NEVILLE: Aurora Central's Narvaez aces start

By Marcia Neville, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 27, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Prep golfers are the first fall athletes to compete, and Jacob Narvaez of Aurora Central got off to a great start.

"I was standing on the 18th green waiting for him," said coach Larry Taylor, "when I get a phone call from his dad, asking me if it's true that Jacob had just scored a hole-in-one. That was the first I heard about it!".

Yes, it was true. When Narvaez hit a wedge from 124 yards on the par-3 fifth hole at the Creekside Course at Kennedy Golf Course, he couldn't see the green. When he and his playing partners got to the green, they couldn't see his ball.

Finally, after an extensive search, they looked in the hole and there it was.

"He was one happy camper," Taylor said.

Narvaez is a junior who just missed qualifying for the state tournament last year. He's also the ace on Central's pitching staff in baseball.

ANGEL IN THE BACKFIELD: The small towns of Seibert and Vona are still in shock. Senior-to-be Evan Bancroft, the returning starter at quarterback for Hi-Plains High School, and the starting point guard on the Patriots' state championship basketball team, was killed in a construction accident in late June. His funeral packed the high school gym.

"It's amazing what small-town athletics brings out," Hi-Plains athletic director Kerry Sayles said. "It's our league and our county and it's Eastern Colorado."

Currently, Hi-Plains is ranked No. 1 in Class A 6-Man football, and everyone's doing their part to do Bancroft's memory proud.

"Evan was also president of the student council, and he'd already come to us with some big plans for this year," Sayles added. "But, I know his friends and teammates have the strength to carry this community."

Look for Marcia Neville's highlights during her PrepZone broadcasts at 9:30 p.m. Saturdays on Fox 31 and upload your own video at fox31prepzone.com.

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