AURORA – The Ponderosa football team, coached by Jaron Cohen, is 8-0 and ranked No. 3 in 4A.

Today, he is being recognized as the Broncos High School Tackle Coach of the Week. The Denver Broncos and CHSAA will continue to honor one flag football coach and one tackle football coach each week throughout the season.

Throughout the year, all Coach of the Week honorees will be recognized on the field during a pregame ceremony at Broncos home games.

Q&A with Jaron Cohen:

What was your football background before becoming the head coach at Ponderosa and how did you end up at Ponderosa?

I'm originally from Connecticut, and I played at Marist College in New York. Then I was an assistant coach at Windsor High School in Connecticut, then the head coach at Rockville High School in Connecticut. In 2008, I moved out to Colorado Springs, and I was the head coach at Liberty for five years. Then my wife wanted to move towards Denver, so I was the head coach at Hinkley for a year. Ponderosa then opened up, and I'm on my 13th year.

How would you describe your coaching style or philosophy?

We have high standards and expectations of how we prepare the players, and it's really becoming more of a year-round process. We try to make it competitive and fun, and I think all our players know that we care a ton about them on and off the field. We'll do all we can to help them, whether they want to play ball in college or enter the workforce. We really try to create a positive experience for all our players and try to bring some joy through team-building events and we bring in sports psychologists. It's called snap mental performance to help our players gain some stuff that'll help them be on the field. We try to maximize the potential of all our boys and create an experience that these kids will look back on and say, I'm glad I was a part of it.

Has that changed over time, or did you always coach that way?

I think I've always coached that way. We're really working now on having a player-led program based on standards and trying to get our players to say that's not how we do it here. I've coached a long time, and I'll be coaching longer, but it's their experience, and we want them to have ownership. I've learned, in the 20 years I've been a head coach, that players do want the discipline, they do want the standards, they do want to be held accountable, but they want to know why. We have a great staff and great strength coach, and I think our players know why we're doing stuff. We're not just whipping stuff together for no reason. Then our players see their improvement, and that really helps to create some buy in.

This impressive 8-0 record is part of one of Ponderosa's best seasons since you've taken over as head coach. What makes this team so special?
Last year, we were really young and really injured, so I knew we had some key pieces coming back. We've transitioned to platooning players, and we're fortunate to have the depth to do that. We have some players that really enjoy competing and playing together. That's been a lot of fun, seeing how much our players celebrate each other. It's just a genuine joy that they have in seeing each other succeed. Our offensive line, we returned everyone and our three-year starter at quarterback is playing as well as any quarterback in the state. Our skill guys are talented, and our defense has a lot of guys who play good team defense and play aggressive.

While being one of the last undefeated teams in 4A, how do you instruct your players to handle that pressure?
Oh, there's no pressure. We've talked all year; our goal is to be the best version of ourselves. If that means we win 10 games, we win 10 games. If that means we win five games, we win five games. We're always looking for ways to improve, so that playing beyond the scoreboard mantra is something I have always believed in. We haven't talked about wins and losses all year, honestly. We think we have a lot of talent here and we have a good culture. Let's just play the best football we can play every snap and see how far it takes us.

You've made the playoffs every year since becoming the head coach at Ponderosa, how do you maintain this level of consistency every year?
I think a lot of it is the staff we've had. Most of my guys have been with me for the duration of it. Our defensive coordinator, Nate Irving, and offensive coordinator, Brent O'Brien, do a great job. We're a team that every year, we're going to put together a scheme that's best for our players. As high school coaches, you get what you get, and it's our job to make them the best version of that team. We've always been a good culture team with kids that understand work and the preparation that goes into winning games.

With only two games remaining until the end of the regular season, how are you preparing your team to maintain this level of play throughout the playoffs?
We'll see how the bracket shakes out. There's a lot of good teams and good coaches. We are going to continue to focus on us and be our best version. After the bracket breaks and you get an idea of who you're going to face, then you start looking at it. We're not talking playoffs yet, we're talking about this week and then week 10. Then, the bracket will come out, and we'll see where we are and what we can do to improve ourselves and go from there.

Is there anything we didn't get a chance to talk about today or anybody you want to give a shoutout to before we wrap up?
Nate Irving and Brent O'Brien and how hard they work and how all our assistants really pull the rope. We have a great principal in Ryan Hollingshead, and a great AD in Kristen Shark. I know that there's a culture here with administrators that understand how having student athletes is good for the entire school. We're just lucky here to be in a place that understands the value of high school athletics, so it's been a good 13 years, and I'm looking forward to some more.