No. 2 Valor Christian (1-0) vs. Faith Lutheran, Las Vegas (1-1)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at Valor Stadium

Last meeting: Valor Christian 49, Faith Lutheran 21, Sept. 6, 2025

The Eagles, led by junior QB Titus Huard, handled business in Week 0 against The Kincaid School from Houston. Huard threw for 286 yards and a touchdown while Jackson Coleman, a Notre Dame commit, caught seven passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. Junior running back Roger Garey scored three touchdowns and ground out 104 rushing yards. Next up on the early-season slate of out-of-state powers: a showdown with Faith Lutheran (Las Vegas), the No. 8 team in Nevada, which stuffed a late 2-point conversion to survive Bakersfield Christian 28-27 last week.

No. 3 Legend (0-0) vs. No. 6 Grandview (1-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. Friday at EchoPark Stadium

Last meeting: Legend 28, Grandview 16, Aug. 28, 2025

The third-ranked Titans kick off their season on Friday against the No. 6 Wolves, who held Riverdale Ridge to zero points in Week 0 while scoring 36. Wolves’ quarterback Landon Wise threw for a TD and also ran for one, while highly recruited tight end Matthew Schimberg added a TD.

No. 9 Regis Jesuit (0-0) vs. Eaglecrest (1-0)

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Kellogg Stadium

QB Luke Rubley and the Raiders kick off their season at home against the Raptors, who devoured Rocky Mountain in their Week 0 opener, 36-0. Rubley is the state’s third-ranked recruiting prospect in the Class of 2028, behind Valor’s Huard and Cherry Creek’s Elijah Cromwell.

Mullen (0-0) at 4A No. 3 Columbine (0-1)

When/where: 7 p.m., Jeffco Stadium

Last meeting: Columbine 56, Mullen 6, Aug. 25, 2023

Two storied Colorado programs, now in different classifications, square off in an intriguing early-season showdown. The Rebels, after years of punching up in 5A while facing declining enrollment, are primed to make noise in 4A. But not before playing some bigger schools in non-league slates. The Rebels lost by a point at Fort Collins in Week 0. Now they’ll play host to the Mustangs, who boast edge Troy Mailo, a Stanford commit who is the third-ranked senior recruit in Colorado.

Arvada West (0-0) vs. Cherokee Trail (0-0)

When/where: North Area Athletic Complex, 4 p.m.

Both teams are looking to break into the top 10 in 5A. A-West is coming off a 10-2 season where it lost to Mountain Vista in the playoffs, while Cherokee Trail is looking to rebound after going 4-7 last season.

No. 9 Broomfield (0-0) at 3A No. 3 Holy Family (0-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. at Mike G. Gabriel Athletic Stadium

Last meeting: Holy Family 30, Broomfield 29, Sept. 1, 2023

Throw out the classifications in this battle for Broomfield bragging rights that pits the 4A public high school against the 3A private school. The last time these two met, in 2023, Holy Family pulled out a 1-point squeaker.

No. 5 Mead (0-0) vs. Roosevelt (0-0)

When/where: 7 p.m. at Mead Maverick Field

Last meeting: Roosevelt 37, Mead 7, Oct. 8, 2021

Another rivalry for area bragging rights. Mead is coming off a 9-3 season when it lost in the playoffs to Holy Family, while Roosevelt was 8-4 in 2025 before bowing out against Palisade.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was corrected to reflect that the city’s total water storage is at 51% capacity.

AURORA | City officials are contemplating consequences for its largest water consumer, Niagara Bottling, which has not yet reduced its consumption despite drought restrictions imposed citywide requiring a 20% reduction in use.

While the bottling plant has not yet violated the drought restrictions, the facility is on track to use more water than its annual allocation unless consumption slows down, according to Shonnie Cline, director of internal and external affairs for Aurora Water.

Aurora Water officials met with the city council in a closed meeting on Monday to discuss next steps.

Cline said the city is working with Niagara to address the issue, but she couldn’t provide many details because the conversation took place in a council executive session, which is closed to the public. Cline said time is of the essence to address the water use.

“The overall goal was just to get them to reduce their usage under our really significant drought issues,” Cline said of the meeting. “The simple fact of the matter is that they have not gone over that reduced allocation, but they also haven’t changed the way that they’ve done production. So their production has continued on like it’s a normal year.”

9News reports that Niagara is allocated by the city’s water department 178 million gallons per year, but Cline said the plant typically uses more than the allocation and last year used about 200 million gallons of water. Cline said she alerted Niagara in April that its annual allocation would have to be reduced because of drought conditions.

A spokesperson for Niagara Bottling said in a statement that the company shares the goal of water conservation and has already installed an in-plant recovery system that’s expected to save approximately 8 million-10 million gallons of water in 2026 and about 20 million gallons annually thereafter.

“We understand that every responsible member of the community has a role to play when water supplies are under pressure and Niagara is willing to do its part to reduce water consumption during drought conditions,” the statement says.

The company says it will continue to work with Aurora Water to reduce its consumption, including through “turf replacement and other permanent water-efficiency initiatives.” It expects the combined efforts will cut use by 60 million gallons in 2027.

The philanthropic arm of the company also works with Colorado Water Trust to restore water to the Colorado River, according to the statement.

If Niagara does use more water than it has been allocated, then the city may impose consequences, so far undefined.

“We’re kind of in uncharted territory here,” Cline said. “We’ve never been in a position where we’ve had to ask a company like Niagara to cut back.”

Cline said company leadership is actively engaged in conversations about adjusting water usage, but noted that reducing water consumption is a more complex request for a business with a set production schedule.

“They have certainly been trying to identify solutions,” Cline said. “They told us that they set their production schedule in October of the previous year. Obviously, in October of the previous year, we didn’t know what was going to happen over the winter, so we couldn’t give them the heads up.”

For large commercial and industrial water users, the required reduction is calculated from the annual allocation, not from the previous year’s water use. Restrictions for non-recoverable water users do not dictate exactly when or how those reductions must occur.

In May, city council members imposed restrictions on residents that called for immediate reductions of water use.

In non-drought years, there’s no penalty for businesses like Niagara using more than their allocation, the user just pays for the extra water. However, in drought conditions, going over the allocation is much more serious and can cause trickle-down effects because the system is not able to naturally replenish its storage.

“​​It’s not that we’re targeting Niagara — it’s just that we have got to do what we can to ensure that we keep as much water in our reservoirs, in the event that we do not end up with the snowfall that we need over the winter,” Cline said.

Cline said the extreme heat of this year is leading to more water lost to evaporation, adding that rain is only helpful if it occurs where it can be captured, like over a reservoir.

Currently, the city’s total water storage is at 51% storage, which is significantly lower than the typical rate this time of year of about 80%.

“We expect it to take us every bit of three to five years to recover our storage, and that’s if we have continually good winters,” Cline said.

So far, Aurora Water says the city is doing a good job reducing its water use, with total demand for the year, including indoor use, down 8%, while outdoor irrigation is down 20%. Stage 1 drought restrictions call for a 20% reduction on outdoor irrigation.

So far this year, Aurora Water has issued 2,429 overuse warnings, but it has issued only 201 violations totaling $73,625 in fines, according to Kirby Shedlowski, manager of public relations. No residential accounts have gotten a third violation, which comes with a larger fine. For persistent violations, the city can shut off a property’s water.

Cline said the city’s aggressive enforcement of drought restrictions and its advanced metering infrastructure have helped the city keep a handle on water usage. However, Cline said the situation is extremely dire, and she worries that the economic impacts could expand if the drought worsens.

“(Stage 2 drought restrictions) will mean there will be mass die-off of landscape, and it also starts to impact other businesses, including car washes,” she said. “So the economic impacts are not insignificant when we go to Stage 2. Unfortunately, when we’re in this mega historic drought, we’re left with a series of bad options.”

The city is doing everything it can to avoid moving to Stage 2 restrictions because of the economic impacts, Cline s

The private company that operates the immigration detention facility in Aurora is blocking investigation into the possible spread of tuberculosis there, an Adams County health official stated in a court document earlier this month.

Now, a new report is raising questions about how much the highly contagious disease has spread in the facility, even as the standoff with the public health department continues.

After learning of a positive test for active tuberculosis from a detainee at the facility in early June, the Adams County Health Department launched an investigation, as is required under state law. However, Kelly Weidenbach, the executive director of the department, said her investigators were met with a lack of cooperation from federal immigration authorities and representatives of the GEO Group, which operates the facility, known as the Aurora ICE Processing Center, or AIPC.

In an affidavit written earlier this month as part of a court filing, Weidenbach stated: “My department has been in contact with GEO regarding this report of TB in AIPC, but to date either GEO or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or both have implemented significant roadblocks that have prevented my staff from being able to conduct or complete a meaningful investigation.”

“The department cannot independently verify reports”

In a statement issued Tuesday, Weidenbach confirmed that investigators are still being denied access to the infected patient, medical records, information on detainee movement and other details needed to determine who may have been exposed to the disease and how far it may have spread. This lack of cooperation comes despite the Adams County Health Department issuing a public health order on June 25 requiring compliance, the department said.

At this time, county health officials have confirmed only one case of tuberculosis at the facility.

“Because ACHD has not yet received all of the information necessary to complete its investigation, the department cannot independently verify reports regarding additional cases or determine whether additional individuals require evaluation or follow-up,” Weidenbach said in the statement.

The Guardian news organization reported Tuesday that at least 12 detainees at the Aurora facility have tested positive for tuberculosis in recent days. The news outlet based its report on the account of one detainee currently being held at the facility. The detainee said the 12 positive cases have not been separated from a group of 76 other detainees in a single pod who are all being held in quarantine together — and that the air conditioning went out in their pod on Sunday at the start of a dangerous heat wave.

In a statement to several media outlets on Tuesday, an ICE spokesperson denied there was a tuberculosis outbreak at the Aurora facility, saying there were no confirmed, active cases and that the facility had followed all appropriate laws and guidelines.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent a letter Tuesday to the warden and the health administrator of the Aurora facility requesting that they “immediately provide the access, records, and information needed to conduct the public health investigation.”

“GEO’s continued failure to provide complete and timely access is impeding a legally required public health investigation,” the agency wrote in a statement distributed to the media. “Every delay makes it harder to identify, test, and treat people who may have been exposed and increases the risk of further transmission.”

Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday issued his own statement, saying that he is “deeply concerned by the reports of active Tuberculosis at the GEO facility in Aurora and the inability for local public health to do their jobs because of interference from the facility.”

“We are focused on protecting public health and urge the GEO Group to let Adams County Public Health do their jobs to investigate this alleged outbreak, including providing any necessary testing and treatment to prevent disease spread,” he said.

The Aurora detention facility can hold up to 1,532 people, though it is unclear how many are being held there. In U.S. Rep. Jason Crow’s most recent oversight report on the facility, he documented 1,249 people detained at the facility.

As of the end of 2025, the facility employed one doctor, two physician assistants, 18 registered nurses or licensed nurse practitioners, a health services administrator and an assistance health services administrator, according to Crow’s report.

Previous outbreaks at the facility

This is not the first time concerns over the health of detainees at the facility have led to conflict.

Previous outbreaks of scabies, mumps and chicken pox have led to calls for greater oversight of health conditions within the facility.

In January, Adams County health workers investigating reports of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness at the facility were allowed on site but said they were prevented from interviewing management and were delayed in interviewing one patient.

“Prompt interviews for cases of communicable disease are essential to prevent further transmission and identify potential sources of exposure,” investigators wrote in their report.

State lawmakers this year passed a law to strengthen the authority of local public health agencies to inspect facilities where people are held during civil immigration proceedings. The GEO Group sued in federal court to block the law, and the case is pending. Weidenbach’s affidavit about the tuberculosis investigation, as well as investigators’ report on the January investigation, were included in case filings in the lawsuit.

Tuberculosis is a highly contagious bacterial disease that spreads through the air and can be deadly if untreated. Its most well-known symptoms are a persistent cough and chest pain, though it can cause a host of other problems including weakness, weight loss and organ damage. The disease can lie inactive in the body for months or years before turning active.

Though cases do occur in the United States, it is more common in parts of Latin America, Asia and Africa. People housed in close quarters are especially at risk of catching the disease during an outbreak.

The reason public health authorities believe it is so important to investigate disease outbreaks in detention facilities is that they often don’t stay there. Detainees are released and staff come and go daily, meaning germs inside have a tendency to find their way outside, where they threaten the broader public health.

“GEO’s privately-owned facility is located within the jurisdiction of Adams County and is, therefore, subject to inspection like any other similarly situated facility,” attorneys for the Adams County Health Department wrote in a court filing arguing against GEO’s efforts to block the new state inspection law. “Allowing GEO on its own initiative to exempt itself from state and local food and health laws jeopardizes not only the health and safety of the detainees housed at the Aurora facility, but GEO’s own employees and the surrounding members of the public.”

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.