Three of the four quarterfinals in the Class 5A football state playoffs were played on Saturday afternoon after Valor Christian and Regis Jesuit kicked off the round on Friday night.
The semifinal matchups in the classification are now set. No. 1 Cherry Creek will take on No. 5 Pine Creek and No. 2 Valor Christian will face No. 3 Ralston Valley.
(3) Ralston Valley 28, (6) Columbine 7
First-year head coach Jared Yannacito has his Ralston Valley Mustangs stampeding to the Class 5A football semifinals.
The No. 3-seeded Mustangs defeated 5A Jeffco League rival Columbine 28-7 in a state quarterfinal Saturday afternoon at the North Area Athletic Complex.
“It’s huge. I think it’s big for the community because everyone remembers 2019 when Columbine beat us,” said Ralston Valley junior quarterback Logan Madden, who threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran in a third score. “I think everyone had that in the back of their minds. We want this to be a new era of Ralston Valley football. That is what we are doing.”
The No. 6 Rebels struck first with an impressive 9-play, 46-yard scoring drive on the opening possession. Quarterback Brayden Harvey hit junior Spencer Houle for a 10-yard touchdown with 6:59 left in the first quarter, but it was all Mustangs (10-2 record) after that.
“The defense defintely had another amazing game,” Ralston Valley coach Jared Yannacito said. “After that first drive they really settled in and did their jobs. We told them it was going to be a four-quarter battle and the entire team stepped up in every aspect.”
The Mustangs scored 28 unanswered points. Senior Brayden Schatz had a huge kickoff return for a touchdown following Columbine’s lone touchdown.
“Schatz is explosive. When he gets the ball into his hands he can do whatever,” Madden said. “The blockers did great on that kickoff return as well.”
Madden threw a pair of red zone touchdown passes to junior Jackson Hansen in the second quarter to extend the lead to 21-7 at halftime.
Ralston Valley forced five Rebel turnovers during the game in the shutout of Columbine (10-2) after the Rebels’ first drive of the game.
“We couldn’t give them any long ones. That would change the game,” Ralston Valley senior defensive back Jason Thome said. “We had to keep everything in front of us and then going for the football really changed the game.”
Thome has a fumble recovery in the first half and then a pair of interceptions in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.
Ralston Valley will travel to Highlands Ranch for the 5A semifinals next week. No. 2 Valor Christian got revenge against No. 7 Regis on Friday night in the first 5A quarterfinal game that was played. After the Eagles suffered an early season loss to the Raiders, Valor took care of business last night with a 45-28 victory.
Valor’s first-year head coach Bret McGatlin — who coached Chatfield to the 4A state title a year ago before leaving for Valor — has the Eagles on an 8-game winning streak.
Ralston Valley on seven game win streak. Last loss was to Valor 27-23 on Sept. 23.
“It is who we want,” Thome said of the rematch against Valor.
(5) Pine Creek 24, (4) Grandview 3
Pine Creek’s move up to Class 5A hasn’t produced much of a difference from its time in 4A.
The fifth-seeded Eagles made the 4A semifinals last season and that’s exactly where they find themselves in their debut in the new classification after a 24-3 win over fourth-seeded Grandview Saturday afternoon at Legacy Stadium.
Coach Todd Miller’s team trailed 3-0 in the opening quarter, but scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter and added another score in the second half to defeat a Wolves team that was playing without starting quarterback Liam Szarka and some other key members of its offense.
Riding an effective, physical ground game, Pine Creek earned its 10th victory of the season and earned a chance to try to take down top-seeded and three-time defending 5A state champion Cherry Creek in the semifinals.
Coach Tom Doherty’s Grandview team — starting senior backup Cole Swanson at quarterback after Szarka was injured in a quarterfinal win over Rocky Mountain — converted its first drive into points on a Kyle Chavez field goal, but that turned out to be it as the Eagles’ defense contained the run game and came up with two interceptions to thwart Grandview’s best drives.
Meanwhile, Pine Creek’s offense took advantage of every opportunity Grandview gave it in the opening half.
Late in the first quarter, the Wolves forced a field goal attempt by the Eagles that missed, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty prolonged the drive. Pine Creek cashed in just one play into the second quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by sophomore Jonathan Coar.
The Eagles would score 10 more points in the quarter with the other touchdown set up by a bad snap on a punt that set Pine Creek up at Grandview’s 13. Junior Mason Miller dove over the top of the pile into the end zone from a yard out to expand the lead.
A very short punt later in the half by the Wolves put the Eagles just 25 yards from the end zone and they cashed in as Coar knocked through a 42-yard field goal for a 17-3 lead at the break.
Cannon Budge’s interception in the third quarter not only stopped a drive by Grandview, but it launched Pine Creek the other way and Miller scored again to expand the lead.
(1) Cherry Creek 42, (9) ThunderRidge 7
The top seeded Cherry Creek High School Bruins are moving on to the 5A State Football Semifinals next week with an emphatic 42-7 win over ninth-seeded ThunderRidge on a clear and cold Saturday at the Stutler Bowl in Greenwood Village.
It was yet another good win for the two-time defending champions. But for the Bruins, the game after the semifinals is always the ultimate goal.
“We gave up seven points late, but I think overall, we had a great game on defense,” said senior outside linebacker Blake Purchase. “It’s not over yet. Not until we win that state championship.”
The contest was close in the first half as the Grizzly defense forced two Bruin turnovers. One was inside the 15-yard line on Creek’s first drive of the day. The second turnover was a fumble on the 50-yard line. However, the Grizzlies couldn’t capitalize on either giveaway.
The Bruins came back with scores by junior running back Jordan Herron for three yards and a 53-yard touchdown pass from senior Brian Rudden to senior Ismael Cisse with a minute left in the half. The Bruins led 14-0 going to the break.
Cherry Creek (10-2) blew the game open in the second half scoring 28 points in the third quarter. Senior runner Arion Boyd went five yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0 Creek. Then junior inside linebacker Angelo Petrides grabbed a loose ball off a fumble and went 40 yards for a score, 28-0 Bruins. Cherry Creek continued the offensive effort with Carlson Tann rumbling 40 yards to paydirt to increase the advantage to 35-0. Herron then – after another ThunderRidge turnover – closed out the scoring late in the third with the 29-yard ramble to the end zone to start a rolling clock, giving the home team a 42-0 lead.
The ThunderRidge offense was stymied all afternoon by a stout Bruin defense, which allowed a short run late by the Grizzlies’ junior fullback Will Fischer in the closing minutes. The final score: 42-7.
Bruins head coach Dave Logan was pleased with his club’s effort.
“I thought both sides played well,” Logan said. “We put the ball on the ground a couple of times offensively, which we don’t do much. It stopped our first drive inside the 15, and when you do that, things are going to tighten up. But I thought we played hard and spirited, and we’ll get ready to go and play next Saturday.”
On Nov. 26, No. 5 Pine Creek (10-2) – which eliminated Grandview 24-3, – will visit the Stutler Bowl in one of the 5A State Semifinals. Kick-off time is still TBA.
Coach Logan said his team will be ready.
“It’s never easy, and the final score is rarely indicative of the kind of game that the team just played,” he said. “We understand that. We’ve done this for a while. Pine Creek comes in having beaten Grandview. They are a big, physical team, well coached and that’s going to be ‘a big chunk of the bear.'”
(2) Valor Christian 45, (7) Regis Jesuit 28
The only semifinal game in Class 5A took place on Friday night and it was a rematch from an overtime season opener between Valor Christian and Regis Jesuit.
In the opener, it was Regis Jesuit that claimed victory. So when the teams met back up in the playoffs, the Valor Christian Eagles were out of revenge.
They got it.
With a 45-28 victory, No. 2 Valor Christian got both payback and a shot to play another day. The Eagles will face No. 3 Ralston Valley in the semifinals next week.
In Friday’s game, Valor held a narrow 24-21halftime lead but pulled away in the second half.
Valor Christian senior Trey Stott russhed for 100 yards and three touchdowns in the victory. He also led the team with nine tackles.