Story Written by: Rob White @ CHSAANow.com

AURORA – Haxtun, defending CHSAA state champions in 8-man football, opened the 2025 season by avenging their only loss from 2024 by defeating New Mexico state champion Melrose in impressive fashion, winning 46-0.

For his efforts, Fightin' Bulldogs coach JD Stone has been named CHSAA's Broncos High School Tackle Coach of the Week.

Throughout the season, there will be a weekly Broncos Coach of the Week for flag and tackle and every nominee will be recognized on-field at a Broncos home game.

Interview with JD Stone:

Melrose was the only team to beat you last year. They won their state championship, you won your state championship, so it was a pretty good matchup. How good of a win was that for you guys?

JS: It was important for us. The kids took last year's loss pretty hard, even though I feel it was a good learning point for us, because we kind of reinvented ourselves defensively after that. We only gave up (24) points the rest of the (regular) season. We were a little lethargic with our defensive prep prior to that, and that loss brought the kids back down to earth and made us look at how we prepped each week.

How does this year's team compare to last year's, because I would imagine you lost some key players?

JS: We lost a couple of offensive linemen and some pretty explosive guys in the backfield on the offensive side of the ball, and we lost two of our top five tacklers on defense. So we had some holes to replace. We replaced a three-year starter (CHSAA all-state first team selection Ryland Wolff) at quarterback, but this year's quarterback (Colin Cone) has some different traits and so we're going to look different. But he's done well. Sometimes when kids are injured, others get an opportunity. And last year Ryland went down a couple of different times with injuries, so our backup quarterback got a lot of reps last year and threw for close to 600 yards in a backup role. So he's got some experience under his belt.

Looking at the stats, Coleman Firme scored (four) touchdowns after scoring five all last year. Is he one of those guys who have stepped up this year?

JS: We run a lot of inverted veer and regular veer, along with our RPO game. He plays the fullback role, which is the first guy in our read option. So he got a lot of touches. That night we got a lot of rain. He's a downhill runner, so it was a perfect night for him to spin the tires a little bit.

Rainy opening game, was it a wild night for you?

JS: We had a half-inch of rain right before the game and it rained for the better part of the first quarter. Then it cleared up and it got super-hot and humid by midway through the second quarter. So it was interesting. Football in August in Colorado, right?

You've won two state championships as a coach at Haxtun (2021 and 2025). How do those two teams and championships compare? Were they the same, different, was one sweeter than the other?

JS: Obviously the first one is always fun since it was the first. But the pure joy of seeing your kids after that … we start working right after New Year's – in the weight room four nights a week. To see that all come together and watch the pure joy for the kids, it's very heart-warming. You're not happy as much for yourself, it's for the kids. You look in their eyes, and it's like seeing a 2-year-old on Christmas morning. They're so excited. At that point in their life for those kids, that's their nirvana.

After winning it last year, what was motivation like through your offseason program?

JS: Preparation-wise, we started over fresh with how we taught the kids to look at the game, instead of learning about just what we're going to see. We tried to broaden their football knowledge a little more. Sometimes I think as coaches we get in our own way and get stuck in our own mindset, and we have to reinvent ourselves a little bit and teach the kids what we need them to know.

Your schedule is very diverse, how do you get ready for a team like Melrose, and then this week's opponent (Wichita County, Kansas)?

JS: They play differently from what we see in Colorado, so we spent a lot of time in the offseason prepping for that, and now we've got No. 2 in Kansas coming up and they play differently than a lot of Colorado teams. And we built our schedule like that. In 2022, I felt like we had a soft schedule. We had won it in 2021 and then we didn't get tested until the semifinals and I felt like we weren't ready and that was on me. So I've really tried to schedule like this. Then, if nothing changes, we've got No. 2 or No. 3 in Colorado (Sanford) the week after. So we're playing a top-five team for the first three weeks.

How are you able to find high-quality teams like Melrose (8-hour drive) and Wichita County (3 ½-hour drive) and get them on your schedule?

JS: The football community is like that. Even at the smaller-school level, there's so many different group chats. And I've been able to speak at so many different clinics. When you're out meeting these guys, they'll say things like 'Hey, maybe you look at playing these guys,' or 'Maybe you should look at this.' A couple of years ago we lost a game a week before the season, so we picked up a game and played in (Concordia) Missouri (8 ½-hour drive) against a top-five team. It comes from the relationships created by a lifetime of doing this.

You have such a winning tradition in Haxtun, how would you define your culture and how do you create and maintain it?

JS: Haxtun is definitely a football town. It's a small little [agricultural] community (population 1,000) that's very proud. Our culture is that we're a tough, gritty group of kids that is family-based. We base everything around family. We spend a ton of time together. The boys are together. We're with the boys. We do a lot of community service. We put on clinics for the little kids. We're always together. And that way, when times get tough, the boys know that they've got each other to get through it. The cliché of 'I've got your back' has to be built. You can't just say it. If they're not together, it doesn't happen. And we're lucky in that the basketball coaches work with me really well in letting me have the weight room time with them after practice. The baseball and track coaches are the same way. They all know that the offseason stuff that we're doing with them also helps them in their sport. I know not all schools are like that. I'm pretty lucky in that we all work together really well.

What would make this a successful season for your group?

JS: Going into Week 2, I think everyone's goals are still to win their league, win a playoff game, get to the championship game and win it. But my personal goal week-in and week-out is to have my kids as prepared for that game as possible and to win that week, go 1-0 for that week. That's always my goal, and everything else will work itself out.