HIGHLANDS RANCH — The Valor Christian boosters who packed the press box at Valor Stadium for Saturday’s Class 4A semifinal football game with Castle View received a halftime surprise.
Eagles coach Brent Vieselmeyer paid a visit, passing along some first-half insights to the faithful and thanking them for their support. He noted that Valor scored early on a couple of trick plays and (successfully) went for a two-point conversion after going up 38-0 on the first play of the second quarter to have a running clock the rest of the way.
It was an unusual appearance, and the first time Vieselmeyer had done so. But it had nothing to do with the 47-0 halftime lead that turned into a 54-7 win for top-seeded and unbeaten Valor, which will seek its third straight 4A title Saturday against Pine Creek.
“Thanksgiving week’s hard to get people out, and you’ve got to really appreciate them,” Vieselmeyer said.
Valor’s fans no doubt appreciated the suddenness of the school’s 23rd consecutive win following a 1-3 start to the 2010 season.
The Eagles (13-0) blitzed fourth-seeded Castle View (11-2) for the second time this season, scoring five touchdowns for a 32-0 lead in 9 minutes and 50 seconds. The Sabercats trailed 54-0 before scoring late in the fourth quarter — the first points allowed by Valor in its three playoff games. Valor’s defense held the Sabercats to 21 yards and one first down on 14 plays in six possessions in the first quarter, and also forced back-to-back turnovers that resulted in touchdowns.
Valor’s offense didn’t waste time, striking quickly and easily. The Eagles needed just eight plays to go a combined 145 yards for their first three touchdowns: a wide-open Max McCaffrey on a 31-yard pass from Cody Thibault, an untouched Christian McCaffrey on a 55-yard run up the middle and Stephen Miller’s 20-yard pass from Wes Taber after a play-action fake to Christian McCaffrey. A fumbled Sabercats handoff at the Castle View 14-yard line resulted in Christian McCaffrey’s second touchdown, an 11-yard run. Two plays later, Cameron Gray recovered a second consecutive fumble and pitched the ball to linebacker A.J. Isenburg for the final 5 yards and a 32-0 lead with 2:10 left in the opening quarter.
“They had some different ways to defend us and our coaches did a really good job of figuring out how to pick on those early in the game,” Vieselmeyer said. “We had a couple of quick scores, which definitely helped out.”
The touchdown pass to Max McCaffrey was one of the wrinkles that paid off. “We faked the screen (to brother Christian) and threw it deep instead,” Max McCaffrey said. “Cody threw me a great pass.”
“We threw in a couple of plays we ran earlier against them and changed them up,” Christian McCaffrey said. “They were mostly in the passing game. We basically stuck to our normal running game.”
“They’re so explosive,” said Castle View coach Ryan Hollingshead, whose team lost to Valor 55-9 on Oct. 14. “If you don’t shut them down early, you can be in trouble. Their offense is so well-coached and they do so many different things, you’ve just got to pay attention. It’s not really trick plays, it’s a lot of different schemes.”
Castle View 0 0 0 7 — 7
Valor Christian 32 15 7 0 — 54
VC — M. McCaffrey 31 pass from Thibault (Yancey kick). VC — C. McCaffrey 55 run (kick failed). VC — Miller 20 pass from Taber (pass failed). VC — C. McCaffrey 11 run (Yancey kick). VC — Isenburg 5 fumble return (kick failed). VC — C. McCaffrey 41 pass from Taber (kick failed). VC — Peats 13 run (Yancey kick). VC — LaMunyon 29 run (Yancey kick). CV — Hawksworth 16 run (Coffin kick).
