Freshman Brian Brogan kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired to send Valor Christian past Cherry Creek, 10-7, Saturday afternoon at the Stutler Bowl and into the Class 5A championship game. Valor will play Pomona, which defeated Regis Jesuit, 24-7, in a championship game rematch Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
The game was physical from the opening kick, with each team trading thunderous hits as both offenses struggled to gain any consistency all afternoon.
Valor Christian broke through for the first score when junior Easton Cecil’s 2-yard touchdown run gave the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 1:21 left in the first quarter. The score remained the same until Cherry Creek’s first possession of the second half.
That’s when the Bruins finally got their running game going, with several long gains setting up quarterback Trey Windham for a 1-yard plunge and a 7-7 tie. Defenses dominated from that point on in a battle of field position until Valor mounted a late drive, led by quarterback Dylan McCaffrey, for what turned into the winning points.
“We knew it all came down to stopping Windham,” Valor Christian senior linebacker Christian Elliss said. “He was a big part of our game plan and I think we came out and did a pretty good job. My boy Will Rodgers had two sacks, and we just had a heck of a game against him. We gave up that score in the third quarter, but we came back and finished strong.”
McCaffrey engineered his offense into the Cherry Creek red zone in the final minute and Brogan—who had a field goal blocked in the first half—drilled the pressure kick to the delight of the raucous Valor Christian fans.
The win gives Valor Christian its eighth consecutive trip to a championship game. The Eagles have won six titles (3A in 2009, 4A in 2010 and 2011, and 5A in 2012, 2013 and 2015).
Meanwhile the Bruins, who lost 20-10 to Valor Christian in the semifinals last season, have a lot to be proud of as they lost several players to injuries throughout the season, including their starting quarterback and middle linebacker, and nearly made the title game.
“I told our players that I couldn’t be more proud of a group of kids—we gave it everything we had and we played our guts out today,” Cherry Creek coach Dave Logan said. “Unfortunately, we just fell a little bit short. We had a couple of miscues in the kicking game, and against a team like that, we knew the margin of error was very thin.”
In the other 5A semifinal, Pomona rolled to its second consecutive championship game appearance. Valor Christian won in dramatic fashion a year ago.
