Story Written by: Rob White @ CHSAANOW.com
AURORA, Colo. — Mountain Range opened the 2025 flag football season with a 20-14 victory over Cherokee Trail as Linda Archuleta passed for 344 yards and two touchdowns to Delilah Lucero, who caught five passes for 122 yards.
Coach Duane Tyler took over the Mustangs program just before the start of the 2024 season and helped his team to three victories in the initial season of CHSAA sanctioning the sport.
His work is recognized today being named the Broncos High School Flag Coach of the Week.
Throughout the season, there will be a weekly Broncos Coach of the Week for flag and tackle, with every nominee recognized on-field at a Broncos home game.
Interview with Duane Tyler:
What is your coaching background?
DT: My very first coaching job was Little League baseball at Northern Lights here in Thornton. I did that for four years with my son. I started teaching about five years ago, and I started coaching JV baseball here at Mountain Range. Then I took a little bit of a break to finish out some teacher things, and then I took over flag football two years ago.
How did you become Mountain Range's coach?
DT: My athletic director was a science teacher as well, and he got promoted. We were talking and he said he couldn't find a coach — the previous coaches had to step away. I said, you know what, I love flag football, it's a growing sport … I'm in. I got hired the very last weekend of the summer before the inaugural CHSAA season kicked off. So it was a whirlwind. … I knew a lot of the players from being a teacher and that was the best thing. So the relationship was there, and the player-coach trust was there, so it led to a really good experience. I loved it. I loved the girls, and I really enjoyed being out there with them, so it grew from there. We have an offseason program now, and we've got 45 players now … It's been a heck of a journey.
What kind of learning curve was there for you for coaching flag football?
DT: I played tackle football in high school, so I know that sport well. But I'll be honest, none of my knowledge translated well. I thought it would, but it was completely different. The mentality, the hip movements, the blocking, a lot of that changed. So I had to adapt pretty quickly to be successful. My goal was to grow them as people and have them learn the sport. Last year, half my players had never thrown a football before, not even once. But the excitement was there. It's a growing sport and the NFL did a great job highlighting it over a couple of weekends. The Broncos do a lot for flag football. A lot of parents were really excited. Everyone jumped in. And it was kind of like we were building the plane as we were flying it. We had to adapt our playbook a few times. I met a lot of great coaches, asked people like (CHSAA/Broncos Coach of the Year) Tim Test (of Mountain View) a million questions. He's a great guy and he was instrumental in helping me begin the program. My assistant coach and I listened to every coach we talked to and built some really good relationships with coaches with the goal of making all our girls wonderful people. It was a pretty big learning curve.
What is your coaching style, and where did that come from?
DT: Positive coaching works really well for me. Here at Mountain Range, we do the Positive Coaching Alliance every year. You come from a place of love. I might give girls feedback — I need you to do this and this — but with the goal of building them into all-around complete people. I have a lot of ability to affect and impact students in the classroom, but it's a different impact on the field. My philosophy is to, one, lead by example — I'm out here at 43 running the 40 (yard dashes) with the girls, and I beat a lot of them! I just want them to know that if we get better every day, that's a victory. We don't have to be the best right away. We're here for each other. We build each other up. … We build up, we don't break down.
What have you observed, even from last year to this year, in terms of the growth and improvement of flag football?
DT: It's phenomenal. We went to the Broncos coaches training, and we talked with the coach of St. Mary's (College) in Leavenworth, Kan., and we were talking about collegiate-level stuff. You just don't ever think about that, girls being able to utilize their skills and move on to the college level and extend their careers in flag football and do some amazing things. This is a growing sport. The NFL has done a great job, and I tell the girls that this sport can take you a long way. It's a chance for you to help you go to college while playing a sport that you're falling in love with. It's brand-new and exciting.
What has the support been like for your program from your school and your community?
DT: It's been great. In Adams 12 (school district), we utilize an app for communication, and I've set up an account for all my players and their parents. I'll shoot them updates, saying, 'She was great today, here's what we did, and ask her about this,' so that they can be involved. Being a teacher, I look at player needs, and communication with parents is vital. We won three games last year, but we had a great season. Our banquet was fun. The girls still enjoyed it. Ultimately, I tell them, everything is harder when you lose and everything is easier when you win, but as long as we grow every day, we still won.
How have you seen that playing flag football has had a positive impact on your athletes?
DT: Every person has a story, every player has a story, and sometimes in those stories there are some not-so-fun moments. We've had kids experience homelessness or financial difficulty. Being on a team, it gives them a sense of belonging. We're focused on that at Mountain Range. In the hallways, the girls are always talking to each other. And we have players from different places, too, from Five-Star Online and Vantage Point and some charter schools that don't offer this sport. The bus rides are a blast, the team dinners are a blast. In the summer we did workouts, and the girls piled into cars and would go somewhere to eat afterwards. It's good for incoming freshmen who are really nervous about high school and don't know where they fit in. This gives them a sense of belonging even before they walk in the doors to start school.
Your quarterback passed for over 300 yards last week. How typical is that?
DT: She's got a cannon. She may struggle with short-yardage passes, but she can throw. She made a 40-yard pass against Cherokee Trail and hit her full-stride, right in the hands. She was top-10 in the state last year. She's very good. She's accurate. She's fast. And she can roll out and throw. She's one where we're looking at the next level, trying to get some film together, reaching out to colleges. That's our journey. I'm committed to help her get to the next level. She has a bright future. I actually tried to get her to go out for baseball and pitch. I know she can throw at that level and be accurate.
Over 65 NCAA schools sponsor flag football at the varsity or club level and it has been identified as an "emerging sport." What are you hearing from colleges about recruiting and opportunities?
DT: There are new schools that I'm hearing about every day that are offering scholarships to go and play … and academically they can offer more if our players, who are students first, can demonstrate that. Being a teacher in the building, I'm all over those grades. That's more important than this. We have a team dinner, usually once a week, to talk about things like that. Our athletic director, Dillon Bohlender, has said, 'You've got to kill it in the classroom before you can kill it on the field,' and we've rolled with that this entire year. That's first.
You're off to a good start with your win over Cherokee Trail, how good of a win was that for you to start the season?
DT: We had three wins last year, and we definitely had some what I would call 'coach losses.' Me and my assistant coach, who has been my best friend for two decades, we made some poor calls. I've told the girls that I can grow just as much as you can, and that I make mistakes as well. Cherokee Trail had a tough year last year, but they were a great group. Nice people. Their coach was super nice. Their fans were great. … It was a good win for us, a good way to start the season. On the bus on the way to the game, the conversation was, 'We're in business and business starts right now. We're here to win.' After the game, some girls were really tired and there was some sleeping. We had about 15 pounds of bananas that got eaten really quick. It was a great experience for a lot of players who were playing for the first time.
What are your goals for the rest of the season, and have they changed at all following the first game?
DT: The goals are the same, you want to get wins on the table. I think a lot of girls want to move this to the next level. That was our message for this year. I have some leaders on the team who have said, 'This is our shot to really push us to the next level.' We've discussed that as a team. We're all here for each other. You're here for yourself, for your family, but also for each other. That's JV and varsity. We're going to build each other up. We're going to coach the varsity players to help the JV players who are new. We want to stay healthy and have academic success. So, it's to win football games, stay healthy, and kill it in the classroom.
