Greenwood Village – Add a Saturday night come-from-behind drive to the Elway name.
With one minute remaining in his team’s Class 5A first-round playoff game, Jack Elway’s four clutch completions led Cherry Creek to a game-winning field goal by Kaylee Boryla on the final play as the Bruins outlasted Arvada West 23-21 at the Stutler Bowl.
Cherry Creek, the 16th seed, improved to 6-4 and will face top-seeded and undefeated Mullen on Friday night in the second round. Arvada West ended 5-5.
“Oh, my God, I thought I was going to pass out,” Boryla said while being mobbed after her 24-yard field goal. She had a chance to tie the game at 21 on an extra point with 2:34 to play, but had it blocked.
The Bruins, who managed to bounce the ensuing kickoff into the end zone, held the Wildcats to zero yards on three rushing attempts. And even when Ryan Hill’s punt sailed over Kyle Randolph’s head and Cherry Creek took over at the 21-yard line with 1:00 to play, the Wildcats appeared to have things in hand.
However, Elway, a junior and the son of the former Broncos’ Hall of Famer who was making his first start after missing most of the second half of the season with a hip injury, took over. He fired consecutive look-ins to the left side to Danny Papilion for 23 and 12 yards. After two incompletions, he went deeper into the middle and found senior Karl Heimbrock for 24 yards, then unleashed a laser through traffic in the middle to Alex Johnson to the 8.
Elway spiked the ball with five seconds remaining, then Boryla got a measure of redemption when she gave the Bruins their only lead.
“It’s really cool to do this,” Boryla said after converting her fifth field goal in 2006.
Elway never panicked and said he knew what he had to do.
“The whole time I felt calm, I thought we could get it,” Elway said. “I had confidence in Kaylee going to make the kick. … We just did all we could. I think we showed incredible heart right there. We thought we could be there.”
A-West controlled most of the game, but never quite managed the clinching play despite leads of 14-0 and 21-7.
“(The Wildcats) are a great team and they pose problems,” Bruins coach Greg Critchett said.
They finished with minus-4 yards rushing, but the ‘Cats rode a brilliant game by quarterback Luke Campbell, who threw for 322 yards, including 273 on his first seven completions. Nebraska-bound tight end Ryan Hill was among those who gave the Bruins secondary fits all game, including receptions of 61 and 89 yards.
But he managed only one more catch, for 4 yards. Plus, the ‘Cats, despite solid defense, passed on a field-goal attempt midway through the third quarter, ended up with an incompletion on the fake and had only one first down the rest of the way.
“(The fake field goal) was a chance to go up by three scores at that point, but you know you’re going to have to play to the bitter end,” A-West coach Casey Coons said. “I felt good about it, but (the Bruins) made some big catches.”
Elway ran for 67 yards and a touchdown, and was 19-of-28 passing for 197 yards and an interception. Heimbrock, stellar throughout on both sides – he also ran for a touchdown and threw for another on a halfback-option – added nine receptions for 91 yards for the Bruins, who botched a chance to draw within 21-14 at halftime by being stopped on a rush at the 1 as time expired.
“It’s just great to move on,” Elway said.
Arvada West 7 14 0 0 – 21
Cherry Creek 0 7 7 9 – 23
AW – Hill 89 pass from Campbell (Palizzi kick). AW – Salum 9 run (Palizzi kick). CC – Heimbrock 10 run (Boryla kick). CC – Capra 33 pass from Campbell (Palizzi kick). AW – Elway 2 run (Boryla kick). CC – Korecki 4 pass from Heimbrock (kick blocked). CC – FG Boryla 24.
