Here’s what happened in the Class 5A football quarterfinals
By Brad Cochi & Courtney Oakes
Photo: Paul Shepardson/PaulShepardsonPhotography
Between Friday night and Saturday afternoon, all four quarterfinal football games in Class 5A were played and the semifinal matchups are now set.
Next week, No. 1 Valor Christian will play No. 4 Grandview and No. 2 Cherry Creek will face No. 3 Legend with two spots in the 2021 state championship game on the line.
(1) Valor Christian 17, (9) Columbine 7
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.
(4) Grandview 20, (5) Ralston Valley 16
AURORA – Slowly, deliberately and confidently, the Grandview offense moved down the field towards the go-ahead score in the final minutes of Friday night’s Class 5A quarterfinal against Ralston Valley.
Sophomore quarterback Liam Szarka put a two-turnover first half behind him as he guided the Wolves on a decisive 59-yard drive that he finished with a 9-yard touchdown pass to senior Charlie Dick to put his team in front in the closing minute.
The defense held on four consecutive pass plays and fourth-seeded Grandview used the victory formation to close out a 20-16 victory over the fifth-seeded Mustangs after a see-saw second half of postseason action at Legacy Stadium.
“We went into halftime they were a little down and out, but I said ‘listen, fellas, we had three turnovers and a bucket load of penalties and we’re only down 10-0,’” said Grandview head coach Tom Doherty, who has the program in the semifinals for the first time since 2018 and for the eighth time in program history in his first season at the helm.
“We’re OK, we’ve been there before, it’s not like we haven’t been in competitive games,” he added. “They stayed the course, believed what we were telling them and here we are.”
Next up for the 10-2 Wolves, a semifinal matchup against top-seeded and undefeated Valor Christian, which topped ninth-seed Columbine 17-7.
At halftime, it looked like it might be veteran coach Matt Loyd’s Ralston Valley team that was headed for a return to the semifinals — where it was in 2019 — as the Mustangs (9-3) took a 10-0 lead into the break against a Grandview team that turned the ball over three times (including two interceptions thrown by Szarka) and was beset by penalties.
Senior Steele Fredricks nailed a 46-yard field goal and senior Marquel Collins rushed for a short score to put Ralston Valley in good position at halftime.
But the Wolves rallied themselves in the locker room and got back into the game with a scoring drive that pulled them within three points after Szarka connected with senior wide receiver Evan Johnson on a 49-yard touchdown.
Grandview’s defense forced another quick punt and Szarka put together an 83-yard drive for the lead with a nine-play series that included plenty of hard running by senior running back Moosah Alsaffar. Senior Tristan Burrus hauled in a pass from Szarka to put the Wolves in the lead, but the extra point went wide.
Ralston Valley bounced right back with a drive that got extended by a roughing the passer call and took advantage on another Collins’ TD run, though the lead remained three points when Grandview’s Malique Singleton blocked the extra point.
The Wolves failed to move on the subsequent drive, but forced a punt to get the ball back with 4:34 remaining.
Doherty said there is no quarterback in the state he would really have on his side with the game on the line than Szarka, who affirmed that belief.
Szarka showed composure on the drive, including a scramble on 3rd-and-1 that yielded a first down as well as more when he was hit late out of bounds. Two plays later, he spun and connected with Dick, who got the ball inside the pylon for the go-ahead score with just 47.4 seconds remaining.
“I didn’t see anything else but the end zone and I had to get there,” Dick said.
The Wolves defense held and Doherty received an ice bath from his players after time had expired. Grandview now moves into a round where it has only one win in its previous seven attempts to make the state championship game, with the lone successful try coming in 2007 when the program won its only state title.
(2) Cherry Creek 28, (7) Regis Jesuit 7
GREENWOOD VILLAGE – Cherry Creek’s journey to win a third straight Class 5A state championship has reached the final two legs after a quarterfinal victory over Regis Jesuit Friday night.
The second-seeded Bruins built a four-touchdown lead before the seventh-seeded Raiders got on the scoreboard as they advanced with a 28-7 victory at Stutler Bowl.
Under veteran coach Dave Logan (who picked up his 300th career win in the previous game), Cherry Creek extended its postseason winning streak to nine games — which includes state championship victories in each of the past two seasons — and moved into a semifinal against the winner of Saturday’s quarterfinal between sixth-seeded Arapahoe and No. 3 Legend. The Warriors were the lone Colorado team in the regular season to defeat the Bruins (10-2), who also lost to Chandler, Arizona.
Cherry Creek defeated Regis Jesuit (8-4) earlier in the regular season by building a comfortable halftime lead and did so again with touchdowns in each of the first two quarters.
On the Bruins’ first possession, junior quarterback Christian Hammond made a big play to escape a sack in the backfield and got off a pass to junior Kyair Johnson, whose 31-yard gain put the Bruins inside the Raiders’ 5-yard line. Hammond finished off the drive himself with a 1-yard keeper on 3rd-and-goal.
Coach Danny Filleman’s Regis Jesuit team attempted to pick up the tempo offensively in the first half and got a little something going on the subsequent possession as junior quarterback Exander Carroll found running room on a couple of occasions before the drive came up empty.
The teams traded unsuccessful drives until Cherry Creek used a short field to double its lead before the break.
Junior Arlon Boyd got plenty of work on the series and finished it off with a four-yard touchdown run with just 1:12 left in the second quarter.
The Bruins tacked on touchdowns in each of the final two quarters — courtesy of junior Carlson Tann on an 8-yard run in the third quarter that came following a fumble recovery and Boyd again from six yards out in the fourth quarter after an interception — to take a commanding advantage.
Regis Jesuit finally broke through with just under six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when junior D’Andre Barnes rushed for a short score.
The Raiders had been in search of making their first semifinal since 2016 and what would have been just the third time since 1990, while instead, the Bruins moved a step from making the final for a fourth consecutive season.
(3) Legend 35, (6) Arapahoe 14
The Legend football team came close to its first state championship game last season and for the second season in a row, the Titans are back in the semifinals with a shot to advance to the big dance.
That marks the first time in school history the Titans have appeared in back-to-back semifinals.
On Saturday afternoon, the third-seeded Titans won 35-14 over No. 7 Arapahoe at EchoPark Stadium. Quarterback Colton Warner, who now has 24 passing tochdowns on the season, threw three scores in the game and the Legend defense held the Warriors to just seven points until the fourth quarter.
Legend will face No. 2 seed and defending state champion Cherry Creek in the semifinals. The Titans did not face the Bruins during this regular season, but they may gain confidence knowing they just knocked out the only team in Colorado that defeated has Cherry Creek thus far in 2021.
