of the ball and put themselves in position to finish an incredible season with a title.
In the final quarter, however, RMCA broke free for a touchdown that ultimately proved to be the difference. CSCS continued battling, but the Lions were unable to overcome the deficit before the final whistle.
It was a difficult ending to an outstanding season.
But what these young men experienced Saturday night matters.
They played a championship football game under the lights at Ragain Field in front of a packed CSCS crowd. They experienced pressure, adversity, excitement, disappointment, and the responsibility that comes with representing their school on a big stage.
And they experienced it as middle school athletes.
Those moments build players.
They also give us plenty of reasons to be excited about the future of CSCS Football.
More Than Championships
Of the three championship games, one ended with a trophy and two ended with difficult losses. Yet we walked away from the weekend incredibly proud of all three teams.
Because middle school athletics is about more than collecting championships.
It’s about learning how to compete. How to win with humility and lose with character. How to be a teammate. How to respond when things don’t go your way. How to work toward something bigger than yourself. And ultimately, how to represent Jesus Christ through the way you prepare, compete, respond, and treat the people around you.
That development doesn’t happen without great people surrounding our students.
We are incredibly grateful for the coaches who give their time, energy, knowledge, and encouragement to these programs. We are grateful for the parents and families who make practices, games, team meals, travel, and countless other moments possible. And we are especially proud of the students who put in the work and had the courage to compete.
Three championship games in one weekend is an accomplishment worth celebrating.
But even more exciting is what those championship appearances represent: young Lions learning, growing, competing, and preparing for what’s ahead.
The future of CSCS Athletics is bright.
And after a weekend like this, we couldn’t be more proud of our entire Middle School Athletics program.