Wellington is PSD's first football state champion in over 50 years

A long gridiron drought is over for Poudre School District.

With Wellington's win in the Colorado Class 2A football title game, PSD has its first football state champion in 56 years.

The Eagles handled No. 4 Elizabeth in a 35-0 blowout to win the 2025 2A state championship Nov. 29 at CSU Pueblo's ThunderBowl.

"Our players know the gravity and what this would mean to be the first in over 50 years," Wellington head coach Travis Peeples told the Coloradoan earlier in the week.

"Coach talks about leaving a legacy and it’s great knowing we’ll be part of an achievement like this," Eagles senior Tyler Shaffer added.

It's the first football champion for the district since Poudre's dream run in 1969.

That season, the Impalas lost two regular-season games but put together a Cinderella playoff push, beating Cherry Creek, Arvada, Pueblo Central and Grand Junction to win the Class AAA title.

The Last State Champs: Revisit Poudre football's 1969 title

That was the last football state championship for a PSD school. Like Wellington, the Impalas' title came within the school's first five years of existence after Poudre opened in 1964.

The former Wellington High School won 6-man state titles in 1952 and 1953 before the school closed in 1964. The new Wellington Middle-High School opened in 2022 along with Timnath Middle-High School as two new district institutions.

Wellington was already close last season, making the 2A championship game and only falling due to a controversial call in the final minute.

Now, the Eagles are finally bringing back some golden football hardware to the Fort Collins area.

While it had been a district drought, Northern Colorado has still produced its fair share of football state champions over the past 50-plus years.

And Windsor will play for its fifth in the last 45 years after making the 2025 3A state championship game with a Nov. 29 semifinal win.

Here are those NoCo football state champions since 1969:

• Loveland: 1982, 1985, 2000, 2003, 2018, 2020

• Windsor: 1981, 1993, 2011, 2015

• Dayspring Christian: 2008, 2011, 2013

• Eaton: 2020, 2021, 2022

• Platte Valley: 2007, 2013

• Wellington: 2025

• Thompson Valley: 2024

• Roosevelt: 2022

• Berthoud: 2007

Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Wellington is PSD's first football state champion in over 50 years