Cherry Creek takes advantage of ThunderRidge miscues to advance to 5A football semis
HIGHLANDS RANCH — Conditions in football aren’t always pretty. Friday night was definitely one of those times.
In fact, when the Cherry Creek Bruins (10-2 overall) faced off against the ThunderRidge Grizzlies (7-5) on Friday night, how the two teams handled the weather made all the difference in the world in the Bruins’ 41-7 victory. Take it straight from the coaches’ mouths.
“You know what? I was proud. We handled the conditions very well,” said Bruins coach Dave Logan. “Obviously tonight they were pretty extreme, and the way we adjusted was what carried us”
Cherry Creek cashed in three turnovers on botched snaps by the Grizzlies, including a safety on the first punt of the game. They would later add a touchdown on a play that looked almost identical.
Still, ThunderRidge could be forgiven for having trouble in the weather. The snow was blowing sideways and receivers could barely see the ball as the game got away from the Grizzlies late in the second quarter.
The trouble with long snaps could be traced back to players struggling to see the yard markers. By the time the horn sounded at the half, the upstart No. 6 seed was down 29-7 as two inches of snow covered most of the field.
After the game, an emotional coach Joe Johnson was frustrated with how the conditions affected his team’s play.
“They seemed to perform better in this stuff than we did,” Johnson said. “You know the weather’s the same for both teams and I thought we gave them way too many turnovers early.”
By the time the wind settled down for the fourth quarter, the Bruins had staked a 41-7 lead and were content to run out most of the rest of the clock with one long, sustained drive.
In all, Cherry Creek got contributions in all phases of the game, with a touchdown on defense and another eight points on special teams. Ashton Riley and Trey Windham both ran for touchdowns while Kyree Owens and D. Stanley caught touchdowns.
In fact, all six Cherry Creek touchdowns were scored by different players.
“I thought we took a couple of strides,” Logan said of the completeness of his team’s game. “ThunderRidge is a very talented team; not a 7-4 team in our book by any means. They have good size and speed and we expected a battle.
“But again the effort in all three phases and in these conditions was outstanding, and we’re going to enjoy this for about 24 hours before getting back to work.”
As for the Grizzlies, they have nothing to be ashamed of after an impressive run as a No. 6 seed.
“I’m so proud of this team and the character and resilience we showed,” coach Johnson said. “We started three DBs tonight that didn’t start the season for us, so we’ve had some tough things happen, but they’ve been a very high character group here.”
As for the Bruins, they move on to the Class 5A state semifinals to face a Valor Christian team that they know well, and who defeated them 10-0 earlier this season.
“We’re going to try and score this time,” coach Logan said with a grin. “We missed out on some opportunities last time. When you play great teams, you can’t do that. So we’re going to just have to execute and see what happens.”
