No. 1 Valor Christian survives No. 9 Columbine on historic night for Gavin Sawchuk

HIGHLANDS RANCH – The top-seeded Valor Christian football team got a bit of a scare in the Class 5A quarterfinals on Friday night, but the evening turned out to include a come-from-behind victory, a record-setting performance and a revenge-game win all in one for the Eagles.

Hosting No. 9 Columbine, the Eagles overcame an early deficit to win 17-7 and advance to the semifinals for a matchup with Grandview next week. In the game, University of Oklahoma-bound running back Gavin Sawchuk took over as the all-time rushing leader at Valor Christian, passing Christian McCaffrey.

With the win, the Eagles also avenged a quarterfinals loss at home to Columbine from two years ago that had been weighing on them since.

“I wasn’t here but they were, and that senior class has been talking about that loss since I got here,” Valor Christian head coach Donnie Yantis said. “When I got here, that was the last game they had played as sophomores. So, it was a big deal when we got these guys on the schedule the first time during the season. But the playoff, this was exactly the same game as two years ago and taking care of our home field was exactly what we wanted to do.

“We did that tonight and we did that against a great opponent.”

Columbine controlled the time of possession – 17 minutes to Valor Christian’s seven – in the first half and scored first on a 59-yard pass from Brock Zanetell to Wesley Jones. The Eagles, however, tied the game with a 59-yard pass of their own from Colton Allen to Gavin Sawchuk with 39 seconds before halftime.

Still tied 7-7 late in the third quarter, Jordan Norwood punched in a score from two yards out to put Valor ahead for the first time with 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. On fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Jeremy Claycamp kicked a 19-yard field to give the Eagles a two-score lead with 3:12 left to play. The Valor Christian defense forced a turnover on downs on Columbine’s next drive to seal the victory and punch the Eagles’ ticket to the semifinals.

“We’ve got a great senior class,” Yantis said. “We leaned on those guys, we leaned on 27 (Sawchuk) and made some plays. Our quarterback made some plays. But defensively, we were lights out.”

Sawchuk rushed for 180 yards on 41 carries Friday night to push his career total to 5,477 yards and move him past McCaffrey’s previous school rushing record of 5,340 yards, which was set in 2013.

“It’s a huge blessing to be able to have that record,” Sawchuk said. “I couldn’t do it without my O-Line so all my linemen, I thank them. That’s our record. To do it tonight was special. They beat us two years ago in this same game and we were out for vengeance. I know we beat them (35-21) earlier this year, so I called it the tiebreaker. I mean, they’re a great team and it was a tough game so I’m glad we came away with the dub.”

The last time Valor Christian and Grandview football played in the postseason, Valor Christian won 31-29 in the 2018 semifinals.