Valor Christian’s Gavin Sawchuk named Gatorade Colorado Football Player of the Year for second time
By Dan Whitaker/CHSAANow.com
Photo: Theodore Stark/tstark.com
CHICAGO – Valor Christian’s Gavin Sawchuk has done it again.
He was named the 2021-22 Gatorade Colorado Football Player of the Year on Tuesday. Sawchuk is the third Gatorade Colorado Football Player of the Year to be chosen from Valor Christian High School, and now a back-to-back winner after picking up the honor back in May.
“Gavin is an exceptional talent,” Valor Christian head coach Donnie Yantis stated. “He is, without question, the best running back I have ever coached.”
The 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior running back led the Eagles to a 13-1 record and a runner-up finish in the Class 5A state championship game against Cherry Creek. This season, Sawchuk rushed for 2,004 yards and 28 touchdowns, averaging 7.0 yards per carry, while also catching two TD passes. A 2020 First Team Class 5A All-State selection, he finished his illustrious prep career with 5,724 rushing yards and 77 touchdowns.
A member of the Valor Christian Cum Laude Society, Sawchuk helped build an early childhood education program to maintain the physical and mental wellbeing of children. He has also volunteered locally with Rocky Mountain Service Employment Redevelopment and as a youth football coach.
Sawchuk has maintained a weighted 3.64 GPA in the classroom. He has verbally committed to play football at the University of Oklahoma next fall.
Sawchuk joins recent Gatorade Colorado Football Players of the Year Tanner Hollens (2019-20, Columbine High School), Aidan Atkinson (2018-19, Fairview High School), and Ty Evans (2017-18, Palmer Ridge High School), among the state’s list of former award winners.
The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field, distinguishes Sawchuk as Colorado’s best high school football player. Now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Football Player of the Year award to be announced in December, Sawchuk joins an elite alumni association of state award-winners, including Emmitt Smith (1986-87, Escambia High School, Fla.), Matthew Stafford (2005-06, Highland Park High School, Texas) and Christian McCaffrey (2012-13 & 2013-14, Valor Christian High School, Colo.).
