GREENWOOD VILLAGE – In sub-freezing temperatures, No. 1 Cherry Creek put the finishing touches on a perfect regular season and 5A Metro East League championship with a 44-21 victory over No. 7 Grandview on Friday night at the Stutler Bowl.
Running back Jayle Stacks ran for three touchdowns, and the Bruins defense slowed down the Wolves run game to finish the regular season 10-0 for the first time in Dave Logan’s eight seasons as Creek head coach.
“I’ve got a great bunch of kids and an excellent staff,” Logan said. “We’ll enjoy it for 24 hours and then it’s like everybody else. You’ve got 24 teams in the playoffs and you’ll see where you’re headed.”
With a No. 1 ranking in the Class 5A RPI, the Bruins will get a first-round playoff bye before hosting a game in the second round. Grandview (8-2, 3-2 in league) also has a shot at hosting in the second round, dependent on the final end-of-season RPI results. The bracket is scheduled to be released Sunday.
“We beat a good team,” Logan said. “That’s a big game for us. We made some mistakes and missed some opportunities but I thought we played hard and I liked the overall effort.”
With rushing touchdowns from Stacks and utility man Myles Purchase, the Bruins built up a 17-0 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Purchase entered the game with five TDs on the season, but his 12-yard scamper marked the first trip to the end zone on offense for the junior. Stacks’ touchdown was the first of three rushing TDs in the game for the Air Force Academy commit.
Entering the game with the stingiest defense in 5A (6.3 points per game), Cherry Creek (10-0) stifled a Grandview offense led by junior tailback Noah Schmidt, holding the Wolves to under 100 yards of offense in the first half.
“They have an outstanding team,” Grandview head coach John Schultz said. “They’re big and they manhandled us up front.”
But on their final drive of the opening half, Grandview was finally able to get on the scoreboard. Jacob Burr connected on a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Smith, cutting the Bruins lead to 17-7 with under four minutes remaining in the half.
Cherry Creek hit a 28-yard field goal with time expiring to take a 20-7 lead into the break.
The Wolves made it a one-score game with a blocked punt that was recovered by Colton Martin in the end zone, cutting the Bruins lead to 20-14 early in the third quarter.
“We tried to make a game of it,” said Schultz. “They just had some answers in the third quarter and we weren’t able to keep up.”
On the ensuing possession, Cherry Creek responded with their third TD of the game and Stacks’ second trip to the end zone, this time on a 48-yard run. The play increased the Bruins’ advantage to 27-14 with 8:12 remaining in the third quarter.
Stacks wasn’t finished, scoring on an identical run two minutes later to extend the lead to 34-14. Later in the quarter, Alexi Sanchez Ventura hit his third field goal to put the score at 37-14. Ventura finished the night 3-of-4 on field goal attempts, his lone miss coming from 37 yards.
Cherry Creek’s fifth touchdown of the night came through the air as Julian Hammond III connected with Gunnar Helm on a 13-yard pass.
With eight seconds remaining, Burr wrapped up the night’s scoring for Grandview, scoring their final touchdown to end the game, 44-21.
